Law Enforcement

Plain English Breakdown

The bill text and summary do not provide details about the consequences for non-compliance with the new rules.

Body Camera Policy for Law Enforcement

This bill requires Tennessee law enforcement agencies that use body cameras to create and follow written policies about their usage, including training requirements and guidelines on when officers must activate or deactivate the cameras.

What This Bill Does

• Requires police departments using body cameras to adopt a written policy for their use in compliance with this bill.
• Requiring all officers who use body cameras to receive training before they start using them.
• Setting rules for when officers should activate or deactivate their body cameras, such as during calls for service and interactions with the public.
• Making exceptions for situations where body cameras do not need to be used, like entering a private home without permission or talking to victims of certain crimes who don't want to be recorded.
• Limiting how long police departments must keep recordings from body cameras.

Who It Names or Affects

• Law enforcement agencies in Tennessee that use body cameras.
• Police officers who are required to wear and operate body cameras.
• Members of the public interacting with law enforcement officers using body cameras.

Terms To Know

Body camera recording

An audio or video recording made by a police officer's body-worn camera.

Law enforcement agency

A government unit that employs people to prevent and detect crime, enforce laws, and make arrests.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify what happens if a police department fails to follow the new rules.
• It is unclear how this will affect undercover officers who do not wear body cameras.
• The exact retention period for recordings can vary based on specific circumstances.

Official Summary Text

This bill requires a
law enforcement agency that uses body cameras
to
adopt a written policy for the use of the body cameras by its law enforcement officers in compliance with this
bill.
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
bill
and the agency's written policy.

WRITTEN POLICY

This bill requires

a
written policy adopted by a law enforcement agency
as described above to
include, at a minimum, guidelines on the use of body cameras by law enforcement officers to
meet all of the following objectives:



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
.


Provide standards for when a law enforcement officer must enable and disable recording functions of the body camera, including
a requirement that (i)
a law enforcement officer activate a body camera whenever responding to a call for service
; (ii)
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;
(iii)
in
situations 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;
(iv)
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
(v)
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
.


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.

Exceptions

This bill requires the
written policy
to
make exceptions to the use of body cameras in the following circumstances:



Prior to entering a private residence without a warrant or in non-exigent circumstances, a law enforcement officer
must
ask the occupant if the occupant wants the officer to discontinue use of the officer's body camera. If the occupant responds affirmatively, then the law enforcement officer must immediately discontinue use of the body camera
.


When interacting with an apparent crime victim, including, but not limited to, a victim of domestic abuse

or a victim of rape, a law enforcement officer
must
, 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
.


When interacting with a person seeking to anonymously report a crime or assist in an ongoing law enforcement investigation, a law enforcement officer
must
, 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.

This bill requires

that r
equests to discontinue use of a body camera made
as described above
, and the responses thereto, be recorded by the body camera prior to discontinuing use of the body camera.

This bill clarifies that

o
nly 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
bill.

AUTHORIZED AND PROHIBITED USES FOR BODY CAMERAS

This bill prohibits body cameras from being using
in a manner inconsistent with the purposes described in this
bill. Further, b
ody 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 encounte
r between a law enforcement officer and a member of the public.
Likewise, law
enforcement officers must not activate a body cam
era 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.

WRITTEN POLICY FOR RETENTION OF DATA

This bill authorizes a
law enforcement agency providing a body camera to an officer as authorized by this
bill to
establish a written policy for the retention of data by the agency
. Generally, body
camera recordings must be retained by the law enforcement agency that employs the officer, or an authorized agent as described
below
, whose body camera captured the recording, for six months from the date it was recorded, after which time the recording must be permanently deleted.
However, b
ody camera recordin
gs must be automatically retained for at least 13 months if the body camera recordings involve

(
i) a
ny use of force
,
(
ii
)
e
vents leading up to and including an arrest for a felony offense, or events that constitute a felony offense
,
or

(
iii
)
a
n encounter about which a complaint has been registered by a subject of the body camera recording within the six months following the recording.
Additionally, body
camera recordings must be retained for at least 1
3
months if voluntarily requested, within six months fo
llowing the recording, by
any of the following:

(1)
The law enforcement officer using the body camera, if that officer reasonably asserts the recording has evidentiary or exculpatory value
.

