Law Enforcement

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38, Chapter 1, relative to body cameras for law enforcement officers.

Children Crime

Did Not Pass

The latest official action shows that this bill did not move forward in that session.

Sponsor: McKenzie, Akbari
Last action: 2025-03-12
Official status: Failed in s/c Public Service Subcommittee of State & Local Government Committee
Effective date: Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide specific funding information for implementing the policies.

Law Enforcement Body Camera Policy

This bill requires Tennessee law enforcement agencies using body cameras to adopt written policies and provide training for officers, including guidelines on when to activate or deactivate the cameras.

What This Bill Does

Requires law enforcement agencies that use body cameras to adopt a written policy for their use in compliance with state law.
Law enforcement officers must receive training before using body cameras, which includes instruction on state laws and agency policies related to body cameras.
Specifies guidelines on when officers must activate or deactivate the body camera, including during calls for service and encounters with the public.
Requires officers to inform people being recorded as soon as possible.

Who It Names or Affects

Law enforcement agencies in Tennessee that use body cameras.
Law enforcement officers who are authorized to conduct searches and make arrests.
Members of the public interacting with law enforcement officers using body cameras.

Terms To Know

Body camera recording: Any audio or video recording taken by a police officer through use of a body camera.
Law enforcement agency: A government unit that employs people for preventing and detecting crime, enforcing laws, and making arrests.

Limits and Unknowns

The bill did not pass in the current session.
It does not specify who will fund the implementation of these policies or provide body cameras to officers.
Some details about retention periods for recordings are omitted from this summary.

Bill History

2025-03-12 Tennessee General Assembly
Failed in s/c Public Service Subcommittee of State & Local Government Committee
2025-03-05 Tennessee General Assembly
Placed on s/c cal Public Service Subcommittee for 3/12/2025
2025-02-26 Tennessee General Assembly
Action Def. in s/c Public Service Subcommittee to 3/12/2025
2025-02-19 Tennessee General Assembly
Placed on s/c cal Public Service Subcommittee for 2/26/2025
2025-02-12 Tennessee General Assembly
Passed on Second Consideration, refer to Senate Judiciary Committee
2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly
Assigned to s/c Public Service Subcommittee
2025-02-10 Tennessee General Assembly
Introduced, Passed on First Consideration
2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly
P2C, ref. to State & Local Government Committee
2025-02-06 Tennessee General Assembly
Filed for introduction
2025-02-05 Tennessee General Assembly
Intro., P1C.
2025-02-03 Tennessee General Assembly
Filed for introduction

Official Summary Text

This bill requires an enforcement agency that uses body cameras to adopt a written policy for the use of the cameras by its officers in compliance with state law. Law enforcement officers must receive a copy of the written policy and training
in the use of cameras before using them. The training must include, at a minimum, instruction on state law relative to body cameras and the agency's written policy. Only law enforcement officers with the authority to conduct searches and make arrests a
r
e permitted to wear such a camera. Law enforcement officers who serve an undercover role are not subject to this bill.

WRITTEN POLICY

This bill provides that a written policy adopted by a law enforcement agency pursuant to this bill must include, at a
minimum, guidelines on the use of body cameras by law enforcement officers that meet the following criteria:



Ensure that body cameras are worn by officers in a location and manner that maximizes the camera's ability to capture video footage of the officer's activities.



Provide standards for when an officer must enable and disable recording functions of the body camera, including (i) a requirement that an officer activate a body camera whenever responding to a call for service, (ii) a requirement that body cameras be activated at the initiation of a law enforcement or investigative encounter between an officer and a member of the public, except when there is an immediate threat to the officer's or another's life or safety that makes activating the body camera impossible or dangerous, (iii) a requirement that in situations as described above in which activating a body camera is impossible or dangerous, an officer must activate the camera at the first reasonable opportunity to do so, (iv) a requirement that an officer must not deactivate a body camera until the encounter between the officer and a member of the public has fully concluded and the officer leaves the scene, and (iv) a requirement that an officer currently at the scene or arriving thereafter who is equipped with a body camera must activate the camera and record the situation upon arrival, and that the body camera must remain on until the officer leaves the scene.



