Copyright Charleston Post and Courier
Body-cam transparency The Post and Courier published an editorial Thursday regarding the use and transparency of law enforcement officers' body cameras. While officers may turn off their body cameras, they are not supposed to, and it is against the policy of most law enforcement agencies to do so any time a call is in progress. In my experience as an attorney, the problem isn't so much whether the body camera is activated as it is obtaining a copy of the video itself. Section 30-4-40(a)(3) of the South Carolina Code of Laws provides law enforcement with a number of vague exemptions to producing body-camera video through a Freedom of Information Act request. If people believe they have been wronged by law enforcement, they often must go through the trouble and expense of filing a civil lawsuit against the agency, since the video may only be compelled through the discovery process and a court order, if necessary. The problems centers on the lawful withholding of such video under state statute and a lack of transparency. These exemptions do not apply to dash-camera video, which usually is not nearly as useful as body-camera video in determining the facts. J. BROOKS DAVIS Mount Pleasant Shutdown hurts Americans Do any of you get paid by your employer when you don’t show up for work? Of course not. So why should it be any different for members of Congress? Their staffs are not getting paid during the shutdown. Why should they be treated differently? What would happen if those who are self-employed all decided not to work for a month or more? Their businesses would certainly suffer. That’s what all American citizens are doing now. Suffering. Millions, mostly children, the elderly and disabled, are going at least temporarily without the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, aka food stamps. To make matters worse, Affordable Care Act recipients will see substantial increases in their monthly premiums soon. Many will no longer be able to afford health insurance, so they will end up in hospital emergency rooms waiting for care. Federal law doesn’t allow hospitals to turn away patients in need of care. So many who have insurance will have to wait for hours to be seen. Rural hospitals will suffer the most. Eventually, the entire health care system will collapse under the financial burden of having to treat the uninsured. Only Congress can fix this mess. Please call, email or text your U.S. senators and representatives. Tell House members to go back to work now. Urge all of them to find a solution to this crisis. Remind them that 2026 is an election year and that you intend to send them back home for good if this crisis doesn’t end soon. TOM ERVIN Greenville Send us your letters What’s on your mind? Join our community conversations and let your voice be heard by writing a letter to the editor. Letters can be a maximum of 250 words, and are subject to editing for clarity, tone and libel. They must include the writer’s name and city for publication, and a daytime telephone number for verification. Email your submissions to letters@postandcourier.com or fill out the form on our online portal.
