INDIANA —  House Bill 1019 was voted on and unanimously passed by both legislative bodies on Thursday, March 10. HB 1019 is a bill that concerns itself with the protocol surrounding the release of law enforcement recordings — police dash and body cams — under public records law.

The bill now awaits the signature of Gov. Michael Pence.

Local police agencies were contacted but chose not to comment at this point.

Previous versions of the bill would have enabled police to withhold any footage that they deemed necessary, for almost any reason. However, a recent rewrite would require a police department to allow anyone to review footage. To keep a person from viewing it, according to www.iga.in.gov.com, the police department would have to prove that it could, “pose a significant risk of harm to a person or the public; interfere with a person’s ability to get a fair trial; affect an ongoing investigation; or not serve the public interest.”

However, the bill still requires that a request to view footage must be specific, including the date and approximate time, the specific location of the footage and the name of someone involved in the footage aside from the officer.

The bill, if passed will be added to Indiana Code 5-14-3-2

For more information, visit the Indiana General Assembly website.