Process works for body cams

This is the way the legislative process is supposed to work: Exchange of ideas, debate and discussion, followed by thoughtful compromise.
That’s the process that appears to be underway with H.B. 1109, which has now been assigned to a conference committee in the Indiana General Assembly.
The bill began with an honest effort by Rep. Kevin Mahan (R-Hartford City) to figure out how video collected by police body cameras should be handled.
More and more departments have adopted body camera technology, and law enforcement in Jay County supports that movement because officers reason it’s in their own best interests. If you’re doing your job properly, officers tell us, video from a body camera serves as a back-up and documentation that best practices are in place.
But with new technology comes new questions, specifically whether those videos would be public records or be classified as investigatory material that would only be released at the discretion of the police agency.
Mahan’s original bill put the burden of making body camera videos accessible on the public. Law enforcement held all the cards.
While we have confidence in our local law enforcement agencies, too many incidents over the course of 2015 have undermined that confidence nationally. Clearly, there needed to be a more balanced approach.
That seems to have been found by the Indiana Senate Judiciary Committee. Working under the leadership of Sen. Brent Steele (R-Bedford), a bipartisan group has drafted a version that balances the interests of law enforcement and the public at large. It looks like an honest effort to work through a complicated problem.
The matter now goes to a House-Senate conference committee, which Mahan will chair.
Our hope is that the committee won’t stray too far from the Senate version and will preserve the balance that has been crafted. Ideas have been exchanged, there’s been debate and discussion, and now it’s time for a thoughtful conclusion. — J.R.