Balancing Body Camera Use in Schools

Legal Brief

Last December, a middle school student in Florida used her cellphone video to record a school fight. In sorting the matter out, school administrators, consistent with district policy, insisted the student turn over her phone so they could delete the video. The student refused.

After protracted efforts to obtain compliance, the school resource officer was summoned. His body camera footage, now widely accessible online, captured the unsettling escalation of events that followed and now will serve as a central issue in litigation that has ensued.