Colorado Court of Appeals: Boulder can't charge fees for bodycam footage in alleged misconduct cases
Source: Associated Press
Colorado Court of Appeals: Boulder can’t charge fees for bodycam footage in alleged misconduct cases
By JOHN HERRICK/Boulder Reporting Lab
Updated 1:51 PM EDT, April 10, 2026
The Colorado Court of Appeals this week ruled that the City of Boulder cannot charge fees for body camera footage related to a complaint of officer misconduct, a decision supporters say is a major win for police transparency and accountability across Colorado.
The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed by Yellow Scene Magazine, which covers Boulder County and the Denver metro area, after the city required journalists to pay more than $8,000 for all body camera footage of a December 2023 shooting in which officers killed Jeanette Alatorre. The lawsuit argued the fees were “prohibitive,” effectively shielding the footage from disclosure.
Civil rights attorneys argued the charges violated the 2020 Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Act, a Colorado police accountability law enacted following national protests over police killings. The law requires agencies to release footage within 21 days of all incidents involving a misconduct complaint. It includes no provision for fees.
“Today’s ruling reaffirms what should have been obvious to Boulder when this lawsuit was filed two years ago — police departments can’t use exorbitant fees to hide their officers’ misconduct behind a paywall,” Matthew Simonsen, an attorney with Grata Law and Policy LLC representing Yellow Scene, said in a statement.
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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/boulder-police-bodycam-fees-appeals-court-057366c60b1a02fdce1f79548cea9946