Members of Pennsylvania’s General Assembly continue to debate legislation regulating police body cameras, and the work of both chambers continues to fall short of what should be obvious goals: increased accountability and protection for police officers.

As the debate drags on, the issue receiving the most attention is how videos recorded by body cameras should be treated. A bill in the state Senate would make the footage unavailable to the public unless police and prosecutors agree to release it.

Enacting such a regulation would do both the public and police a tremendous disservice. It’s obvious that giving police and prosecutors control over how and when body camera footage is released is a bad idea destined to deepen suspicion and distrust, when the cameras should be doing the exact opposite.

These are public employees discharging their duties in what are often public places. There’s no reason that such footage shouldn’t be presumed to be open on its face. In other words, the onus should be on law enforcement agencies to show why body camera recordings should not be released — not the other way around.

Some argue that the cameras should be viewed primarily as evidence-gathering tools rather than a way to enhance transparency and accountability for officers. That’s foolish, considering that what little data we have on body cameras points to this being their most effective use.

Philadelphia’s major transit system began equipping its officers with body cameras in January of last year. In the first six months alone the agency reported a 20 percent decrease in suspect injuries, a 30 percent decrease in officer injuries, and a 25 percent decrease in complaints against officers.

Transparency and accountability work both ways, apparently. The cameras seem to be not only changing the way officers do their jobs but also discouraging people from filing false charges against officers, since they know any interaction is captured on video.

There are undoubtedly occasions when footage captured by an officer wearing a body camera will not be appropriate for public release. But drawing a distinction between video that has public value and video that does not isn’t a job for the agencies shooting the video. It’s a decision that needs to be made by an impartial third party — and the default position should be that these recordings are open to the public unless law enforcement can prove they should be withheld.

The bottom line is that if legislator’s can’t produce regulations which ensure body cameras will enhance accountability and protection for officers and the public, then the devices aren’t worth turning on at all.