Fort Collins Chief John Hutto and Fort Collins Police Services released last week footage from a body camera that showed his officers killing 63-year-old Jerry Jackson. The district attorney cleared the three officers involved of wrongdoing.

The video was shared in an effort to show all of us a fuller picture of what happened that August afternoon. Hutto told reporters Jackson engaged in a behavior called “suicide by police.”

Subsequent Coloradoan reporting demonstrated there is not consensus on the use of body-mounted cameras. Fort Collins is buying more (it will have 120 in use this year) while Greeley recently cited the high cost of the cameras and storage solutions as a barrier to implementation. Larimer County Sheriff Justin Smith indicated last week he’s in “watch-and-see” mode.

We thank FCPS for sharing the video footage, difficult as it is to watch. Police services were not bound by open records law to release the video. Transparency as it pertains to police activity or that of any other public agency helps to educate us all.

Read more at The Fort Collins Coloradoan.