COLUMBUS – A central Ohio lawmaker has introduced a bill in the Statehouse, inspired by the fatal shooting of Andre Hill by a Columbus police officer, which would require peace officers in Ohio to wear bodycams.
“Andre’s Law,” named in honor of Andre Hill, who was shot while he was holding a cell phone in December, would require every law enforcement agency in Ohio, including jails and prisons, to provide body-worn cameras to each of its officers by 2023, in the agency, according to its sponsor.
Rep. Dontavius Jarrells (D-Columbus) worked on the legislation with then-Rep. Erica Crawley, who has left the House to become a Franklin County commissioner, following the killing of Hill by Officer Adam Coy, who is awaiting trial on criminal charges in connection with the incident.
“There needs to be requirements in place that serve as proactive versus reactive measures when it comes to potential officer-involved misconduct,” Jarrells said.
Among the bill’s provisions are a requirement that a law enforcement agency that receives a complaint regarding alleged misconduct by an officer must publicly release all unedited video and recordings of the alleged incident within 21 days of receiving the complaint and, when a death is involved, agencies would have to release the recording to family members or the victim’s legal representative on request.
“It is important to be able to provide transparency for the families who are affected by officer-involved shootings so that everyone is held accountable,” said Rep. Jarrells.
Coy did not have his body camera turned on when Hill was shot. The new measure limits the circumstances in which an officer may turn off the body camera and stipulates that, if an officer fails to turn on the camera or anyone tampers with the recording, the missing evidence is to be interpreted as demonstrating misconduct.
Coy’s attorneys argued last month that extensive publicity, including news coverage, posts on social media and billboards around Columbus, about the killing of Hill would make it impossible to convene a fair jury in Franklin County.
But the state says the change of location “would unnecessarily consume resources and time.”