The imminent release of body-worn footage of a police shooting that injured seven people early Sunday morning will serve as an important step in helping the public understand how the incident unfolded.

Colorado law, however, leaves a significant amount of discretion in the decision to release body camera footage to law enforcement agencies, a situation that often frustrates media organizations and other members of the public. 

Sunday’s incident triggered requests this week for body cam footage from several news outlets. Within minutes of receiving one from The Denver Gazette, the city’s Department of Public Safety denied the request Monday for footage from body-worn cameras, city-operated surveillance cameras and the names of the officers involved , citing the ongoing investigation.

Officers fired seven rounds at 21-year-old Jordan Waddy when he brandished a gun at them, which left Waddy and six bystanders injured, according to the police’s version of the incident. Waddy remains in the hospital.

The shooting raised questions about how each person was injured and the police department’s policies around firing when bystanders are present.

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The police department announced Wednesday that body cam footage will be released once the Denver district attorney has filed charges against Waddy, who has been arrested on suspicion of menacing and possession of a weapon by a previous offender.

“It’s not too hard to see there’s tremendous public interest in understanding as much as possible about what happened,” said Jeff Roberts, executive director of the Colorado Freedom of Information Coalition, which publishes an annual guide to the state’s sunshine laws.

A law passed in Colorado last year seeks to bolster the public’s ability to access body-worn and dash camera footage. House Bill 21-1250 requires release of video and audio recordings of incidents within 21 days of a request in which there is a complaint of misconduct leveled at a peace officer made by a civilian, nonprofit or another peace officer. The release can be delayed until 45 days if it “would substantially interfere with or jeopardize an active or ongoing investigation.”

“The triggering factors are: a complaint of alleged officer misconduct and a request for the [body worn camera footage] with reference to HB21-1250 which occurred today,” wrote the Department of Safety’s records administrator, Andrea Webber, in an email.

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Last year, a local TV reporter learned that questions he posed to the Denver Police Department about officers’ response to a suspected kidnapping triggered an internal affairs investigation into their handling. That investigation, in turn, activated the new law. At the time, Webber said body cam footage of the incident would be released to the reporter within 21 days of him making a request.

An “ongoing investigation” is a common reason used by law enforcement agencies to deny the release of records, a broad discretion given to them under the Colorado Criminal Justice Records Act. The statute allows agencies to withhold criminal justice records if they find their release would be “contrary to the public interest,” a determination that requires them to weigh several factors when deciding to disclose the records, including the agencies’ interest in pursuing ongoing investigations.

“That’s the way our criminal justice records act has been set up, and for the public’s right to know, it can be a law that makes you wait some time,” Roberts said.

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