On Oct. 1, North Carolina House Bill 972 will take effect. Its aim, according to the first line of the paragraph long title, is “an act to provide that recordings made by law enforcement agencies are not public records.”

This means that any body cameras or dashboard cameras used by law enforcement in North Carolina can only be released to those in the footage.

In order for anyone else to obtain the footage, including for use as evidence in a trial, they must file a court action to have the footage released. Even if a police department wants to release a recording, they must get a court order for their own camera footage.

This law is not written to protect the interests of most North Carolinians. Instead, it is an attempt to make the very institutions that are supposed to protect us more opaque and less accountable.

This is not only of concern in cases like Charlotte, where the long delay and partial release of police footage drew local and national outrage.

For journalists, HB 972 means a long, drawn out process to report on police actions.

For community organizers, it means fewer tools to hold police accountable for racism and violence.

And for everyone in North Carolina, it means one less reason to trust police.

We pay officers salaries. We pay for their dashboard and body cameras. We pay for their cars and Tasers and handcuffs and guns and bullets.

And because this is a democracy, we have a right to know how they are being used.

This is why we have the Freedom of Information Act, so we make sure that public officials uphold the public interest. Law enforcement should be no different.

But under HB 972, it is harder for us to know if we are paying taxes for people to serve us or abuse us.