NC police reforms approved after body cam alteration removed

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A wide-ranging criminal justice measure focused on weeding out problem law enforcement officers in North Carolina and giving mental health aid to others cleared a House committee on Wednesday.

The measure received broad support only after the deletion of newly crafted language that racial justice advocates argued could make it harder for victims' family members to secure access to certain police body camera footage.

Civil rights groups and Democrats on the committee had criticized those changes to what was included in the measure when the Senate approved the legislation unanimously two months ago. A bill sponsor said alterations occurred recently after additional meetings with the North Carolina Sheriffs' Association and other law enforcement groups.

The proposed body camera language “does not have consensus support and is harmful,” Daniel Bowes, policy and advocacy director for the American Civil Liberties Union of North Carolina, told a House judiciary panel.

Adjustments to body camera rules surfaced after the April shooting death of Andrew Brown Jr. in Elizabeth City by Pasquotank County sheriff's deputies. It took some time and a judge's order before Brown's family could watch significant amounts of video that show how Brown died.

A wide array of groups across the political spectrum have backed the broader legislation, which emerged after a year of national focus on racial inequity and police shootings of Black residents, including the May 2020 murder of George Floyd while held by Minneapolis police.

After conversations with Black state senators and others this spring, the Senate added language that would tell a law enforcement agency it must let the family or a victim view the unredacted recordings of a death or serious bodily injury within...