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Riverside council reviews proposed fees for police video requests as state law changes expand charging authority
Summary
City law director and police staff told council that new state changes permit charging for time-consuming review and redaction of body- and cruiser-camera footage; staff recommended adding a discretionary fee to the city's master fee schedule and noted victims would be exempt under the budget bill.
City officials on Monday outlined how changes to state law would let Riverside recover staff time spent locating, reviewing and redacting law enforcement video footage and asked council to consider adding a discretionary fee to the city's master fee schedule.
Law Director Jim Miller told council the amended state law permits local agencies to charge "a maximum amount of $75 per hour footage requested ... up to a maximum of 750 which equals, of course, a total of 10 hours of footage." He said the change is intended to let police recoup the heavy staff time and software costs involved in producing redacted video for public-records requests.
The item matters because police departments must review footage frame by frame to blur faces and mute audio before release, a process Miller said can convert a 30-minute body-camera clip into "anywhere between 2 really to 3 hours" of staff work. Chief Robinson and staff provided raw processing examples that showed multi-officer incidents could require multiple hours per responding officer and multiply into "16 to 22 hours per month" of records staff time when requests are frequent. Miller said requesters fall into three broad groups: commercial "video platform organizers," news media and attorneys; victims and parties to incidents typically obtain footage through discovery or are statutorily exempt from the fee.
Council members asked procedural questions about how victims and parties to cases would be treated, and Miller said the House budget bill now prohibits charging crime victims and that attorneys or parties to pending cases normally access footage through civil or criminal discovery rules. City Manager Josh noted the fee would be discretionary and administered to the police operating fund, and he described an administrative process that would allow the requester time to decide whether to proceed after receiving an estimate.
No ordinance or fee was adopted Monday. Instead, staff requested direction to draft a proposed fee and add it to the master fee schedule for council review. Miller and Chief Robinson said they would prepare draft language and procedures, including guidance on waivers and media access. Councilmember Denning expressed support for reimbursing the department for time already expended, and staff agreed to return with a draft for future consideration.
Miller, Chief Robinson and the city manager answered detailed questions about how the redaction software (Getac) works and about safeguards to avoid charging victims. The presentation included specific operational numbers staff used to estimate time and cost; the council left the matter as a discussion item and asked staff to prepare an actionable draft for a future meeting.
Ending: Staff will prepare a draft fee ordinance and administrative guidance for council review; no vote was taken Monday.
