State Senator Wants DPS Recordings To Be Made Public

Associated Press

OKLAHOMA CITY -- A state senator has filed a bill that would allow audio and video recordings of the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety to be made public.

The bill by Sen. Jim Wilson, a Tahlequah Democrat, would amend the Oklahoma Open Records Act to include the recordings, which now do not fall under the definition of a "record."

Wilson says releasing the recordings would provide the public more transparency into the actions of the agency, of which the Oklahoma Highway Patrol is a part.

Wilson cited a recent case involving a confrontation between an Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper and a Creek Nation paramedic. In that case, the OHP initially refused to release video from the trooper's dashboard camera but later relented and made the video public.