N.J. Supreme Court expands access to police body camera footage Government officials cannot refuse to disclose police body-worn camera footage to people who are the subject of the recordings, with few exceptions, the New Jersey Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday. They also can’t withhold such footage to protect the privacy of people accused of but not charged with crimes, because neither the state’s Open Public Records Act nor the judicial case law that preceded it grants such automatic confidentiality, the justices decreed. The decision stems from a May 2022 report a father made to Chatham police after his special-needs child accused an adult male relative of sexual misconduct. Police declined to criminally charge the relative. In New Jersey, a police department can withhold body camera footage under certain circumstances, primarily to protect individual privacy and ongoing investigations, but generally must disclose it to the person who is the subje...