As the NYPD plans to roll out at at least 1,000 more police body worn cameras this year, it says the video isn't for the eyes of the public. Dean Meminger has a follow-up story on NY1's battle with the NYPD over the footage.



NYPD officials are holding firm. They will not release unedited video from police body cameras. And if they have to release edited video, they have now asked a judge to make NY1 pay for it, a cost that could be more than $121,000.



"Your station made an indiscriminate request to have every minute of body footage from inception until now to put out their without restriction, without review, without concern for the legitimate privacy interest of New Yorkers," said Lawrence Byrne, NYPD deputy commissioner of legal matters.



In newly filed court papers, the NYPD argues that the court must decide whether taxpayers pay to edit the footage to address privacy concerns or whether a multibillion-dollar corporation pays for it, namely, Time Warner Cable, which owns NY1.

In a Freedom of Information request last year, NY1 asked for five weeks of video. The department's response was that it wanted to charge NY1 $36,000 to pay for an officer to edit the video first.

In January, NY1 sued, asking a state judge to order police to release the footage without a fee. The department now says it could take a year to edit the video, costing $121,000.

The NYPD argues it's all about privacy.

"A police officer approaches you, stops you, asks you for ID, says, 'Sorry, Mr. Meminger, we had a description of you, clearly you weren't involved, have a nice day, go on your way.' Should NBC be able to report Dean Meminger was stopped as suspected robbery suspect?" Byrne said. "There's a lot of complex privacy issues."

NY1 says it would use editorial judgement with footage. In court papers, the station calls the high fee a way to block media access to analyze police tactics.



The body camera program was started after a federal judge ordered it when she ruled the NYPD was violating the rights of people of color with stop-and-frisk.



NY1 says it will continue to pursue its legal rights to see those police videos.