Require officers wearing body cameras to notify the subjects of the recording that the subjects are being recorded by a body camera as close to the inception of the encounter as is reasonably possible.

This bill requires the law enforcement agency to adopt a written policy setting forth disciplinary action and procedures in compliance with
applicable law. This bill additionally provides that a law enforcement agency providing a body camera to an officer as authorized by this bill must adopt a written policy for access to body camera recordings by the agency in compliance with this bill.

Exceptions

This bill requires the written policy to make exceptions to the use of body cameras in the following circumstances: (i) prior to entering a private residence without a warrant or in non-exigent circumstances, a law enforcement officer must as
k the occupant if the occupant wants the officer to discontinue use of the officer's body camera, (ii) when interacting with an apparent crime victim, an officer must, as soon as practicable, ask the victim if the victim wants the officer to discontinue u
s
e of the officer's body camera, and (iii) when interacting with a person seeking to anonymously report a crime or assist in an ongoing law enforcement investigation, an officer must, as soon as practicable, ask the person if the person wants the officer t
o
discontinue use of the officer's body camera. If any such persons or victims responds affirmatively, then the officer must immediately discontinue use of the body camera. However, this bill requires requests to discontinue use of a body camera and the
r
esponses thereto to be recorded by the body camera before discontinuing its use.

PROHIBITED USES

This bill prohibits all of the following:



Body cameras from being used in a manner inconsistent with the purposes described in this bill.



Body cameras from being used to gather intelligence information based on First Amendment protected speech, association, or religion, or to record activity that is unrelated to a response to a call for service or a law enforcement or investigative encounter between an officer and a member of the public.



Officers from activating a body camera while on the grounds of any public, private, or parochial elementary or secondary school, except when responding to an imminent threat to life or safety.



Body camera recordings from being divulged, or used by any law enforcement agency, for any commercial or other non-law enforcement purpose.

CAMERA DATA RETENTION

This bill requires a law enforcement agency providing a body camera to an officer as authorized by this bill to estab
lish a written policy for the retention of data by the agency in compliance with this bill. Body camera recordings must be retained by the law enforcement agency that employs the officer, or an authorized agent, whose body camera captured the recording f
o
r six months from the date it was recorded, after which time the recording must be deleted. If a law enforcement agency authorizes a third party to act as its authorized agent in maintaining body camera recordings, then the authorized agent is not permit
t
ed to independently access, view, or alter a body camera recording, except to permanently delete the recording as required by law or agency retention policies.

This bill requires body camera recordings to be automatically retained for at least three year
s if the body camera recordings involve (i) any use of force, (ii) events leading up to and including an arrest for a felony offense, or events that constitute a felony offense, or (iii) an encounter about which a complaint has been registered by a subjec
t
of the body camera recording within the six months following the recording. An officer must not review, or receive an accounting of, any body camera recording that is subject to such a minimum three-year retention period, prior to completing any require
d
initial reports, statements, and interviews regarding the recorded event.

This bill requires body camera recordings to be retained for at least three years if voluntarily requested, within six months following the recording, by certain persons or partie
s described in this bill, including (i) a member of the public who is a subject of the recording, (ii) a parent or legal guardian of a minor who is a subject of the recording, (iii) a deceased subject's next of kin or legally authorized designee, or (iv)
t
he officer, if the recording is being retained solely and exclusively for police training purposes. Such persons specified in this bill may review the specific body camera recording in order to make a determination as to whether the person will voluntari
l
y request the recording be subject to a three-year retention period.

Public record

This bill provides that body camera recordings are part of the public record for the purpose of public inspection under present law, except for the following:



A body camera recording not subject to a minimum three-year retention period pursuant to this bill.



A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum three-year retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to this bill, if the subject of the body camera recording requests the body camera recordings not be made available to the public.



A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum three-year retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to this bill.



A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum three-year retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to this bill, if the person makes a voluntary request that the body camera recording not be made available to the public.



A body camera recording depicting certain circumstances involving minors.

