Senate Clears Public Records Exemption for Mass Shootings
March 27th, 2019 by Mike VasilindaPhotographs, video or audio from mass killings in Florida could soon be out of the sunshine.
Legislation approved by the State Senate today makes it a crime to release the material, and someone who does could spend up to five years in prison.
The legislation was once so broad the infamous video showing Broward Sheriff’s deputies not going into Marjorie Stoneman Douglass High School to stop a killer could not have been released.
The First Amendment Foundation objected.
“Law enforcement. One agency was accusing another agency. Why didn’t they engage the shooter sooner, more effectively. It was the ability to access those records and then the reporting on them that made a difference,” said Barbara Petersen with the First Amendment Foundation.
Because of the foundation’s efforts, lawmakers narrowed the public records exemption to just the actual killing of three people or more.
It leaves intact the right to see what lead up to the event.
“This removes the language about causation that we had before,” said State Senator Jose Javier Rodriguez.
Senate sponsor Tom Lee says the narrowing was a recognition.
“Government can not be responsible for policing itself. And the public has, under our laws here in the state of Florida and the United States has a right to access to information, so we don’t do these things lightly. What we are narrowing down are a lot of things that are causing people distress,” said Lee.
The legislation also seeks to keep private any existing video of a mass shooting.
If it becomes public, then video from Pulse or Stoneman Douglass could not be released.
The legislation makes the release a third degree felony if a records custodian released the photos or video, but nothing in the bill prohibits a victims family members from releasing the recording.
The bill does leave open the door for someone to go to court to get the video, but more often than not, the cost of going to court is prohibitive.
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