For the record, police video used to be a public record. Then the NCGA made it secret in 2016. The people who passed the secrecy law are still in charge at the NCGA. https://twitter.com/ByAdamWagner/status/1386035280801681416

Prior to the body cam secrecy law, a body cam video qualified as info to be released pursuant to GS 132-1.4(c)(3). Some agencies argued it was a personnel record, but that was a weak position. The current law makes police video explicitly not public & not a personnel record 2/

Now, in order to get any police video, for any reason, someone must go to court and get a judge’s signature (even if you’re in the video, you can see it but can’t get a copy). A member of the public must pay $200 filing fee. Even police chiefs/sheriffs can’t release w/out order

While it’s possible for a petition to be filed and heard overnight (it happened last year in Wake Co where @kzmyers is a rockstar), it typically takes 2-4 weeks for a hearing. In Mecklenburg Co, we had waits of 1+ year for a hearing 4/

When you get to a hearing, it’s solely up to a judge on whether to release the video. It’s an abuse of discretion standard, which means it’s virtually not appeal-able. Does this sound like a system with transparency as the goal? Let me tell you from experience: it’s not /end