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Committee hears bill to narrow public posting of BCA officer-involved shooting video
Summary
The Senate Judiciary and Public Safety Committee reviewed Senate File 1859, an agency bill from the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that would change what officer-involved-shooting materials the BCA posts online and when. The committee adopted an author's amendment and laid the bill over for possible inclusion in an omnibus measure.
Senate File 1859, carried by Senator Jerry Carlson, would narrow which items the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension posts publicly in officer-involved shooting investigations and adjust the timing for posting.
The bill seeks to ensure investigative reports, interviews and any video that directly captures the use-of-force incident remain posted, while excluding what the agency described as "B-roll" — extraneous body-worn-camera footage from responding officers that does not capture the incident itself. "All of that other video ... it's a very onerous task for us to do that," said Drew Evans, superintendent of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, explaining the agency's difficulty meeting the current timeline for public releases because of redaction and data-practices requirements.
The measure keeps the data classification unchanged and preserves public access by allowing members of the public to request the excluded video; the BCA said such requests would continue to be processed under the Minnesota Government Data Practices Act. "We will still have that video available to the public. If a member of the public made a request for that video, we would process it," Evans said.
Supporters argued the public is primarily interested in the investigative findings and the footage that shows the incident and events immediately leading up to it. Evans said the change is meant to speed public access to that most-relevant material without reducing transparency about the case. He noted the BCA now has a nine-person team dedicated to redaction and release work but that large volumes of extraneous footage — for example when dozens of officers respond to an incident — create significant processing delays.
The committee adopted an author's A1 amendment and laid the bill over for possible inclusion in the omnibus bill. There was no public opposition at the hearing.
The bill now awaits further action as lawmakers consider omnibus proposals later in the session.
