Is $578 a reasonable amount of money to obtain body worn camera footage that was recorded by taxpayer funded video equipment and government employees? That’s the estimated value lawyers for the Baltimore County Government placed on body worn camera footage for just one arrest incident. John Olszewski, Jr. campaigned on running a transparent executive administration, which includes the police department. He never mentioned that transparency and accountability would have a big price tag.
The devil is in the details, however. The response I received back from Corporal Bryan Lange
of the Baltimore County Police Department’s Technology and Communication Section is that this cost is for the search and preparation of this video in a customized format. I don’t need them to provide a custom video job….all I really need to do is inspect the court records in-person which should not have any costs associated with it, per the Maryland Public Information Act. I can do all of the mechanical processing and other costs associated by myself.
As a professional videographer, I know for a fact that less than an hour’s worth of work to find a video file and create a copy it is not worth close to $600. Maybe there are other unrequested services being provided that can account for that estimated total, such as lawyers fees? Services that one would assume were already paid for by County or State taxes… So the question remains: What exactly are the Baltimore County Police hiding? Did they commit police brutality on an elderly man, as this man has claimed? Would release of this video turn into a national news story?
As the final sentence stated in the public records response document, “The Department may not charge a fee for the first 2 hours that are needed to search for a public record and prepare it for inspection. County policy requires pre-payment of this fee.” When my schedule allows, I will be traveling to a government building to inspect those records. I come in peace, only seeking the facts as any real journalist would.