(2)
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
.

(3)
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
.

(4)
A law enforcement officer, if the recording is being retained solely and exclusively for police training purposes
.

(5)
A member of the public who is a subject of the recording
; a
parent or legal guardian of a minor who is a subject of the recording
; or a
deceased subject's next of kin or legally authorized designee.
Such
persons 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
13
-month retention period.

Confidential Records

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



A body camera recording not subject to a minimum
13
-month retention period
as described above.


A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum
13
-month retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to
a complaint
, 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
13
-month retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to
(1), (2), (3), or (4) above.


A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum
13
-month retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to
(5) above
, if the person makes a voluntary request that the body camera recording not be made available to the public
.


A body camera recording depicting
(i) m
inors when taken within a
s
chool that serves any grades from K-12
, a child care agency, a child care program, preschool, or nursery school; (ii) t
he interior of a
healthcare
facility licensed
in this state
; or
(iii) t
he interior of a private residence that is not being investigated as a crime scene.

This bill prohibits a
law enforcement officer
from
review
ing
, or receiv
ing
an accounting of, any body camera recording that is subject to a minimum
13
-month retention period prior to completing any required initial reports, statements, and interviews regarding the recorded event.

This bill provides that a
body camera recording retained beyond six months solely and exclusively pursuant to
(4) above
is not admissible as evidence in any criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding.

WRITTEN POLICY FOR ACCESS TO BODY CAMERA RECORDINGS

This bill requires a
law enforcement agency providing a body camera to an officer
to
adopt a written policy for access to body camera recordings by the agency.

Body camera recordings that are not subject to a minimum
13
-month retention period are not subject to automated analysis or analytics.

Body camera recordings must not be divulged, or used by any law enforcement agency, for any commercial or other non-law enforcement purpose.

If a law enforcement agency authorizes a third party to act as its autho
rized 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.

VIOLATIONS

If a law enforcement 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:



This bill requires the
law enforcement agency
to
take appropriate disciplinary action against the individual officer, employee, or agent
.


This bill requires t
he law enforcement agency
to
adopt appropriate standards for sanctions of an officer or employee who violates this
bill.


This bill requires the
law enforcement agency
to
specify in a contract with an agent the disciplinary action that must take place if the agent violates this
bill.


This bill requires a rebuttable evidentiary presumption to be adopted in favor of criminal defendants who reasonably assert that exculpatory evidence was destroyed or not captured
.


This bill requires a
rebuttable evidentiary presumption
to
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 requires the
law enforcement agency
to
adopt a written policy setting forth disciplinary action and procedures in compliance with
present law
.

The rebuttable presumptions
described above
may be overcome by contrary evidence or proof of exigent circumstances that made compliance with this part impossible.

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 pr
oceeding.

This
bill
does not contravene any laws governing the maintenance and destruction of evidence in criminal investigations and prosecutions.

APPLICABILITY

This bill
applies to recordings created on or after
the date that this bill becomes effective.

Current Bill Text

SENATE BILL 1976
By Akbari

HOUSE BILL 2436
By McKenzie
HB2436
010913
- 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 an 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 a 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 a person authorized by law to conduct
searches and effectuate arrests and who is employed by a county, a municipality, or a
metropolitan form of government;
(4) "Minor" means a 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
thirteen (13) months 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 thirteen (13)
months 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 thirteen-month 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 thirteen-month
retention period pursuant to subsection (c);

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(2) A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum thirteen-month
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 thirteen-month
retention period solely and exclusively pursuant to subdivision (c)(2)(A), (c)(2)(B),
(c)(2)(C), or (c)(2)(D);
(4) A body camera recording that is subject to a minimum thirteen-month
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 thirteen-month 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 thirteen-month
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 created on or after that date.