SALT LAKE CITY — Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biskupski on Monday announced a proposal that would require body camera video from Salt Lake police officers involved in critical incidents to be released publicly within six months.

"The draft policy is designed to make clear the mechanism of when and how Salt Lake City will release information on critical incidents, and sets an expectation on investigating agencies to be transparent and accommodating of the public interest," the mayor's office said in a prepared statement.

An agitated Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill, however, called the proposal "short-sighted."

"This is absolutely unnecessary for the mayor to insert herself into what is a judicial process," Gill said Monday. "What the mayor should be doing is letting prosecutors make decisions about what is evidence and then move it into a judicial area of analysis. It is absolutely unnecessary for the mayor to be doing this.

"She should be focusing on being the mayor and not the district attorney or a public prosecutor."

Under the mayor's proposed executive order, body camera video that records an "officer-involved critical incident" — including officer-involved shootings, a fatal injury caused by an officer's vehicle, the death of a person in law enforcement custody, or a person who dies while an officer is arresting that person or attempting to prevent that person from escaping — shall be made a public record if "the public’s interest in access outweighs or is equal to the interests favoring restriction of access."

But if the police department, the district attorney's office, the Utah Attorney General's Office, or the U.S. Department of Justice want a video to remain sealed, they must submit in writing specific arguments explaining why the record should remain sealed.

"A claim merely parroting GRAMA’s statutory language is insufficient," the mayor's proposal states, referring to the Government Records Access and Management Act that deals with the management of government records.

The reasoning for wanting to keep the video sealed would also become public record under the proposal.

The request to keep the video sealed would be reviewed every 30 days. At the end of each 30-day period, the agency that doesn't want the video released publicly would have to resubmit in writing why it should remain under seal.

But after 180 days from the time of the critical incident, the body camera video will be released publicly "regardless of whether an investigation has been completed or a criminal or civil case has been instituted," the mayor's proposal states.

Evidence issues

Gill believes the mayor is not taking into consideration the ethical rules, rights of defendants, and evidentiary concerns that his office has to balance.

"We have ethical and legal obligations. She does not," he said.

By releasing evidence too early, Gill believes there is the risk of tainting a potential jury pool or having a mistrial declared because the rights of the defendant being compromised.

"Why would the mayor compromise the ability of prosecutors and defenders under the due process system?" Gill questioned. "What is the evidentiary responsibility? Is the mayor going to take personal responsibility for a homicide case that can’t be prosecuted? (Body camera video is) evidence. You shouldn’t be making decisions on evidence issues.

"She is neither the judge, she is neither prosecuting attorney, she is neither the defense attorney, nor should she try to act like one."

Salt Lake Police Chief Mike Brown said he is in favor of the mayor's proposal.

"As I travel the country and meet with other police chiefs from around the country, other agencies are able to release their video very, very quickly. If you go to New York, they release it within 24 hours. And they've done that for many years. And I don't think it's had a huge impact on the judicial process back there," he said.

Transparency

Brown echoed the need for balance between transparency and protecting rights.

"I see Sim's side of the whole thing. But I also see the openness and transparency that Mayor Biskupski is trying to provide to the citizens of Salt Lake," he said.

The district attorney also said he doesn't understand why Biskupski thinks evidentiary concerns will suddenly be resolved after 180 days or why that number was chosen.

"What is so magical about 180 days if you’re not looking at the evidence and the basis for the removal (of the seal)?" he questioned. "This policy is inserting yet another area of bureaucracy into what is yet to be a settled area of the law.”

The mayor's spokesman, Matthew Rojas, said the mayor would not be compromising evidence in a potential court case by releasing video. As for the 180-day deadline, he said that is "a time frame they felt was reasonable for investigations to be completed, but also balances that need for transparency."

Rojas noted, however, that input is still being taken from all sides before a final order is written.

The reason for the order, he said, is to be transparent with the public, and also to all interested parties know when they can expect such videos to be released.

"For the city, it has always been very important to be as transparent as possible," he said.

The mayor contends, in part, that the order is needed to "balance the competing interests under GRAMA; recognize that transparency to the community is key in critical incident investigation;" and to "recognize legitimate law enforcement reasons exist to protect records during investigative and judicial stages."

Related:

Body camera footage shown in court as case ordered to proceed against Abdi Mohamed

A judge has ruled there is probable cause that a man shot by two Salt Lake police officers last year was attempting to sell drugs to a man and then rob him when the shooting occurred.

Although it wasn't the only reason for Biskupski's proposal, the main catalyst was the shooting of then-17-year-old Abdullahi "Abdi" Mohamed by two Salt Lake police officers. The officers' actions were determined to be legally justified, and Mohamed was charged in 3rd District Juvenile Court with aggravated robbery and drug possession.

Mohamed was shot in February of 2016. But because of the pending legal charges, Gill would not release the video, arguing that it would potentially compromise Mohamed's rights. Several groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, fought for a year to get the video released. After the video was shown in open court last week, Gill released the video to the public. That decision came a week after the State Records Committee ordered the video to be released within 30 days.

'Very sound policy'

Attorney David Reymann, who represented the ACLU in the Mohamed case, applauded Biskupski's proposal.

"I think it's a giant step in the right direction. I think that it's a recognition that these types of videos are presumptively public and should be public unless there are extremely exceptional circumstances that justify keeping them private," he said.

He said the exceptions for releasing video are "very narrow."

Reymann also called the 30-day re-evaluation policy for sealing a video and making agencies outline the reasons why it should not be made public "very sound policy and consistent with the public's right to know."

"The city has an independent role in deciding whether to release these videos under GRAMA that is not subject to what Mr. Gill wants," he said. "Just because a video relates to an ongoing investigation or prosecution does not mean it can be indefinitely withheld. In fact, in those instances, it is more urgent that it should be released, because it relates to critical prosecutorial decisions that are being made."

What do you think?

Salt Lake City Mayor Jackie Biscupski wants to know what you think about her draft proposal for releasing police body camera video to the public. Visit the city's public input web page at www.slcgov.com/opencityhall to share your opinion.

And the argument that it could potentially taint a jury pool doesn't hold water, he said.

"Otherwise you'd never have public access to any high profile prosecutions," he said. "I think what Salt Lake City is saying is they believe the public has a meaningful role to play in that process and that all of those prosecutorial decisions should not be taking place behind closed doors.

"We have had more than our fair share of high-profile prosecutions over the years," Reymann continued. "We've never had a problem picking fair and impartial juries because courts do that all the time."

Gill believes a better proposal would be to release body camera video after a critical incident has been investigated when there are no outstanding criminal charges. However, if a critical incident results in any criminal charge — which they often do — then he believes there should be a court hearing within 30 days of charges being filed involving all interested parties — including the media and the ACLU — where a judge would decide whether video should be released to the public.

The mayor's office is now seeking public input on the proposed executive order for the next 30 days. Biskupski also plans to reach out to the district attorney's office, the ACLU, the Salt Lake Police Officers Association, community activist groups and valley police chiefs for their comments.

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