The City of Boulder must release video footage from the police shooting of Jeanette Alatorre for free, a Boulder County judge ruled Aug. 12.
Attorney Dan Williams requested the body cam footage the day after the Dec. 17, 2023, fatal incident. Boulder officials said it would cost $8,484 for the full video and $1,425 for 13 minutes surrounding the shooting.
Yellow Scene magazine and Alatorre’s daughter, Angelica Jeannette Orozco, also requested the footage and were told that it would not be released until the city was paid, after which they filed the suit.
Governments can charge for the release of documents and other records. But as District Court Judge Robert Gunning wrote in his ruling, this particular footage is governed by a different and distinct law: the Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act of 2020, passed in response to the police murders of George Floyd and Elijah McClain.
“The Integrity Act … mandated the prompt public release of unedited footage and other recordings of any incident following a complaint of police misconduct,” Gunning wrote. “The plain language of the statutes does not authorize Boulder to impose a fee,” and the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Leslie Herrod, in 2021 specifically stated that the legislation “was never intended to authorize agencies to charge fees for releasing footage to the public.”
“Boulder’s use of exorbitant fees to shield the video of its police officers killing Ms. Alatorre is part of a disturbing trend at BPD of resisting transparency,” Williams wrote in an emailed statement to Boulder Weekly. “We hope Boulder will reflect on this ruling and pivot to accepting public accountability moving forward.”
Shavonne Blades, Yellow Scene‘s editor, wrote, “The First Amendment is one of the most important in our nation. The Open Records Act exists so that journalists can fulfill their role as the fourth estate — the watchdogs of government actions, including at the local level.
“Charging multiple thousands of dollars for a 15-minute video appears to be a tactic to deter freedom of information. We’re pleased that justice prevailed in the court’s detailed ruling.”
Read more: bit.ly/BodyCamBW
This article has been updated to include a statement from Yellow Scene editor Shavonne Blades.