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all right guys welcome back to the
channel for today's video I'm going to
be answering a question that I've
received probably thousands of times in
the last couple of weeks I generally
don't put this kind of video on the body
camera Channel but this is a topic that
pertains uh very much to body camera
footage and that's where the majority of
the questions come from so I decided I
would put a a rare sighting of my face
on this channel so I can share with you
uh my thoughts feelings and reactions to
this new Ohio law if you're looking at
the headline that should be behind me
over here uh it actually says requesting
police and jail video could cost up to
$750 under Ohio law before Mark or Mark
D wine Mike dwine the governor of Ohio
uh this article was published on
December 19th 201 24 the governor of
Ohio has since signed this into law so
what this is is this was actually an
amendment to the Ohio Sunshine Law uh
which is the uh the public records act
that requires municipalities to provide
records upon request body camera footage
is covered under that I believe it's orc
14327 something else I could be wrong
but I I do look at this code quite
frequently because I make an absolute
ton of public record request that's how
we get the footage that you guys enjoy
on a weekly basis uh a lot of people are
asking me uh what I think about this law
and how is it going to affect me uh
let's first talk about what I think
about this law the nature of the law all
these other things um the the reason
this law was put in place is because
reviewing and redacting body camera
footage is buris some burdensome for
police departments uh if a police
department has a body camera system and
they want to provide those videos to the
public somebody has to review every
single minute of body camera footage
prior to releasing that to the public
because there are some things that need
to be redacted uh children have to be
redacted now due to Mercy's law victims
of crime have to be redacted um nudity
certain violent acts violent acts
against police officers um certain
amounts of uh grotesque and gruesome
images are not supposed to be shown um
not supposed to be released to the
public through body camera footage all
these things and um you know insides of
uh police departments private businesses
private homes unless there's a an
altercation with law enforcement uh
there's a whole bunch of exceptions to
the way the the way the law works is
everything is considered a public record
unless there is an exception to that
rule uh like nudity would me an
exception to the public records rule so
a video that has nudity in it is no
longer a public record that's what the
exceptions are so people have to Rev RW
these and look for exceptions and it's
it's timec consuming because if I
request an incident let's say there's a
I know an an arrest uh where there's a
use of force and I request it and um
there's five officers on scene and the
arrest takes an hour um I have to
request each of those officers body
cameras so that's five hours of footage
that somebody has to review so for for
one request that might take them let's
see 5 hours to just review it you're
looking at redactions at uh 20% of that
you might be looking at six or seven
hours just to release the footage of one
video One incident that I put on YouTube
that you know I might only use a total
of 15 minutes of that footage so I
understand where people are coming from
when they say look this is a tremendous
burden on the government and on these
agencies look at the amount of time
that's going into producing these
requests um so what they're doing is
they're instit in this fee of up to $75
an hour at a total of
$750 to what they're saying is to recoup
the cost of um rendering and editing and
redacting this footage um to hopefully
allow them to hire more people something
like that I've got some more thoughts on
that here at a moment um it's it's such
a complicated issue um that I I think
what's actually going to happen with
this this fee is that that you're
actually going to be excluding a
tremendous number of people from being
able to request these videos uh that's
that's really what's going on um I I can
also and I'm I'm sorry I'm going to be
kind of going all over the place I don't
have any notes I don't have an outline
in front of me today um but it it's also
it's even been said many many times in
these articles when you read about this
that this law was specifically put in
place to stop people who make YouTube
videos specifically people like me um
and and in one of the articles I read
it's not in this particular one but I
saw a quote from Dave y who is the
attorney general in the state of Ohio
and he specifically mentioned YouTubers
YouTube channels that produce body
camera footage and said um you know
these guys are out there making money
off of public records and it's not it's
not the government's job to help fund
their he called it like a garden
business um like you're your little side
hustle uh the one of the issues that I
have with that is that everybody out
there on YouTube isn't doing this for
money it's not necessarily a side hustle
um my channel itself is not monetized
this is the the monetization side of my
YouTube channel here it is right here
saying if you would like to monetize go
ahead and apply so I've been making
these videos
for um going on five years now and I'm
not doing it to earn money I'm doing it
to raise public awareness to a cause um
you could even say that what I do is
activism uh you know we have a lot of
anti- police police activism we have
some Pro police activism and that's kind
of the world that I find myself in and
um these fees are specifically designed
to stop people like me an interesting
thing about this is when when I saw this
hit the news and actually the way I
found out about it was a reporter uh
sent me an email asking for me to come
in into an interview which I replied
that I don't do media interviews if I
have something to say I'll say it on my
own channel um plus I it takes me some
time to kind of gather my thoughts on
this this has been out for uh 3 weeks
now give or take um and I'm finally just
now getting sitting down to put my
thoughts out about this topic um but
when I received that request for a media
interview I actually sent a text out to
a couple of reporters and stuff I know
and I asked hey is your agency going to
file any kind of lawsuit or any action
to try to NX this and uh the the
response that I got from them was really
interesting to me and I don't think that
they meant to insult me by it
um one thing they said was well I'll get
to that in a moment but they said uh I
don't think that we're going to be
filing any legal action about it we
