Last year, the courts found that police car video was included in the Oklahoma Open Records Act -- except for OHP, ABLE and other arms of the Department of Public safety -- who would only agree to surrendering their exemption if the Act itself were weakened.
...Not just for them, but for all police agencies in the state.
Now it will be legal for police to edit any video to suit their needs before releasing it to media or the courts, which seems to show contempt for the reason the courts ordered the recordings in the first place.
LAPD is currently in trouble for turning a blind eye to widespread sabotage of their police dashcams:
http://www.latimes.com/local/la-me-lapd-tamper-20140408,0,7666331.story...but why go to all the trouble if the department leadership will just hide any embarrassing records:
BLOOMFIELD, NJ -- The tale of the police dashcam video has now helped clear a Bloomfield, New Jersey man who faced a multitude of criminal charges, including eluding police and assault.
It was quite a turnabout, all the criminal charges against Marcus Jeter have been dismissed, and two Bloomfield police officers have been indicted for falsifying reports, and one of them, for assault. A third pleaded guilty early on to tampering...thanks to those dashcam tapes that prosecutors say they never saw.
http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=news/national_world&id=9441539
All Criminal charges against Jeter were dismissed after the police dashcam from Trinidad's car surfaced.
Previously unavailable from the Bloomfield Police Department, Brown said he obtained that recording through an Open Public Records Act request.
"What [the second, withheld dash cam] captured was the fact that Mr. Jeter was not trying to resist arrest, was not trying to disarm a police officer, [and] was sitting in the vehicle with [his] hands up," Brown told Bloomfield Life on Monday.
http://www.nj.com/essex/index.ssf/2014/02/bloomfield_mayor_alleges_cover_up_in_dashboard-cam_indicment_vows_to_purge_police_department_of_bad.htmlJeter’s attorney, Stephen Brown, said one of the videos shows an officer - armed with a shotgun - circling Jeter’s car after he stopped the vehicle on the Garden State Parkway.
Brown said Jeter put his hands in the air and had his seat belt buckled, prompting the officer to break the driver’s side window so he could unbuckle Jeter.
A second video shows a second police cruiser crossing the center median and slamming into Jeter’s car head-on, Brown said.
“When he told me that a police car rammed him, I couldn’t believe it,” Brown said. “Once we got the dashcam video from the car that rammed into Jeter’s car, they dropped the whole complaint.
The dashcam videos from the two police cars also show the officers punching Jeter and wrestling him to the ground, shouting, “Stop resisting,” Brown said.
The footage also shows him pulling straight over, despite being charged with eluding.
A third officer has pleading guilty to tampering with evidence and retired from the force.
Why does this matter to Tulsa, Oklahoma?
See if you recognize any of these currently popular stock phrases police used to justify their actions:
BLOOMFIELD, N.J. (WABC) -- A police officer in New Jersey seen in dashcam video who is now facing charges of assault is speaking out.
"I was completely scared. I didn't know if I was going to go home that night," said Orlando Trinidad, a Bloomfield Police Officer.
Police dashcam video that resulted in criminal charges being filed against the Bloomfield, New Jersey police officers, including 33-year-old Orlando Trinidad. Trinidad has now been indicted on conspiracy, official misconduct and assault.
"It's a 30 second clip of a 10 to 15 minute video. It doesn't show you anything that led to that," Trinidad said.
Police refused to release the remainder of that video.
Trinidad says he responded to a call of a man "eluding" police. The officer drove head-on into the car driven by 37-year-old Marcus Jeter.
Trinidad says the two others officers already on the scene pulled Jeter out of the car. One was yelling.
"Officer (inaudible) is still yelling, 'He's got my gun' or 'he tried to get my gun' and at that point, I'm in fear for my life and my partner's life," Trinidad said, "And I struck Mr. Jeter to his backside, trying to get his hands."
"You're repeatedly hitting him," Eyewitness News Investigative reporter Sarah Wallace said.
"He's not giving me his hands. And at that point, I still don't know if he's got a gun on him," Trinidad said.
"So now you get to the car and you hit him again," Wallace said.
"That was to get him to stop resisting, to get him in the car, to get him to calm down," Trinidad said.
