U.S. Military Cannot Find Its Video to Authenticate Leaked Video

A spokesman for U.S. Central Command says the U.S. military cannot find its copy of a video showing two Reuters news agency employees being killed by Army helicopters in 2007. A leaked version of the video circulated the Internet and was posted on Wikileaks.org on the "collateralmurder.com" site.

The video includes audio of troops calling to "light 'em up!" and referring to the men as "dead bastards." An internal investigation concluded the troops acted appropriately, despite mistaking the camera equipment for weapons.

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Missouri Attorney Sues City Over Open Records Request

Columbia attorney Stephen Wyse has sued the city of Columbia and the Columbia Police Department's custodian of records over an open records request. 

Wyse had requested surveillance video from the Columbia Police Department showing the police lobby and holding area to determine whether the police had inappropriately denied him access to an arrested woman who asked for a lawyer.  

In response to his Sunshine Law request for the video, the police department's custodian of records estimated the cost to be $2,739.73 and said it would take three weeks to organize more than 80 hours of digital footage. 

Wyse responded, saying the city violated the Sunshine Law by inappropriately calculating the cost and for not responding to the request timely.  He received a new estimate for $114.31, covering the cost of burning the footage to DVDs.  After paying the $114.31, Wyse again was told that his request would be honored in three weeks and after he paid the original cost estimate of $2,739.73.  

More here. 

AP Seeks Video of Stinger Grenade Explosion in Prison Cell

The Associated Press filed suit against the Wisconsin Department of Corrections for its refusal to release a 2005 video showing a stinger grenade exploding inside a prisoner's cell after a guard dropped it.

The Department refused the open records request on grounds that the tape would jeopardize the security and safety of inmates and staff at the prison.  

Get more information here. 

Footage of governor's office entrance denied in Sunshine request

Missouri Capitol Police have denied the News-Leader's request for video footage from cameras aimed at public entrances to the governor's office in the state Capitol. They cited an exemption passed after the 2001 terrorist attacks. "More specifically, showing areas which are covered by our cameras would reveal areas, (if any) which may be blind spots, thus compromising security at the Missouri Capitol," Capitol Police Capt. Paul Minze wrote in a July 31 response letter. The News-Leader submitted a formal appeal, which is pending. The newspaper is trying to verify whether a meeting between DNR Deputy Director Joe Bindbeutel and the governor took place. E-mails indicate it did, but the governor's office denied that such a meeting -- to discuss the high levels of E. coli in Lake of the Ozarks -- took place.

Missouri Capitol Police have cited a post-Sept. 11, 2001, terrorism exemption in the state's open records law in denying the News-Leader access to surveillance tape footage of the entrances of the governor's office.

Under a Sunshine Law request for public records, the newspaper sought to inspect archived video footage during various dates in June from cameras aimed at two public entrances in the governor's second floor office in the state Capitol in Jefferson City.

The News-Leader is seeking access to the video as part of its ongoing investigation into what role -- if any -- Nixon's office played in the Department of Natural Resources withholding a report for four weeks in June showing dangerously high levels of E. coli in Lake of the Ozarks.

More here.

Police car camera reveals cover-up

Video from a dashboard police camera revealed that Hollywood, Fla., police officer Dewey Pressley wrote a fake police report to cover up for another officer, the AP reported. Officer Joel Francisco rammed into the back of Alexandra Torrens-Vilas' car. Torrens-Vilas was charged with a DUI and traffic violation, but "the state attorney's office dropped the charges, saying the video raised questions about the officers' account of the crash." "I'm gonna tell you exactly how to word this so we can get him off the hook," Pressley says on the video. Later he remarks: "I don't like making things up ever because it's wrong but if I have to bend it a little to protect a cop I'm gonna."

Veteran Hollywood Police Officer Dewey Pressley said he hated lying. But if bending the truth a little would keep a fellow officer out of trouble, well, he was all for it.

A dashboard police camera video that surfaced recently showed Pressley chuckling as he wrote a fake police report, calling his creativity "a little Walt Disney" so another officer wouldn't get in trouble for rear-ending a 23-year-old woman's car in February.

Pressley and four others have been suspended with pay pending an investigation after video of the accident and the officers' attempt to cover it up became public last week, the latest Internet sensation in a line of unsettling police dashcam videos.

More here.

Group requests audio/videotapes concerning Gates' arrest

Judicial Watch filed a Massachusetts Public Records Request for any audiotapes or videotapes recorded before, during or after the arrest of Henry Louis Gates, according to Marketwire.

Judicial Watch, the public interest group that investigates and prosecutes government corruption, announced today that it has filed a Massachusetts Public Records Request with the Cambridge, MA, Police Department regarding the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates. Specifically, Judicial Watch seeks the following records:

Any audiotapes or videotapes recorded prior to, during, or after the arrest of Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates on July 16, 2009.

On July 16, Sergeant James Crowley responded to a 911 phone call from a passerby reporting two men attempting to force open the door at Professor Gates' Harvard Square home. Professor Gates claims that he had just returned from a trip to China and his front door was jammed. He asked his driver to help him force it open.

