FLAGSTAFF — Obtaining police body camera footage in Flagstaff will no longer be free after the City Council voted to implement a new fee Tuesday night.
The Flagstaff Police Department has asked that the hourly rate for its officers who review and edit body camera footage be set at $46 an hour, the maximum allowed under new state law. These fees will be waived if the victim requests a copy of the report or body camera footage.
The police department received approximately 136 public records requests involving body camera footage from July 2022 to July 2023, and staff spent more than 200 hours reviewing footage during this period. Rick Tadder, director of management services, said the company would have made more than $9,200 under the new fee structure.
The decision comes after the Arizona Legislature passed a law in 2023 that allows cities to charge fees to review and edit body camera footage in response to public records requests.
Before the law took effect last fall, local law enforcement agencies could not charge fees for these requests.
The fee is expected to be introduced in March.
The Flagstaff City Council approved the purchase of body cameras for police in 2014, making it the second agency in the state to adopt the use of the technology at that time.
Police Chief Dan Musselman said officers are required to have their cameras activated at all times when interacting with the public. The department's animal control officers and assistant police officers are also equipped with body cameras.
Here's where to contact the reporter: LLatch@gannett.com.
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