Admin wants state surveillance videos withheld from public, introduces bill

Here’s a news item from the Associated Press: BOISE, Idaho (AP) — Idaho’s Department of Administration wants to add an exemption to the state’s public records law that would bar people from obtaining surveillance recordings made by systems meant to protect public buildings. At a hearing Thursday, Administration employee Ric Johnson told the House State Affairs Committee his agency already thinks it has power to exempt recordings. But after a man in January 2012 made a request for recordings from the Capitol, the agency began worrying. That’s because it isn’t spelled out explicitly in Idaho code. The House panel agreed to introduce Administration’s bill. But Rep. John Gannon of Boise told Johnson he’s concerned the agency’s proposal could make it tougher for the public to get hold of important recordings like those from Idaho prisons that recently highlighted problems with inmate violence.