More here.

Also, 911 Tape Raises Questions in Gates Case, NYTimes: "The woman who called 911 to report a possible breaking and entering at the home of Prof. Henry Louis Gates Jr. told the dispatcher that she had “no idea” if the two men she saw were breaking in and said that, in fact, they might live there." The recording was released by the Cambridge Police Department.

Electronic trial proceedings are public records in Fla.

The Florida Supreme Court rejected a recommendation to protect judicial audio and video recordings, the AP reported.

The state Supreme Court has ordered that electronic recordings of trial proceedings are public records.

The court Thursday unanimously rejected a recommendation from a judicial commission that audio and video recordings be protected unless a judge approves their release. The high court cited the state's open government laws in siding for openness.

The ruling comes after an appeals court rejected a request from The Tampa Tribune for audio recordings in a criminal sentencing. At issue was whether privileged conversations that weren't part of the official court record could be heard on the recordings.

More here.

Va. coalition explains FOI on YouTube

The Virginia Coalition for Open Government has posted a brief how-to video on using the state's Freedom of Information.

The video can be found on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee597Zob2EE

Also, you can follow the coalition on Twitter: https://twitter.com/opengovva

And Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=47495844131

How To Make A $155 Video...

Ah, the games we play...

She knew copies of public records weren't handed out free of charge, but Overland resident Courtney Cerulo didn't expect the fee that would be attached to a videodisc of a City Council session.

Cerulo would have to pay $155 for the recording, which she wanted in hopes of bolstering her complaint that Ward 1 Councilwoman Eedie Cuminale is serving on the council even though she lacks an occupancy permit.

"I was shocked," Cerulo said.City Administrator Jason McConachie said the fee reflects the cost of producing a copy of the video, which Charter Communications provides the city.

"Charter makes the tape and provides a copy of the tape to the city," he said. "At that point, it becomes a public record."

He said the city is allowed by state law to recoup its costs of providing public records. He confirmed the price quotes to Cerulo, explaining there is a $35-an-hour charge (at a minimum of three hours) for duplicating a copy of a council broadcast and a cost of $25 (each way, for a total of $50) to pay a courier to take the tape from City Hall to a contractor to duplicate it and the return trip back to City Hall.

More here.

Texas Guv Mansion Video: Public Record or Security Secret?

The Texas Department of Public Safety, citing protection of public property from terrorism, is trying to keep secret the video surveillance tapes of the Governor's Mansion the day it burned.

The DPS wrote Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott last week asking for a ruling on whether the tapes must be released to The Associated Press. The AP requested the video the day of the fire using the Texas Public Information Act.

At least three other news organizations also asked for copies of the surveillance tapes shortly after fire severely damaged the 152-year-old mansion the morning of June 8.

DPS contends the tapes are exempt from disclosure because state homeland security laws allow information to be kept confidential if it "relates to the specifications, operating procedures, or location of a security system used to protect public or private property from an act of terrorism or related criminal activity."

Disclosure of the video would "reveal the clarity, range, angle, zoom capabilities, panning capabilities and fields of view of those cameras, as well as their ability to record in little or no light, whether the cameras have infrared or thermal imaging capability, and whether the cameras record in color or black and white," Lopez wrote.

"This information would allow a terrorist or related criminal to discern whether and exactly when a person can be detected and recognized in the areas monitored by the cameras in question," the letter stated.

Releasing the video would reveal whether cameras are real or "dummies;" whether they are constantly running or are motion activated; and for how long videotapes are preserved, the agency contends.

Additionally, DPS said it opposes releasing the video because it could interfere with the ongoing criminal investigation...

In the past, Abbott's office has ruled DPS video surveillance tapes from hallways behind the Texas House of Representatives in the Capitol should be available to the public. The DPS is fighting in court to keep House hallway video from the Texas Observer, a news magazine that made an open records request for videotape recorded in May 2005 when legislators debated private school vouchers.

In the Governor's Mansion video, someone can be seen igniting an object and throwing it onto the porch of the building, fire investigators have already revealed. Investigators say the suspect was wearing a ball cap, a dark shirt, work-type gloves and blue jeans or cargo-style pants.

Only 13 of 20 security cameras on the mansion grounds were working when the fire broke out, and a motion sensor system wasn't working properly, a state official has said.

More here.

FOI Request Nets Video of Police Custody Incident

A handcuffed Kalamazoo teenager struggles with a Public Safety officer as he is led down a hallway toward a booking room when the officer shoves him into a wall, injuring his face, according to video of the incident released Tuesday.

The city of Kalamazoo released video of the May 22 incident after the Kalamazoo Gazette filed a Freedom of Information Act request.

The officer involved, Derek Nugent, has been placed on a 10-day, unpaid suspension, Acting Public Safety Chief Jim Mallery announced Monday.

The teenager, who is African-American, lost three teeth. In a complaint filed with the department, his family has alleged that Nugent, who is white, was harassing the youth because he is black.

The video (EXTREMELY profane and loud...volume control..) is here.