You could soon have to pay hundreds to view police body-camera video.
Lawmakers in Ohio passed legislation this week that would allow police departments to charge up to $75 for each hour of video released to the person requesting it. The fees would be capped at $750.
The fee was included in an amendment to the state’s sunshine laws that was quietly introduced and passed early Thursday by the GOP-controlled Legislature.
The amendment has some people, like Sean Vicente with the Hamilton County Public Defender’s Office, concerned.
“To put that barrier between a citizen and its government is a real problem and it’s really going to hurt people who are not just poor, but working class and middle class,” Vicente said.
Vicente says he’s having a hard time understanding the reason for the bill.
State Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, said the bill is a “solid way” to approach what he called an “expensive, labor-intensive process.”
Vicente says that argument doesn’t make sense.