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Ohio Cops Are Reading the Body Camera Fee Law Wrong.
Description
Garrettsville PD billed me $225 for body camera footage. Their own
CAD records show approximately 57 minutes of combined on-scene time
across both incidents. Ohio Revised Code 149.43(B)(1) caps body
camera fees at $75 per hour of video produced — not per hour of
labor, not per hour of staff time. Per hour of video produced. At
that rate, 57 minutes of footage has a maximum lawful fee of about
$71.25. I was charged $225.
Before anything else: the officers who worked these calls did their
jobs right. A noise complaint resolved with a warning. A welfare
check that got someone to a hospital. No problem with any of that.
This is a records and transparency question only.
I paid the $225 anyway — I'm not letting a fee dispute be the reason
this footage sits in a drawer. I filed two challenge letters on July
19 contesting the exemption basis and the rate calculation. On July
21 I sent a formal inquiry to the Ohio Attorney General's Sunshine
Laws unit asking one question: does $75 per hour mean per hour of
footage length or per hour of labor? No Ohio court has answered that
yet. This law took effect April 2025.
The ACLU of Ohio challenged an identical fee in the Village of
Brewster on the same grounds. NBC4 Columbus reported in October 2025
that legal experts identified this as a statewide misreading of the
statute. The footage is paid for. The challenges are active. The AG
has been notified.
When this gets answered, you'll see it here first.
PRR filed under Ohio Revised Code 149.43.
Pro-Police. Not Pro-Corruption.
Be loud. Be heard. Shake the system until the truth falls out.
Visit: https://www.liinks.co/the.infamous.exchief