Excessive Police Body Camera Data Disrupts Workflow in Oregon Courts

As body cameras become more prevalent in police forces and sheriff’s offices, the extra evidence is disrupting workflow an Oregon court system.

The Albany Democrat-Herald reports that Sweet Home and Lebanon Police officers use body cameras and the added footage has been delaying trials and creating hours of processing for the Linn County Circuit Court system.

Linn County District Attorney Doug Marteeny says his office had only 45 gigabytes of media downloads in 2011, according to office data. By 2014, that figure grew to 601 gigabytes of downloaded evidence, and for the first three months of 2015, it’s already at 351 gigabytes, most of which is body camera footage.

The video evidence must be watched, approved by party attorneys, redacted for court and edited before juries see it.