Legislation targets viewing of police body camera footage

March 16, 2017

TALLAHASSEE, Fl.a (WCTV) -- A House committee voted 17 to 0 to allow police officers to view footage from their body cameras before submitting reports or responding to complaints.

House Bill 305 would give local agencies that use body cameras the authority to allow the viewing.

Matt Puckett of the Police Benevolent Association says the viewing could eliminate some confusion.

“There is an accuracy issue right now, where you have video footage and you have the officers report, and sometime they don’t jive up. So what do we have? We have people that should be in trouble for DUI’s and other crimes that get off because of this accuracy issue. So we hope it’s a no brainer,” says Puckett.

Police agencies are not required to use body cameras, so those that do, do so voluntarily, but legislation has been filed to require all agencies to use the cameras.