This bill provides that a body camera recording retained beyond six months solely and exclusively for police training purposes is not admissible as evidence in any criminal, civil, or administrative
proceeding. A body camera recording created in contravention of this or any other applicable law must be immediately destroyed and is not admissible as evidence in any criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding. However, this bill does not contravene

any laws governing the maintenance and destruction of evidence in criminal investigations and prosecutions.

This bill provides that body camera recordings that are not subject to a minimum three-year retention period pursuant to this bill are not subjec
t to automated analysis or analytics.

VIOLATIONS

This bill provides that if an officer, employee, or authorized agent violates this bill regarding the use of body cameras, fails to adhere to the access to recordings and retention requirements contained
in this bill or to any written policy enacted in compliance with this bill, or intentionally interferes with a body camera's ability to accurately capture body camera recordings, then the following applies:



The law enforcement agency must (i) take appropriate disciplinary action against the officer, employee, or agent, (ii) adopt appropriate standards for sanctions for the officer or employee, and (iii) specify in a contract with an agent the disciplinary action that must take place if the agent violates this bill.



A rebuttable evidentiary presumption must be adopted in favor of criminal defendants who reasonably assert that exculpatory evidence was destroyed or not captured.



A rebuttable evidentiary presumption must be adopted on behalf of civil plaintiffs suing the government, a law enforcement agency, or law enforcement officers for damages based on police misconduct who reasonably assert that evidence supporting the plaintiffs' claim was destroyed or not captured.

This bill provides that such presum
ptions may be overcome by contrary evidence or proof of exigent circumstances that made compliance with this bill impossible.

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text

SENATE BILL 1174
By Akbari

HOUSE BILL 741
By McKenzie

HB0741
002861
- 1 -

AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38,
Chapter 1, relative to body cameras for law
enforcement officers.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 38, Chapter 1, is amended by adding
the following as a new part:
38-1-1001. As used in this part:
(1) "Body camera recording" or "recording" means any audio or video recording
taken by a law enforcement officer through use of a body camera;
(2) "Law enforcement agency" means a governmental unit of one (1) or more
persons employed full time or part time by the state, or political subdivision of the state,
for the purpose of preventing and detecting crime and enforcing laws or local ordinances
and the employees of which are authorized to make arrests for crimes while acting within
the scope of their authority;
(3) "Law enforcement officer" means any person authorized by law to conduct
searches and effectuate arrests and who is employed by the state, a county, a
municipality, or a metropolitan form of government;
(4) "Minor" means any person under eighteen (18) years of age;
(5) "Next of kin" means a person's spouse, parents, legal guardians,
grandparents, siblings, and children; and
(6) "Subject of the recording" means:

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(A) A person, including a law enforcement officer, suspect, victim,
detainee, conversant, injured party, or other similarly situated person, who
appears or can be heard on the body camera recording; and
(B) Does not include a person who only incidentally appears or is heard
on the body camera recording.
38-1-1002.
(a) A law enforcement agency that uses body cameras shall adopt a written
policy for the use of the body cameras by its law enforcement officers in compliance with
this part. Law enforcement officers must receive a copy of the written policy and training
in the use of body cameras before using such cameras. The training must include, at a
minimum, instruction on this part and the agency's written policy.
(b) Only law enforcement officers with the authority to conduct searches and
make arrests are permitted to wear a body camera. Law enforcement officers who serve
an undercover role are not subject to this part.
(c) A written policy adopted by a law enforcement agency pursuant to subsection
(a) must include, at a minimum, guidelines on the use of body cameras by law
enforcement officers to:
(1) Ensure that body cameras are worn by law enforcement officers in a
location and manner that maximizes the camera's ability to capture video footage
of the officer's activities;
(2) Provide standards for when a law enforcement officer must enable
and disable recording functions of the body camera, including:
(A) A requirement that a law enforcement officer activate a body
camera whenever responding to a call for service;

