California lawmakers block police body camera legislation

The California legislative session will end without any action on the contentious issue of access to body camera footage and other police records after a final surviving measure was held in committee Tuesday.

Assembly Bill 2611, which would have blocked the public release of recordings depicting the deaths of officers unless authorized by their families, was pulled from consideration by its author before a vote in the Assembly Judiciary Committee.

“It’s disappointing that a very modest bill that would simply deal with the video or audio of a peace officer being murdered wasn’t able to pass this year,” Assemblyman Evan Low, D-Campbell, said in a statement. “Those that claim they are committed to transparency but stood in its way in this case, should join with us because I plan on bringing this bill back next year and the year after that until it gets passed.”

AB 2611 was one of a handful of measures introduced this year concerning the release of law enforcement records, with a particular focus on the footage from body cameras that are proliferating across the state.

Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/news/politics-government/capitol-alert/article97469572.html