COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) – Some central Ohio police departments are misinterpreting a state law that allows them to charge for body camera video, which could lead to higher costs for public records, according to a law professor.
In January, Gov. Mike DeWine signed House Bill 315 into law, which allows government agencies to charge the public and news media for public records requests before releasing them. This could include video from police-worn body cameras, police vehicle dashboard cameras and jail surveillance footage.
The statute reads, in part: “A state or local law enforcement agency may charge a requester the actual cost associated with preparing a video record for inspection or production, not to exceed seventy-five dollars per hour of video produced, nor seven hundred fifty dollars total.”
The law is intended to cover the administrative costs associated with editing the video since police departments often have to redact the voices or faces of uncharged suspects or victims whose identities are protected under the law. The Ohio Revised Code previously allowed agencies to charge for public records, but only nominal fees associated with copying the content onto items such as paper or a flash drive, not labor costs.
Under state law, any person, including corporations, individuals and government agencies, is entitled to request and inspect public records.
Since the new law took effect, some police departments have rolled out updates to their public records policies, opting to charge for body camera video, but not all departments are interpreting the statute the same way. Some say they are charging per hour of video footage, while others are charging per hour of work.
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However, the Columbus Division of Police and Reynoldsburg Police Department told NBC4 they are charging per hour of work it takes to prepare the video for release. Columbus police have set a fee of $37 per hour of work, and Reynoldsburg police have set a fee of $75 per hour of work.
Susan Gilles, a professor of law at Capital University, said she believes the latter departments are misinterpreting the law. She said the law allows departments to charge per hour of video, and that charging per hour of work could lead to much higher costs for police video.
“It's going to be a lot, lot more,” Gilles said. “It's a massive amount that they can put into, quote, actual cost, which is why the legislature, I think, said, ‘OK, but you can only charge $75 per hour of the video produced, of the record you're giving up.’”
For example, the law allows agencies to charge up to $75 per hour of video, which caps the price of 20 minutes of footage at $25, according to Gilles. But if a police department charges $75 per hour of work, and they claim it took them two hours to edit that 20 minutes of footage, the price for that record would jump to $150.
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“I think they are overreading the cap provision, the $75 per hour of video produced, because they're thinking, ‘Well, they said we could include actual costs, so it can't mean $75 per hour of video produced,’ but it does,” she said. “All of a sudden, they're allowed to include this employee time, so they're thinking, ‘Wait, it must mean $75 per hour of work to produce the record.’”
According to Gilles, police departments could face lawsuits if they are charging more than allowed by the law for body or dash camera video.
The office of the state’s highest attorney seems to also agree the law allows departments to charge per hour of video, rather than per hour of work. The Ohio Attorney General's website states: “agencies can charge up to $75 per hour of video footage.”
When NBC4 reached out to the office to get clarification on the law, a spokesperson said: “We do not have authority over how individual agencies interpret the statute – that’s a better question for the departments or their attorneys.”
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“If [lawmakers] had wanted what the police departments are saying, they would have to write ‘$75 per hour of … the time required to produce the record,’ and to me, they know how to say that and instead, they said ‘$75 per hour of video produced,’” Gilles said.
The entire public records portion of House Bill 315 did not receive any public hearings, as it was added as a last-minute provision to the 450-page bill, which addresses a range of unrelated issues.
The Cleveland and Cincinnati police departments currently do not charge for body or dash camera video, according to city spokespeople.
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