Once called a proposal that would “take secrecy to new heights,” House Bill (HB) 1019, also known as the “body cam bill,” has been criticized by multiple local and statewide organizations, but three weeks after the bill was signed by Gov. Mike Pence, confusion still lingers. Local Black Lives Matter group Indy10 started a change.org petition to repeal HB 1019; at Recorder press time, the petition, titled “Repeal HB 1019, restore transparency in policing,” had roughly 140 signatures and more than 30 comments about the importance of a repeal.
“With the current bill, the families of those involved in the video can only view the body camera footage twice. If they want to see it again, they have to get a court order by paying $150,” Indy10 member Kyra Harvey told the Recorder. “We want it to be revised so the public can see what’s going on.”
HB 1019 is authored by Republican Rep. Kevin Mahan and requires a public agency to permit a person to view a recording at least twice if they are: depicted in the recording; a victim of a crime depicted in the recording, if the depicted events are relevant to the crime; a person who suffered a loss due to personal injury or property damage, if the depicted events are relevant to the person’s loss; or a relative or representative of a person depicted in the recording, if the person is deceased or incapacitated.
Harvey said she believes the $150 price tag will hinder low-income families who have interest in obtaining the video.
“It will definitely impact African-American families. Our race is the one being mostly impacted by police brutality,” she said. “They already have to pay for an attorney and other items when things like this happen; now you’re throwing on another charge while these families are seeking justice.”
Indy10 hopes the petition will gain enough signatures, hopefully more than 1,000, to be presented to the Indiana State Senate.
Democrat Sen. Greg Taylor sponsored the bill, and he said he doesn’t understand why Indy10 is looking to repeal the legislation. He told the Recorder that once HB 1019 came out of the House of Representatives, the Senate flipped the provision to place the burden on the police or sheriff’s department to show why a person should not have full access to the video. Taylor said he believes the bill “puts us in a way better position than we were previously.”
“What I think it’s important to understand is, without this bill, any individual who goes to a police department now and asks for a copy of or would like to view a video, it is up to the discretion of the police department as to whether or not you get to view the video. Our bill allows individuals who have an interest in the video to view the video two times,” said Taylor. “That’s a tremendous step forward from where we are today. Right now the police can say they don’t have any law holding them accountable.”
Despite Taylor’s recommendation, Indy10 will continue to push the petition and appeal to the public.
“We decided to go into neighborhoods, go door-to-door and into barbershops to inform people what’s going on,” Harvey said. “They passed the bill right underneath our noses, just like the abortion bill we had no time to prepare for.”
Taylor said the bill also reduces the number of days a case is heard and adjudicated by the court system. He stated that, previously, a case could take up to three years to be heard, while HB 1019 shortens the process to just 30 days. While he noted items he thought were progressive about the bill, he also addressed some parts that he thinks need improvement.
“If you could imagine, if we had no laws addressing this, the police could simply go back to the department and delete the video. There’s a lot of confusion, which is expected with a new law, and there are a lot of things that can be done better. There’s a part of the bill that says you can’t get reimbursed for your attorney fees if you petition the court and are successful.
Pence signed HB 1019 into law in late March.
