What's happening
This bill requires police body and vehicle camera recordings to be disclosed in civil and criminal cases and creates a statewide panel to set rules for their use and disclosure.
Why it matters
Expands transparency and accountability. by guaranteeing that police body and vehicle camera recordings must be disclosed in both civil and criminal cases, not just when selectively chosen by parties.
Limits selective disclosure. by requiring that all portions of relevant recordings—including outtakes and not only the segments intended for use at trial—must be shared, potentially revealing context that might otherwise be omitted.
Creates a diverse oversight panel. with criminal defense attorneys, former police officers, civil rights lawyers, and technical experts to set statewide rules, aiming to balance privacy, transparency, and fairness in the use of police recordings.
Mandates uniform statewide procedures. for handling and disclosing recordings, reducing local disparities and potentially increasing public trust by standardizing how police video and audio evidence is managed across all law enforcement agencies in New York.
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Who cares
Civil litigants and their attorneys
The bill would expressly include police and peace officer body-camera and vehicle-camera recordings in civil disclosure requirements, while retaining the existing exemption for certain law enforcement materials.
Criminal defense attorneys and prosecutors
The bill would expressly include body-camera and vehicle-camera recordings in the criminal discovery provision covering recordings prosecutors intend to introduce at trial.
State and local law enforcement departments
Departments would have to adopt the expert panel’s statewide rules on the use and disclosure of officer-worn and facility recordings as standard operating procedures within 90 days of finalization.
Attorney general and recording-policy experts
The attorney general would appoint a panel of at least 15 members drawn from specified legal, law enforcement, advocacy and recording-technology fields to develop statewide rules.
Headline styles
Make Police Camera Footage Public
Plain English, a few words. Used as the page title.
Sponsors
1 Co-sponsor
History
- Referred to judiciary
- Referred to judiciary
Companion bill
The same bill in the other chamber. A bill becomes law when one version passes both houses and the governor signs it, so either number can carry it.
Make Police Bodycam Footage Public
In Senate Committee · Judiciary · Sponsor Zellnor Myrie
Full text
2 pagesUnderlined is new[Struck] is removedOfficial text on nysenate.gov ↗
STATE OF NEW YORK
1341
2019-2020 Regular Sessions
IN ASSEMBLY
January 15, 2019
Introduced by M. of A. PERRY -- read once and referred to the Committee on Judiciary
AN ACT to amend the civil practice law and rules and the criminal procedure law, in relation to recordings found on police cameras and establishing the Panel of Experts on the Use and Disclosure of Recorded Video, Digital Audio, Film and Photographs
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows:
Section 1. Subdivision (i) of section 3101 of the civil practice law and rules, as added by chapter 574 of the laws of 1993, is amended to read as follows:
(i) In addition to any other matter which may be subject to disclosure, there shall be full disclosure of any films, photographs, video tapes [or], audio tapes, or all recordings found on a police or peace officer's body camera and/or camera installed in a police or peace officer's vehicle, including transcripts or memoranda thereof, involving a person referred to in paragraph one of subdivision (a) of this section. There shall be disclosure of all portions of such material, including out-takes, rather than only those portions a party intends to use. The provisions of this subdivision shall not apply to materials compiled for law enforcement purposes which are exempt from disclosure under section eighty-seven of the public officers law.
§ 2. Paragraph (g) of subdivision 1 of section 240.20 of the criminal procedure law, as amended by chapter 558 of the laws of 1982, and as relettered by chapter 795 of the laws of 1984, is amended to read as follows:
(g) Any tapes or other electronic recordings which the prosecutor intends to introduce at trial, irrespective of whether such recording was made during the course of the criminal transaction, including all recordings found on a police or peace officer's body camera and/or camera installed in a police or peace officer's vehicle;
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[ ] is old law to be omitted.
LBD06675-01-9
A. 1341 2
§ 3. a. The attorney general shall establish a panel entitled the "Panel of Experts on the Use and Disclosure of Recorded Video, Digital Audio, Film and Photographs". The panel shall consist of at least 15 members selected by the attorney general and appointed from the following fields:
(1) attorneys practicing or having practiced in the field of criminal defense;
(2) former police officers;
(3) former district attorneys;
(4) public advocates;
(5) attorneys practicing or having practiced in the field of civil rights;
(6) experts in videography; and
(7) experts in digital audio recording.
b. The panel shall develop and propose statewide uniform regulations and rules regarding the use and disclosure of:
(1) all content from body cameras or any recording device worn by a police officer or peace officer during the execution of his or her duties, including, but not limited to, recordings, films, photographs, videotapes and/or audiotapes; and
(2) all content from cameras or recording devices used at any facility by police officers or peace officers during the execution of their duties.
c. All state, county, city and town law enforcement departments shall adopt as their standard operating procedures the statewide uniform regulations and rules proposed by the panel within ninety days of the finalization of such operating procedures.
§ 4. This act shall take effect immediately.
Reflowed for reading: line numbers and page breaks removed. Cite the official text.
Summaries, headlines and scores are AI-generated from the official bill text. How we score bills. Source: NYS Open Legislation.