Penn Township commissioners will vote Wednesday whether to allow the Westmoreland County District Attorney’s office to review police body camera video before before it is released.
District Attorney Nicole Ziccarelli’s office asked police departments in late December to have prosecutors review their footage if there is a request to have it made public. This came four months after police released body camera video showing an officer shooting a Ligonier Township man.
If the vote passes, the township will still maintain ownership of its police video, said Chief John Otto.
“What it is not is relinquishing control of our body-worn or vehicle camera footage,” Otto said. “The district attorney’s office does not want to take control of our video.”
State wiretap laws were amended by then-Governor Tom Wolf in 2017 to allow police departments to use body-worn and vehicle cameras. Police departments, township officials and district attorneys may view the footage from a different vantage point, Otto said.
“I think what the district attorney is looking for is uniformity among the 40 or so law enforcement agencies in Westmoreland County,” he said. “This kind of gives her and us an opportunity to protect the integrity of the case, but also protect witnesses, anyone who may have been portrayed intentionally or unintentionally, as well as victims from being exposed by the release of this body cam footage.”
Municipalities in the state have a series of laws that guide the release of police body camera video, said township solicitor Michael Korns. Footage relevant to an active investigation, for example, cannot be released until after the investigation has concluded.
The district attorney’s office would provide guidance and advice on the release of the video, but the final decision would still be with the township, Korns said.
“It’s a cooperation agreement, and we’re asking for feedback and advice and guidance,” Korns said. “The first line duty for release of our documents always is with us, and so we have a duty to follow the law to our understanding in making those decisions.
“I don’t anticipate there being disagreements all that often, but if there ever was, that is ultimately the township’s decision on whether to release.”
Police departments in the county were not required to vote on an agreement with the district attorney’s office, Otto said.
“(Police officers) all know that we never know what we’re getting into when we show up for work in the morning,” Otto said, “so to prolong this or delay this is not something that I want to do.
“I want to get all of the key players on the same page at the same time as soon as possible so that if and when a critical incident occurs, we’re all on the same page and we’re ready to move.”
The district attorney’s office has not yet released a plan for how the video would be reviewed, Korns said.
According to a draft of the agreement, the township would send a copy of the request, the video and any other reports relevant to the footage to the district attorney’s office no more than 10 days after receiving the request.
The agreement, if passed, would go into effect as soon as it is signed by Ziccarelli and township officials. It can be terminated by the district attorney or the township within 30 days of notifying the other party.
North Huntingdon signed on to a similar pact with Ziccarelli’s office in December.
The commissioners will vote on the agreement at a meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Penn Township Municipal Building, 2001 Municipal Court. The livestream service for the commissioners’ meetings is temporarily unavailable due to technology issues.
Quincey Reese is a TribLive reporter covering the Greensburg and Hempfield areas. She also does reporting for the Penn-Trafford Star. A Penn Township native, she joined the Trib in 2023 after working as a Jim Borden Scholarship intern at the company for two summers. She can be reached at qreese@triblive.com.