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Ohio introduces up to $750 fee for Body Cam requests as GOP Governor blames social media influencers

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Columbus, OhioIn a controversial last-minute move, Ohio lawmakers have authorized police departments to charge fees for fulfilling Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests involving the editing and redacting of video footage, including body camera recordings and jail surveillance.

Ohio police departments answering requests for any video footage can now charge up to $75/hr for functions related to redacting, including any legal consultations required by the department beforehand.

The move has been criticized for imposing a financial barrier on journalists, activists, and citizens seeking access to public records, undermining transparency and accountability. Critics argue that it will predominantly affect rural White areas with limited police staffing, which are more likely to start imposing fees on FOIA requests.

The provision, described by some Cleveland reporters as being “snuck into” the bill, was defended by Governor Mike DeWine (R), who framed it as a budgetary measure aimed at recouping costs associated with “unfunded burdens.”

According to the text of the bill, a police department’s “obligation to produce” public records requests related to footage “begins once the estimated actual cost is paid in full by the requester.”

A final total charged by any police department may not exceed 20% of the “estimated actual cost,” with a maximum discretionary fee of $750.

Gov. DeWine pardons hundreds of convicts in December 2024. Photo: Governor of Ohio

In a prepared statement released on January 3, Republican Governor Mike DeWine claimed that the bill aims to ease staffing issues faced by police departments statewide. DeWine suggested that part of the issue stems from what he characterized as frivolous FOIA requests, blaming social media influencers for exacerbating the issue.

“No law enforcement agency should ever have to choose between diverting resources for officers on the street to administrative tasks like lengthy video redaction reviews,” DeWine stated, adding that this is especially problematic when the requester is “a private company seeking to make money off of these videos.”

The governor also described the decision as fiscally responsible and practical.

“The language in House Bill 315 is a workable compromise to balance the modern realities of preparing these public records and the cost it takes to prepare them,” DeWine said, explaining that Ohio law already permits user fees for duplicating public records and that HB 315 applies this concept to law enforcement video.

While DeWine insisted that the public’s “right to access public records” would remain unaffected, some legal experts strongly disagree.

“Budgets are tight with newsrooms, and budgets are tight with groups that are interested in shining a light on police misconduct,” Attorney Jeff Vardaro of Gittes Law Group said to ABC 6 in Columbus on January 3. “The body cameras are there to protect me as a member of the public. The cruiser cameras are there to protect me as a member of the public. If they are making it harder to see them, they are making me less safe.”

Attorney Kurt Bruderly, who practices criminal defense, told WTVG in Toledo that HB 315 was most likely to affect “rural jurisdictions” with very few staff compared to urban police departments.

“Rural jurisdictions where there’s staff where they have one or two police officers or a township out in rural northwest Ohio could very well charge a lot of money for this,” Bruderly said. “Up to $750, whereas some places like Toledo that have a larger police force, that has larger entities have individuals that are assigned to do these specific jobs, they may not charge at all.”

According to NPR affiliate WOFU, rural Ohio has been over 90% White non-Hispanic for nearly its entire history.

The impact of the new bill on transparency and accountability in rural counties appears to be deliberate. In an interview with News5 last month, Governor Mike DeWine expressed his intention to shield small police departments from what he described as “frivolous” FOIA requests.

“If you have, for example, a small police department — very small police department — and they get a request like that, that could take one person a significant period of time,” Republican Governor DeWine said in December.

While DeWine defended the need for fees to address staffing limitations in small departments, Cleveland police have taken a different approach. The department made headlines for claiming to have “no plans to charge for body cam video requests.” However, this commitment applied only to legacy media outlets, leaving the public without similar assurances.

“…We have no plans to charge fees to members of the traditional press,” spokesperson for the City of Cleveland Tyler Sinclair said. “We highly value our television, radio, print, and digital media partners.”

Jonathan Entin, a law professor at Case Western Reserve University felt the discretionary fee came at a very bad time for American households. While speaking with News 5, Entin brought up the average citizen’s increasing difficulty in acquiring the bare essentials.

“If you’ve got all those things, having to pay $75 an hour for video — even for one hour — might bust your budget and therefore, you might not ask,” Entin said.

According to Census estimates, over 1 in ten Ohioans lives in poverty. Nationally, Fortune estimated in 2023 that 37% of Americans have $400 or less in their savings with 18% of Americans only able to save a maximum of $100. 

The Justice Report has previously relied on FOIA requests to access critical video footage in Ohio. In early 2022, White children were beaten, dragged, and forced to support BLM at an elementary school in Springfield, Ohio. The video obtained and edited by the Justice Report of the incident was shared across social media and seen by millions of people.

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