Statescoop.com: Civil rights advocates: Texas’ new police body camera footage fee is “a shot” at poor communities

Police departments in Texas are now required to charge a set fee to release any body camera footage to the public, a change that civil rights advocates fear could severely restrict access to police video.

Thanks to a new policy from Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office that took effect Nov. 24, every law enforcement agency in the state now has to collect at least a $10 fee for each recording it releases through the state’s public records act. If the video in question hasn’t been released before, police can charge $1 per minute of footage requested.

Departments were previously free to set their own fee structures for the release of the footage, but a law enacted in September 2015 directed Paxton’s office to propose new statewide policy as part of a broader move to encourage the use of body cameras by local police. The attorney general first published a public notice on the new rule in July, which received no comments…