Civil rights groups called on Gov. Mark Dayton to veto body camera legislation, despite last-minute concessions that lawmakers made to win the support of the governor.
Legislators removed a provision that would have allowed cops to watch body camera footage before filing an incident report after the governor said he would veto the bill otherwise. Critics have said that allowing officers to watch the video beforehand could alter what they would otherwise report and fail to capture their initial perception of what happened.
But after the new legislation passed the Senate Saturday, Saint Paul NAACP, the MN/Dakota Areas NAACP State Conference, the Saint Paul Interdenominational Black Ministerial Alliance, the Saint Paul African American Leadership Council and the ACLU asked the governor to veto it.
The new measure still leaves open the possibility for local police departments to enact their own policies allowing officers to view the footage before making statements.
The civil rights groups said they've repeatedly asked for more public access to body camera footage, expanding it to when a complaint has been filed against an officer and anytime there's a use of physical force; explanations of when the body camera should be turned on and off; and requiring officers to inform people when they are being recorded.
