Lanier says that body camera videos cannot be redacted easily

D.C. Police Chief Cathy Lanier said that technology does not exist to efficiently redact videos from police body cameras for release to the public. Lanier and Mayor Muriel Bowser want to outfit every officer of the law with body cameras by the end of 2015, but they are asking that the videos be exempt from the District’s Freedom of Information Act. That particular request has divided the D.C. Council. Councilmember Kenyan McDuffie plans on preparing new legislation that would make body-camera footage subject to public-records requests. Lanier testified before McDuffie on Thursday that it would take approximately seventeen hours to redact a four-minute video. She added that public access to the videos can be directly requested through the regulations department and that the FOIA exemption is the best approach for the time being.