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takyon writes:

The Arkansas House of Representatives has passed a bill restricting public records access to photographs, audio recordings, and video (such as body cam footage) depicting the death of a law enforcement officer:

Nearly six years after Arkansas police Officer Jonathan Schmidt was shot to death while pleading for his life, a dashcam video of his final moments still circulates on the internet - sometimes landing in the social media feeds of his family members. "It's a very sacred thing," the officer's widow, Andrea Schmidt, said Wednesday. "It's not just a cop getting killed. This is a human being. This is my husband. This is a father."

Now a newly elected Arkansas legislator, a former deputy prosecutor who used the tape to help put Schmidt's killer on death row, wants to prevent other families from suffering. The first bill he introduced since joining the House would prevent the broad release of material showing officers dying in the line of duty. "It's just a video of a murder. There's no general interest in that," said Rep. Jimmy Gazaway, a Republican from Paragould, whose measure needs only a final successful vote in the state Senate. He said continued interest in a tape of the shooting is "something that just violates our sensibilities." Gazaway was a prosecutor when the Trumann Police Department distributed the 20-minute recording. The video typically shows up in the family's social media feeds around April 12, the day of the shooting. "It's so horrifying to see it happen," the officer's father, Donald Schmidt, said. "I wish to God I had never watched it."

Under the bill, which passed the House on a 94-0 vote Monday, video showing a law enforcement officer's death would be released only if a court decides the public interest outweighs the desire for government secrecy. [...] The bill is one of many being considered this session that would restrict Arkansas' Freedom of Information Act. Open records advocates oppose Gazaway's bill but understand it is an emotional issue and likely to pass.

This bill does not prevent judges, juries, and attorneys from seeing recordings in court, and has exemptions for family members of the deceased officers. It does not prevent the law enforcement agency at which the death occurred, the Department of Arkansas State Police, or the FBI from investigating the death. The recordings can also be used for training purposes. It is not clear from the text of the bill whether the law could be used to justify restricting the release of evidence recorded by and seized from a citizen; it is not one of the exemptions listed under Ark. Code § 12-6-601(e).

Partial text of House Bill 1236:

[SECTION 1. DO NOT CODIFY.] (2) During the course of his or her duties, a law enforcement officer routinely relies on audio and video recording devices to record his or her movements and actions;

(3) Due to the inherently dangerous nature of a profession in law enforcement, a law enforcement officer's death that occurs in the line of duty is likely to be captured and depicted on an audio or video recording device;

(5) Presently, there are audio and video recordings that depict the death of a law enforcement officer available in various public forums for viewing and sharing which have the potential to encourage copycat acts of violence against law enforcement officers and to incite other acts of violence against law enforcement officers, and which also subject the surviving family members of the deceased law enforcement officer to viewing the murder or death of their family member on television, internet, social media, and other publically accessible forums - causing the surviving family members to relive the pain associated with the death and allowing the public to view and publically share with others sensitive depictions of the final moments and death of their family member - thereby invading the privacy of the deceased law enforcement officer's family;

[...] [12-6-601(c)(3)] A person or persons designated as the custodian of a record 8 who knowingly violates this section upon conviction is guilty of a Class D 9 felony.

Original Submission