Getting the Footage
ORC 149.43 — public records and body cam
A request cannot be refused because you would not say who you are. A requester may decline to reveal their identity or what the records are for, and a public office may not deny a request on that ground. An office may ask, but only after telling the requester three things first: that a written request is not required, that they may decline to give their identity or purpose, and that giving it would help the office find or deliver what is being asked for. The order of that exchange is in the statute.
Who handles this in Ohio: legal aid programs, lawyer referral and the state offices, listed in the Ohio directory.
Body camera and dash camera recordings are public records in Ohio, handled under the same section as everything else an agency holds. You can ask for the video of your own stop, and you do not have to say why you want it or give your name to make the request.
- The request goes to the agency that made the recording, not a court. Departments and sheriffs each handle their own.
- Recordings are found by their details: a date, a time, a location, a case or incident number, and the officer where known.
- Video can be withheld or blurred under the exemptions in the statute, including material tied to an ongoing investigation.
- Video is treated differently from paper on cost, because reviewing and redacting it takes real time.
Video can carry a bill that paper does not. For law enforcement video Ohio allows an agency to charge for the work of reviewing and redacting it, capped per hour and capped overall, and the agency has to give you an estimate within a few business days before running up the cost.
Where a case is already live, this request is a discovery demand. The Ohio Supreme Court held in State v. Athon that where an accused directly or indirectly makes a public records request for information that could have been obtained from the prosecutor through discovery, the request is the equivalent of a demand for discovery and triggers the reciprocal duty in Crim.R. 16. Video of a stop that is now a charge is exactly that material. The records route and the discovery route are not separate doors once a case exists.
Being incarcerated closes this route unless a judge opens it. A public office is not required to let a person incarcerated pursuant to a criminal conviction or a juvenile adjudication inspect or copy any public record concerning a criminal investigation or prosecution, unless the judge who imposed the sentence, or that judge's successor, finds the information sought is necessary to support what appears to be a justiciable claim. The finding comes first.
“I am making a public records request under ORC 149.43 for all body worn and dash camera video from this incident, and I would like a written cost estimate before any work begins.”
Retention periods run whether or not anybody has asked, and once video ages out it is gone. Beyond that, this page covers the request. It does not cover the exemptions an agency may assert over a particular recording, what a court does with a denial, or how any of it interacts with a live criminal case, which is the flag two blocks up and a question for a licensed Ohio attorney.
Sources for this section (3)
- ORC 149.43 — Availability of public records, including law enforcement video
- State v. Athon, 136 Ohio St.3d 43, 2013-Ohio-1956 — A public records request by an accused for material obtainable through discovery is the equivalent of a discovery demand and triggers reciprocal discovery
- Ohio Crim.R. 16 — Discovery and inspection, what each side owes the other, and when
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Ohio attorney.