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(B) A requirement that body cameras be activated at the initiation
of a law enforcement or investigative encounter between a law
enforcement officer and a member of the public, except when there is an
immediate threat to the officer's or another's life or safety that makes
activating the body camera impossible or dangerous;
(C) A requirement that in situations as described in subdivision
(c)(2)(B) in which activating a body camera is impossible or dangerous, a
law enforcement officer must activate the camera at the first reasonable
opportunity to do so;
(D) A requirement that a law enforcement officer must not
deactivate a body camera until the encounter between a law enforcement
officer and a member of the public has fully concluded and the law
enforcement officer leaves the scene; and
(E) A requirement that a law enforcement officer currently at the
scene or arriving thereafter who is equipped with a body camera must
activate the camera and record the situation upon arrival, and that the
body camera must remain on until the officer leaves the scene; and
(3) Require law enforcement officers wearing body cameras to notify the
subjects of the recording that the subjects are being recorded by a body camera
as close to the inception of the encounter as is reasonably possible.
(d) Notwithstanding subsection (c), the written policy must make exceptions to
the use of body cameras in the following circumstances:
(1) Prior to entering a private residence without a warrant or in non-
exigent circumstances, a law enforcement officer shall ask the occupant if the
occupant wants the officer to discontinue use of the officer's body camera. If the

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occupant responds affirmatively, then the law enforcement officer must
immediately discontinue use of the body camera;
(2) When interacting with an apparent crime victim, including, but not
limited to, a victim of domestic abuse, as defined in § 36-3-601, or a victim of
rape, as defined in § 39-13-503, a law enforcement officer shall, as soon as
practicable, ask the victim if the victim wants the officer to discontinue use of the
officer's body camera. If the victim responds affirmatively, then the law
enforcement officer must immediately discontinue use of the body camera; and
(3) When interacting with a person seeking to anonymously report a
crime or assist in an ongoing law enforcement investigation, a law enforcement
officer shall, as soon as practicable, ask the person if the person wants the
officer to discontinue use of the officer's body camera. If the person responds
affirmatively, then the law enforcement officer must immediately discontinue use
of the body camera.
(e) Requests to discontinue use of a body camera made pursuant to subsection
(d), and the responses thereto, must be recorded by the body camera prior to
discontinuing use of the body camera.
38-1-1003.
(a) Body cameras must not be used in a manner inconsistent with the purposes
described in this part.
(b) Body cameras must not be used to gather intelligence information based on
First Amendment protected speech, association, or religion, or to record activity that is
unrelated to a response to a call for service or a law enforcement or investigative
encounter between a law enforcement officer and a member of the public.

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(c) Law enforcement officers must not activate a body camera while on the
grounds of any public, private, or parochial elementary or secondary school, as defined
in § 49-6-301, except when responding to an imminent threat to life or safety.
38-1-1004.
(a) A law enforcement agency providing a body camera to an officer as
authorized by this part shall establish a written policy for the retention of data by the
agency in compliance with this section.
(b) Except as provided in subsection (c), body camera recordings must be
retained by the law enforcement agency that employs the officer, or an authorized agent
as described in § 38-1-1005(d), whose body camera captured the recording, for six (6)
months from the date it was recorded, after which time the recording must be
permanently deleted.
(c) Notwithstanding subsection (b):
(1) Body camera recordings must be automatically retained for at least
three (3) years if the body camera recordings involve:
(A) Any use of force;
(B) Events leading up to and including an arrest for a felony
offense, or events that constitute a felony offense; or
(C) An encounter about which a complaint has been registered by
a subject of the body camera recording within the six (6) months following
the recording.
(2) Body camera recordings must be retained for at least three (3) years
if voluntarily requested, within six (6) months following the recording, by:

