In Texas, More Body Cameras ≠ More Transparency

Video has emerged of yet another unarmed person of color being gunned down by the police, and we can now add San Antonio, Texas to the growing list of American cities where such tragedies have unfolded over the past several months. And in San Antonio, as with many of the other cities, the incident has been followed by loud calls for police body cameras.

Coincidentally, at just about the same time as the full video recording of the killing of Gilbert Flores was being released, the Dallas Police Department announced it was commencing the rollout of its body camera program. Deputy Chief Andrew Acord said the program “will add that much more transparency for the public to gain additional trust in us.” Sadly, because of existing Texas law, neither Dallas’ program, nor the expanded program just approved for San Antonio, is likely to achieve that goal.

Such is the case because, under Texas’ body camera law, the police are given the discretion to withhold body camera video footage from the public, even in cases involving the shooting of unarmed citizens, whenever the video “deals with the detection, investigation, or prosecution of crime” (Texas Govt. Code § 552.108). This broad exemption is a serious impediment to the kind of transparency that police officials are touting.

If Dallas and San Antonio truly want their body camera programs to promote greater police transparency, they can to do so. All their police departments need to do is to adopt a formal policy that body camera videos that capture a police use of force or are the subject of a citizen complaint will be publicly released, even though their release is not required by law. Texas police departments that adopt such a policy, and only those departments, can rightfully claim their body camera programs promote real transparency.