Body camera funding gap at center of New Hampshire lawmaker's 107 mph traffic stop case

Against the backdrop of a years-long national debate over police transparency, a traffic stop in Rockingham County, New Hampshire has exposed the distance between legislative intent and agency-level capability. State Rep. Ellen Read, a Democrat, faces charges stemming from two stops, including one in which a deputy alleged she was traveling 107 mph, and the absence of any body-worn or dashboard camera footage has become the defining fact of her legal fight.

A sheriff's office without cameras

Rockingham County Sheriff's Office Major Christopher Bashaw told Fox News Digital that his agency carries neither body cameras nor dashboard cameras, citing a lack of funding. New Hampshire lawmakers established a Body-Worn and Dashboard Camera Fund in 2021 to provide matching grants to local agencies for purchasing cameras and covering maintenance, replacement, and data storage costs. Whether Rockingham County has applied through that program remains unclear.

State law requires agencies that choose to deploy body cameras to adopt policies governing when officers must record encounters, including traffic stops. It does not require agencies to purchase or use the technology. That gap between authorization and mandate is now on display in a case where the factual record depends entirely on competing sworn accounts.

The constitutional argument and its limits

Read is contesting both stops on the grounds that a New Hampshire Constitution provision shields lawmakers from being delayed while traveling to and from legislative duties. Lawrence Friedman, a professor at New England Law, told Fox News Digital the provision dates back centuries and was designed to protect lawmakers from interference with legislative business. He said it almost certainly does not provide blanket immunity from a moving violation that any other driver could be arrested for.

The New Hampshire Supreme Court declined to hear Read's constitutional challenge immediately. Friedman said that decision carries no ruling on the merits. The court wants the case to develop at the trial level first.

Bashaw put the outer limit of Read's argument plainly: a reading that shields lawmakers from all arrests would, in his view, mean a legislator could commit vehicular homicide while traveling to session and face no accountability.

Read's account and the road ahead

Read told Fox News Digital she admitted in court to traveling roughly 85 mph and was prepared to accept a speeding ticket. She disputes the deputy's allegation of 107 mph and reckless driving. The sheriff's office also disputed her account of the encounter, claiming she recorded part of the stop on her cellphone. Read denied doing so and said a witness who was on a phone call during the stop later testified in court.

She said she supports camera funding despite reservations about other law enforcement spending, including military-grade equipment and expensive vehicles, and offered to help the sheriff's office seek camera grants in the next state budget cycle. Without footage, the 107 mph allegation and Read's 85 mph counter-claim will be settled by testimony alone.