One person’s worst moment is another’s online content: Why police want restrictions on bodycam video access

Imagine the worst, most painful and most humiliating episode of your life gone viral, captured on video and spread across the internet to provoke laughter and derision from more than a million viewers.

One Lake County woman doesn’t have to imagine it. Vernon Hills police bodycam footage of her 2024 arrest during a mental health crisis found its way onto several YouTube and social media channels a year later. The video garnered well over 1 million views and dozens of insulting comments, causing her anguish, embarrassment and a setback on her road to recovery.

Her case is one of the reasons Vernon Hills Police Chief Patrick Kreis and some of his peers across the state are backing legislation in Springfield that would limit public access to bodycam footage.

“People don’t deserve to have their worst days broadcast for others’ entertainment,” Kreis said.

According to Kreis, the content creators scan an online police blotter for potentially salacious reports. They often deploy AI bots programmed to search for phrases like “intoxicated female” or descriptions of young women in revealing attire.

When they get a hit, they file a Freedom of Information Act request for bodycam video of those encounters. Under current state law, police leaders say, they must fulfill the requests.

“These social media sites are profiting off limitless free material from Illinois law enforcement to satirize and make fun of people,” Kreis told us.

Legislation aimed at preventing that has been circulating in Springfield since last year, but is getting a renewed push by groups such as the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.

In a statement praising the recently enacted Clean Slate Act, which automatically seals records of non-violent convictions following a waiting period, the chiefs group noted it does no good if the person’s arrest is posted “for public shaming on the internet.”

“A legal ‘clean slate’ is of little value when video of a person’s most difficult moment remains online forever,” the ILACP statement reads.

Among the measures before lawmakers is House Bill 3515, which would allow police to deny video requests from internet sites and social media channels “that post law enforcement videos in exchange for compensation based on the number of views.”

The measure carves out an exception for news media, and Kreis said police would not be able to withhold video from “flagged events.” Those include encounters leading to a citizen complaint, a shooting or other use of force, a nontraffic arrest or an incident involving death or serious injury.

Another measure, House Bill 3380, would limit bodycam video releases to a person involved in the encounter or a legal representative of that person; a witness of the encounter or a legal representative; and news media.

Police say they’re also hoping to cut down on costs. Department staff can spend hours retrieving and editing video to fulfill a single FOIA request — such as the Vernon Hills incident, which involved compiling footage from six officers’ cameras.

“We’re spending taxpayers’ dollars to provide material for content creators who make money exploiting people’s worst days,” said Lincolnshire Chief and ILACP President Joe Leonas.

Transparency rollback?

Despite supporters’ assurances that videos of police shootings and potential misconduct will be available to the media and public, the proposals have faced opposition from free speech advocates including the American Civil Liberties Union.

“We’re concerned about anything that might limit access and interfere with maintaining the level of accountability and transparency we’ve gotten to in Illinois,” said Aisha Davis, senior policy counsel for the ACLU of Illinois.

Davis said the group also has concerns about how the legislation could limit access to newsworthy bodycam footage for non-traditional media outlets, such as blogs.

The ACLU is open to working with the bills’ sponsors and other lawmakers to address its concerns and remove potential hurdles to transparency, she added.

Appeal denied in mall shooting

A man serving 32 years in prison for a deadly 2021 shooting outside Gurnee Mills mall has lost his bid for a new trial.

Joey Gonzalez, formerly of Vernon Hills, was convicted of second-degree murder and other charges in 2024 for killing a 26-year-old Zion man when a failed drug deal led to a shootout in the mall parking lot.

Gonzalez, 28, claimed self-defense, testifying at trial that victim Jonathan Denicolas and other men had shot at him first while trying to rob him during a sale involving 10 pounds of marijuana.

In an appeal seeking a new trial, Gonzalez argued that the judge who presided over his case erred by banning evidence of the victim’s “aggressive and violent character.”

That evidence included text messages indicating he was planning a robbery and photos of him holding a gun.

But in a unanimous decision this week, the Second District Appellate Court of Illinois ruled that the text messages and photos do not prove that Denicolas committed violent acts in real life.

“Simply put, this evidence does not make it more likely that the victim, rather than defendant, was the initial aggressor on November 27, 2021, when the shooting occurred,” Justice Robert D. McLaren wrote in the decision published Wednesday.

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