Henderson reverses ‘no notes’ directive on police videos after reporter questions
Henderson issued a directive this week saying reporters could not take notes while watching video filmed from police cruisers, a policy that one advocate said could be unconstitutional.
After questions from the Las Vegas Review-Journal, the city reversed course Friday, saying the policy on making video footage public was still a work in progress.
The city allowed a Review-Journal reporter to view several videos recently in response to public records requests. There were no restrictions on note-taking, and the reporter was able to pause, rewind and fast-forward the videos as needed.
But on Thursday, a city police spokeswoman sent out an email with "viewing procedures" that included this provision: "No note-taking devices, including paper and pens will be allowed in the viewing room."
Barry Smith, executive director of the Nevada Press Association, said the policy could be unconstitutional, since it restricts the press' ability to gather news. Not being able to take notes makes it next to impossible to accurately report on the contents of videos.
"The way this policy is worded is clearly an attempt to prevent public scrutiny of Henderson police videos," Smith said. "They put restrictions in here so ridiculous as to make it impractical to glean anything useful from the video. This is the opposite of transparency."
A city spokesman, Bud Cranor, said Henderson was trying to balance public access with individual privacy.
"You're viewing a record of an incident that is going to involve sensitive information that is not public, things involving private citizens at moments when the police are involved in their lives for some reason," Cranor said.
After conferring with other city staff Friday, he said reporters will be allowed to take notes while viewing videos as the city develops a final policy.
Videos of police encounters with the public have been the subject of national debate for the past year, with several high-profile deaths caught on video. An officer in South Carolina was charged with murder after the shooting of Walter Scott was captured by a bystander's cell phone. But other officers — including those in New York involved in the death of Eric Garner — have been cleared.
Departments are increasingly adopting body-worn cameras, and the footage can both hold officers accountable for misconduct and protect them from false allegations. Henderson has no body cams, but the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department does.
Cranor said Henderson was modeling its policy on public viewing of dash-cam video footage after Metro's recently announced policy on body cam videos.
But Metro's policy says nothing about barring people from taking notes while watching videos. Officer Jesse Roybal, a Metro spokesman, said Friday that the department's policy was still being finalized and he did not know whether note-taking would be allowed.
Contact Eric Hartley at ehartley@reviewjournal.com or 702-550-9229. Find him on Twitter: @ethartley
