Vermont teen accuses police of sexual assault after arrest

[Lee-Lee]

8. I'm all for body cam footage to be public record

There are some legit cases where you need to delay releasing. For example if cases where there may be multiple witnesses and you need time to interview all involved, including the officers and suspects, you want to hold it until the interviews are done because it's a proven fact that people will change they testimony as an eyewitness if they see footage to better match what they think the footage shows.

The only times it shouldn't be public record if when there is sentive stuff, for example if the police were responding to you just after you had been sexually assaulted you don't want footage of you having to describe the assault out online.

The thing is the vast majority of complaints of misconduct are just like this, totally unfounded. But departments have traditionally been restrained and it taken action against false accusations or made public statements like this. That you imply this is the rare circumstance instead of the opposite show how your own impression of reality is affected by the media you consume.