might ask for a media carve
out which that's really interesting to
me because now you have an issue where
the government the entire government
that's out there is going to decide who
is Media who is not media and you're
looking at a situation where only the
media is going to be able to re request
this footage for free everybody else is
going to have to pay for it the law was
written to try to stop people from
profiting off of body camera footage but
that's exactly what the media does the
media is not a charity the media is out
there they are in business of making
money they make money by reporting the
news um they're no different than that
YouTuber and as a matter of fact the
media makes a lot more money than your
average YouTuber does so if you're
following the the same uh the same logic
that the law was written under there
should absolutely not be any kind of
media carve out um and then you also
have to decide who is the media because
here in Columbus uh I I am considered
the media as well so does that mean that
if they make a carve out for the media I
now I'm in the media so I don't have to
pay these kinds of fees to get this
material and we all kind of know the
answer to that is it's going to create a
world if they were to make a carve out
like that it would create a world of
preferential treatment what's what's to
say that this um this online media
agency is not considered media by the
government and they don't get the
footage you're then discriminating
against one organization over another
you're showing favoritism and that's not
something that the government has
allowed to do um I think ultimately that
would be something that would get this
law to be struck down um so there's
going to be some future records request
possibly done by me or attorneys that
I'm working with uh once this rule is
instituted to see exactly who is being
charged for this media and how much
they're being charged and if it turns
out that there's a discrepancy in that
then you're going to have some kind of
lawsuits for damages um that's that's
kind of me thinking ahead thinking about
what might happen here um now I also
want to talk for a moment about the
money involved in producing or redacting
and providing these these vide videos to
the public because I know that it's it's
timec consuming and it's burdensome on
the government entity on the police
department
itself but I have a problem with them
saying well this is too much of a burden
therefore the public has to Bear the
brunt of that um you know they're saying
oh well we're just looking out for
taxpayers and taxpayer dollars therefore
we decided it's too expensive to briide
these the public for free we're going to
start charging for them if you remember
back to 2014 2015 2016 when at least
body cameras were new to my agency in
that time and I think most agencies
across the country it was a relatively
new thing to them too one of the it it
was I think this was in light of uh the
Ferguson shooting I can't the I can't
remember the guy's name right now it's
escaping me but that that shooting that
happened out on Ferguson there was no
body camera footage of that incident
everybody said you know we can't trust
the cops because they don't have body
cameras and we're going to have to to
put by cameras on every cop a lot of
police departments were out there saying
look we would love to put cameras on our
officer to show you what a good job that
they're doing but we can't afford it we
don't have the money in our budget and
what uh the activists said and what the
politicians said and this happened um in
Columbus as well is you know what screw
it you guys have to adjust your budgets
you have to figure it out you have to
come up with the money to buy these
cameras uh in the city of Columbus the
Mayor found some money the Mayor found
some money gave it to the police
department and said here's the money
that you need go ahead and buy these
cameras outfit all of your officers and
all the other stuff uh then it became an
issue of storage hey we don't have the
money to buy enough servers to store all
this body camera footage um the money
that you gave us to buy the cameras
purchase the cameras but now we can't s
save video they're beginning to fill up
once they're full we will no longer be
able to record body camera footage
magically more money was able to just
appear
um so so the government is telling the
officers and the police departments you
know what I don't care what your
objections are you're going to have
these body cameras um if it's a matter
of money we'll come up with the money
we'll help you Institute this this
program now you also have a situation
with with small departments they're
saying you know these these townships
and these smaller departments they don't
have the money to buy cameras um pay for
all of the server infrastructure like
you you have no idea everything that
goes into have a body into having a body
camera program you have to go into the
substations and put um you have to buy
these charging stations for the body
cameras the charging stations are
connected to the internet you have to
have internet um like uh wires going
going to these things so they can upload
to the internet and that can go to the
server uh it's a tremendous burden on
your it infrastructure now now your it
guys have to learn how these servers
work and when you try to log in your
email and your email is not working they
might not be available because they're
working on a body camera program or if
you're trying to get your body camera
fixed they're working on the email
program or some other it infrastructure
thing like these are a burden to our
agencies and the state in response to
that uh started issuing grants I've got
a uh an article up here from January of
2024 just about a year ago uh Governor
dwine announces funding for law
enforcement agencies uh body warrant
camera programs and in it says that they
provided $10 million so that small
agencies can buy body cameras so it's
it's not just the local municipalities
and these uh Mayors and City councils
and stuff that are coming up with money
the state of Ohio is also coming up with
money to give to these small agencies so
they can Institute a body camera program
so why now that you've pushed these
cameras on everybody and everyone's come
accustomed to these cameras everybody
loves loves the body cameras I'm a
police officer I love the body cameras I
love all the interactions that it shows
and it shows you know if anybody ever
questions anything I do you can just
look at my body camera you're going to
see that I haven't done anything wrong
or that I actually did a a very good job
or that the person who's talking about
me is actually lying I've I've posted
