The Colorado Municipal League, which represents nearly every city and town in the state, has joined the City of Boulder in fighting a lawsuit that seeks to compel the city to release police body camera footage of alleged officer misconduct at no cost.
In a legal filing last month, the group argued that requiring cities to turn over footage at no cost “will have a significant detrimental fiscal impact on local governments statewide.” Colorado Counties, Inc. and the County Sheriffs of Colorado also joined as amici curiae. The involvement of these organizations highlights the statewide stakes of a local dispute over the public’s access to police records.
The lawsuit stems from a request by Yellow Scene Magazine for footage of the December 2023 fatal police shooting of Jeannette Alatorre. According to the city’s response, fulfilling the request would require reviewing 267 hours of footage and cost an estimated $8,016.
Yellow Scene sued, claiming the city’s fees violate Colorado’s 2020 Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act, passed in the wake of nationwide protests over police killings. The law aims to increase transparency by giving the public access to footage of police use of force. It does not explicitly allow fees.
Boulder argued that the fees are necessary to cover the cost of redacting sensitive material, such as blurring faces and muting audio for privacy reasons. The city cites a separate state law allowing “reasonable fees” for responding to public records requests, and typically charges $30 per hour to review footage.
A district court sided with Yellow Scene in August 2024, ruling that the fees undermine the 2020 police accountability law. Boulder has since appealed.
In its opening brief, filed April 23, the city argued that two state laws — the 2020 Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act and the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act — must be interpreted “in harmony” and allow the city to charge fees for footage. It also argues that even if the accountability law bars fees, requiring cities to provide footage for free amounts to an unfunded mandate. And under state law, local governments can consider such a mandate “optional” unless the legislature provides money for implementation.
One has to wonder how many hours of bodycam footage could have been reviewed for privacy at $30/h for the cost of the legal fees spent to fight this.
An excellent question! It’s categorically insane that the taxpayers ultimately footing the bill for the City of Boulder to fight this protracted legal battle esp after losing once.
Moreover, the optics are terrible….carving an “optional” exemption from legislated accountability by ginning up onerous fees for footage of incidents that have a clear public interest in transparency when it comes to the use of Lethal Force. Maybe an BPD audit is necessary..