RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - The Rapid City police chief has cautioned against any proposed laws that would mandate police to release video footage to the public, saying he prefers the current protocol of releasing written reports after police use force.
Rapid City Police Don Hedrick, who stepped into the role last month, told the Rapid City Journal that he would “caution” lawmakers considering bills to regulate when video footage is released.
Police killings and shootings of Black people have set off unrest and protests across the nation this summer, as well as calls for greater police accountability in the state. South Dakota law does not require law enforcement agencies to release records on investigations to the public.
Hedrick said the Attorney General’s practice of investigating and releasing written reports when police use force is “a good protocol already allowing the public to best understand these types of critical incidents.”
Hendrick said that situations when police use force are “highly complex incidents” and videos don’t show the full picture of what happened leading up to the incident.
Sen. Reynold Nesiba, a Sioux Falls Democrat, proposed a bill to regulate the use of police body cameras last year, but it failed.
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