Crime & Safety
Colorado Mom Seeks Cop Body Cam Transparency After Son's Death
The mother of a 19-year-old killed during a police confrontation is on a mission to make police body cam footage available under state law.
FORT COLLINS, CO – By Jeff Roberts, Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. The mother of a 19-year-old man who was killed during a confrontation with police last year is on a mission to make law enforcement body camera footage more available to the public under Colorado law.
Susan Holmes said she had to wait more than four months to see video of the July 1, 2017, fatal shooting of her son, Jeremy, near the Colorado State University campus in Fort Collins. She is frustrated the public still doesn’t have access to footage that she believes provides important context about the tragedy and the mental health crisis Jeremy was going through.
“It is psychological and emotional torture to not know how your child really died,” Holmes told the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition. “…The only thing that kept me alive during this period was my need to find out and then clear Jeremy’s name.”
Find out what's happening in Across Coloradofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Working with a Denver lawyer, Holmes recently finished drafting legislation that she calls the “Jeremy Holmes Act.” Now she is trying to find a state lawmaker to champion the proposal, which addresses the disclosure of body-worn camera video and audio when a law enforcement officer’s use of force results in death.
To ensure “transparency and accountability,” her measure would require the release of footage within five days of a public records request, allowing for some redaction to obscure the faces of witnesses and bystanders. “The disclosure of body camera footage in this type of incident provides oversight where strong public interest outweighs any privacy concerns,” it states.
Find out what's happening in Across Coloradofor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Such a requirement, if enacted, would be a major departure from how state law currently treats the public release of body-worn camera footage. While not specifically addressed in the statutes, disclosure is governed by the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act and judicial opinions applying the CCJRA. The act gives law enforcement agencies discretion to withhold criminal justice records such as body-cam footage if they determine that disclosure would be “contrary to the public interest.”
READ MORE in The Colorado Independent
Photo by Ryan Johnson via Wikimedia Commons