Dubose

Across the country, law enforcement agencies have grappled with their procedures for releasing video footage, either from body cameras or dash-mounted vehicle cameras, to the public.

For Billy Sollie, the sheriff of the Lauderdale County Sheriff’s Department, the decision to release video footage has greater implications in court than on social media.

“Bottom line: if it’s part of a felony situation, we don’t want to prejudice a grand jury,” Sollie said. “One of questions asked to a potential jury pool, ‘Do any of you have information that will sway you?’ A public video would diminish the jury pool.”

Sollie said that following a grand jury indictment, the district attorney’s office could decide to release footage but said a jury at trial could be prejudiced. 

“It’s not necessarily that law enforcement wants to ‘hide anything,'” Sollie said. “It’s to maintain the cleanliness of the case and not prejudice a jury.”

The Meridian Police Department released a video of an officer tasing a suspect in handcuffs nine days after a July 16, 2018 incident. The department terminated the officer, Daniel Starks, after suspending him without pay before releasing the video.

“We don’t really have a written policy on releasing videos and so forth,” Benny Dubose, the Meridian Police Chief, said. “We consider if we think it is something that the city residents need to know about… with Starks, we knew it would stimulate a lot of conversation, but it needed to.”

Dubose said the police department reviews footage of officers after citizen complaints and won’t accept officer misconduct.

“Police officers are getting a bad rap and being accused of covering things up,” Dubose said. “If we feel it’s in the best interest of the department and the public, we’re going to get it out there… rather than pretending it never happened.”

Dubose said law enforcement agencies shouldn’t be expected to release every video after a citizen complaint, using a recent example circulating on Facebook that accused on officer of misconduct.

“We didn’t release the video because there was no wrongdoing on the part of the officer,” Dubose said.