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(A) The law enforcement officer using the body camera, if that
officer reasonably asserts the recording has evidentiary or exculpatory
value;
(B) A law enforcement officer who is a subject of the body camera
recording, if that officer reasonably asserts the recording has evidentiary
or exculpatory value;
(C) A superior officer of a law enforcement officer using a body
camera or who is a subject of the recording, if that superior officer
reasonably asserts the recording has evidentiary or exculpatory value;
(D) A law enforcement officer, if the recording is being retained
solely and exclusively for police training purposes;
(E) A member of the public who is a subject of the recording;
(F) A parent or legal guardian of a minor who is a subject of the
recording; or
(G) A deceased subject's next of kin or legally authorized
designee.
(d) To effectuate subdivisions (c)(2)(E), (c)(2)(F), and (c)(2)(G), the persons
specified in those subdivisions may review the specific body camera recording in order
to make a determination as to whether the person will voluntarily request the recording
be subject to a three-year retention period.
(e) Body camera recordings are part of the public record for the purpose of
public inspection under § 10-7-503, except for the following:
(1) A body camera recording not subject to a minimum three-year
retention period pursuant to subsection (c);

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(2) A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum three-year
retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to subdivision (c)(1)(C), if the
subject of the body camera recording requests the body camera recordings not
be made available to the public;
(3) A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum three-year
retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to subdivisions (c)(2)(A),
(c)(2)(B), (c)(2)(C), or (c)(2)(D);
(4) A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum three-year
retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to subdivision (c)(2)(E), (c)(2)(F),
or (c)(2)(G), if the person makes a voluntary request that the body camera
recording not be made available to the public; and
(5) A body camera recording depicting circumstances described in § 10-
7-504(u).
(f) A law enforcement officer shall not review, or receive an accounting of, any
body camera recording that is subject to a minimum three-year retention period pursuant
to subdivision (c)(1) prior to completing any required initial reports, statements, and
interviews regarding the recorded event.
(g) A body camera recording retained beyond six (6) months solely and
exclusively pursuant to subdivision (c)(2)(D) is not admissible as evidence in any
criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding.
38-1-1005.
(a) A law enforcement agency providing a body camera to an officer as
authorized by this part shall adopt a written policy for access to body camera recordings
by the agency in compliance with this section.

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(b) Body camera recordings that are not subject to a minimum three-year
retention period pursuant to § 38-1-1004 are not subject to automated analysis or
analytics.
(c) Body camera recordings must not be divulged, or used by any law
enforcement agency, for any commercial or other non-law enforcement purpose.
(d) If a law enforcement agency authorizes a third party to act as its authorized
agent in maintaining body camera recordings, then the authorized agent is not permitted
to independently access, view, or alter any body camera recording, except to
permanently delete the recording as required by law or agency retention policies.
38-1-1006.
(a) If a law enforcement officer, employee, or authorized agent violates this part
regarding the use of body cameras, fails to adhere to the access to recordings and
retention requirements contained in this part or to any written policy enacted in
compliance with this part, or intentionally interferes with a body camera's ability to
accurately capture body camera recordings:
(1)
(A) The law enforcement agency shall take appropriate
disciplinary action against the individual officer, employee, or agent;
(B) The law enforcement agency shall adopt appropriate
standards for sanctions of an officer or employee who violates this part;
and
(C) The law enforcement agency shall specify in a contract with
an agent the disciplinary action that must take place if the agent violates
this part;

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(2) A rebuttable evidentiary presumption must be adopted in favor of
criminal defendants who reasonably assert that exculpatory evidence was
destroyed or not captured; and
(3) A rebuttable evidentiary presumption must be adopted on behalf of
civil plaintiffs suing the government, a law enforcement agency, or law
enforcement officers for damages based on police misconduct who reasonably
assert that evidence supporting the plaintiffs' claim was destroyed or not
captured.
(b) The law enforcement agency shall adopt a written policy setting forth
disciplinary action and procedures under subdivision (a)(1) in compliance with title 38,
chapter 8, part 3, § 8-30-319, and any other applicable law.
(c) The rebuttable presumptions in subsection (a) may be overcome by contrary
evidence or proof of exigent circumstances that made compliance with this part
impossible.
(d) A body camera recording created in contravention of this or any other
applicable law must be immediately destroyed and is not admissible as evidence in any
criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding.
(e) This part does not contravene any laws governing the maintenance and
destruction of evidence in criminal investigations and prosecutions.
SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon becoming a law, the public welfare requiring it,
and applies to recordings on or after that date.