some some situations where citizens lied
about police officers on my camera on my
my body camera uh Channel as well um so
you're you're saying that we are forced
to have all this stuff you're we're
forced to buy the cameras we're forced
to buy the servers we're forced to uh
adapt our our it infrastructure put
charging stations in our substations run
new um ethernet cables through the
ceilings do all of those things come up
with new policies and all this stuff for
body cameras but now now that the public
wants to see this video that's too much
of a burden um my argument against this
particular law is that your ability to
produce this video give it and
distribute it out to the public is part
of the whole bundle this is what you
asked for um you wanted these videos
these these cameras for transparency and
now what you're doing is you're denying
transparency you're saying oh yeah we
have all the video in the world but no
you can't see it unless you can give me
75 bucks an hour or $750 per request
then I will let you see it um that's
that's creating an environment where
there's only transparency for for people
who can afford it there's only
transparency for the rich um that's not
the system that we have that's not
that's not the spirit of which these
things were implemented um that that's
the part that's very frustrating to me
um and also it it really it skirts the
issue um you know because if these these
cities states mun these I guess it's
supposed to be just for police
departments if if these Police
Department
um don't have enough people to redact
this footage and get requests out on
time they need they need to hire more
people I don't understand also the
government's reluctancy to hire more
people you would think that this would
be a tremendous jobs program uh if the
city of Columbus were to hire I I don't
know how many people they have in the
office now but I think it's six or seven
if they were hire another 15 people um
that would incredibly help this process
it would also give another 15 people a
good reliable job doing something that
is actually important um and it's also
there's no shortage of people to hire
there's no shortage of people looking
for jobs uh this is an this is also an
example of government not properly
prioritizing where their resources go uh
that was one of the other points I
probably should have made about six
seven minutes ago uh is that you know
people are saying people in the the
government are saying we don't have the
money to hire people to promote these to
redact these videos and do all this
other stuff but at the same time out of
the other side of their mouth they're
wasting money on a ton of other programs
that do absolutely nothing to benefit
Society uh the city of Columbus for
instance that I get all of my footage
from that's probably going to start
charging me $750 or they might attempt
to charge me $750 per request um they
have an office of diversity Equity
inclusion that's a complete waste of
money it's a complete waste of money and
resources um they also have an office of
violence prevention uh the office of
violence prevention is not out there
preventing violence this is a complete
waste of money um it it's just stupid
you can you can take the money that's
put into that program that does nothing
put it into this program that actually
benefits the public provides the public
something that they asked for that's
good use of your funds um the city of
Columbus also has a civilian review
board that has absolutely no author
uh they're basically just a bunch of
squawking hands on a board that
complains about the police officers and
uh their their rulings their verdicts
whatever have absolutely no weight when
it comes to the uh chain of command on
whether or not they're going to make a
decision to punish somebody or what and
also they get their investigations from
the office of the Inspector General that
I've shown on this channel multiple
times doesn't know what they're doing
either so often these investigations are
so full of holes gaps misinformation and
just poor investigating that when it
makes it back to the chain of command
the chain of command has to do a whole
new investigation just to figure out
what
happened there is a ton of fraud waste
and abuse in our government system and
the body camera system is actually not
one of them this is a very important
essential function of the police
department and it's offensive to me that
they've taken this approach uh now what
effect is it going to have on me and and
my channel uh a lot of people have said
that this amendment to the law was
specifically written to stop me and I
tend to agree with that sentiment um I
know that the city of Columbus the mayor
city council the safety director they're
not a fan of what it is that I do uh
they're a fan of transparency as long as
they get to choose what the public sees
they're actually not a fan of
transparency at all they're a bunch of
crooked Liars um and they've trying to
stop me for several years now because I
provide the appropriate amount of
transparency to the Columbus Police
Department um I already mentioned before
the channel doesn't make any money I I
don't have money to spend 75 bucks an
hour or $750 per request uh I do this as
a labor of love I really enjoy this
channel I really enjoy um the content
that I provide I enjoy um seeing the
reactions of the public and the officers
of the Columbus Police Department really
appreciate everything that I do as well
I get a lot of um messes messages of
support and I've made a lot of friends
due to this particular social media
channel uh like I said this is kind of
like my Pro police activism I think that
I'm making the world a better place by
showing what the police are really like
um I don't I don't have this money so
if the Columbus Police Department Char
starts charging me this kind of money
for my records requests uh that will be
the end of this
channel I don't have anything else to
say about it I I'll be done um if I am
no longer doing making videos on this
channel most likely what I'll do is uh
I'll see my family a little bit more um
I won't be constantly consumed looking
at my phone monitoring uh comments and
and all of that other stuff I won't have
to watch the news anymore to see what
kind of content I make I'm going to get
to spend more time with my wife and my
family I won't miss as many soccer games
I'll probably start picking up overtime
at work and my income will actually go
up that's going to be the effect that
this law has on my channel gone on for
about 20 minutes now I think I've said
everything that I intended to say uh
those are my thoughts on this particular
topic thank you for watching I'll talk
to you guys
later for
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