Body cameras/corrections

AN ACT Relating to body worn cameras within corrections agencies; 1
amending RCW 10.109.030; reenacting and amending RCW 42.56.240; and 2
adding a new section to chapter 10.109 RCW. 3
BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:4
NEW SECTION. Sec. 1. A new section is added to chapter 10.109 5
RCW to read as follows: 6
(1) The department of children, youth, and families shall 7
establish a pilot program for the use of body worn cameras at Green 8
Hill school by January 1, 2026. 9
(2) The department shall establish policies regarding the use of 10
body worn cameras pursuant to RCW 10.109.010. 11
Sec. 2. RCW 10.109.030 and 2018 c 285 s 3 are each amended to 12
read as follows: 13
For state and local agencies, a body worn camera may only be used 14
by officers employed by a general authority Washington law 15
enforcement agency as defined in RCW 10.93.020, any officer employed 16
by the department of corrections, any officer employed by the 17
department of children, youth, and families, and personnel for jails 18
as defined in RCW 70.48.020 and detention facilities as defined in 19
RCW 13.40.020. 20
S-0366.1
SENATE BILL 5274
State of Washington 69th Legislature 2025 Regular Session
By Senators Braun, Christian, Dhingra, Dozier, and J. Wilson
Read first time 01/15/25. Referred to Committee on Human Services.
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Sec. 3. RCW 42.56.240 and 2024 c 299 s 2 and 2024 c 298 s 21 are 1
each reenacted and amended to read as follows: 2
The following investigative, law enforcement, and crime victim 3
information is exempt from public inspection and copying under this 4
chapter: 5
(1) Specific intelligence information and specific investigative 6
records compiled by investigative, law enforcement, and penology 7
agencies, and state agencies vested with the responsibility to 8
discipline members of any profession, the nondisclosure of which is 9
essential to effective law enforcement or for the protection of any 10
person's right to privacy; 11
(2) Information revealing the identity of persons who are 12
witnesses to or victims of crime or who file complaints with 13
investigative, law enforcement, or penology agencies, other than the 14
commission, if disclosure would endanger any person's life, physical 15
safety, or property. If at the time a complaint is filed the 16
complainant, victim, or witness indicates a desire for disclosure or 17
nondisclosure, such desire shall govern. However, all complaints 18
filed with the commission about any elected official or candidate for 19
public office must be made in writing and signed by the complainant 20
under oath; 21
(3) Any records of investigative reports prepared by any state, 22
county, municipal, or other law enforcement agency pertaining to sex 23
offenses contained in chapter 9A.44 RCW or sexually violent offenses 24
as defined in RCW 71.09.020, which have been transferred to the 25
Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs for permanent 26
electronic retention and retrieval pursuant to RCW 40.14.070(2)(b);27
(4) License applications under RCW 9.41.070, except that copies 28
of license applications or information on the applications may be 29
released to law enforcement or corrections agencies or to persons and 30
entities as authorized under RCW 9.41.815; 31
(5)(a) Information revealing the specific details that describe 32
an alleged or proven child victim of sexual assault or commercial 33
sexual exploitation under age 18, or the identity or contact 34
information of an alleged or proven child victim of sexual assault or 35
commercial sexual exploitation who is under age 18. Identifying 36
information includes the child victim's name, addresses, location, 37
photograph, and in cases in which the child victim is a relative, 38
stepchild, or stepsibling of the alleged perpetrator, identification 39
of the relationship between the child and the alleged perpetrator. 40
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Contact information includes phone numbers, email addresses, social 1
media profiles, and user names and passwords. 2
(b) For purposes of this subsection (5), "commercial sexual 3
exploitation" has the same meaning as in RCW 7.105.010;4
(6) Information contained in a local or regionally maintained 5
gang database as well as the statewide gang database referenced in 6
RCW 43.43.762; 7
(7) Data from the electronic sales tracking system established in 8
RCW 69.43.165; 9
(8) Information submitted to the statewide unified sex offender 10
notification and registration program under RCW 36.28A.040(6) by a 11
person for the purpose of receiving notification regarding a 12
registered sex offender, including the person's name, residential 13
address, and email address; 14
(9) Personally identifying information collected by law 15
enforcement agencies pursuant to local security alarm system programs 16
and vacation crime watch programs. Nothing in this subsection shall 17
be interpreted so as to prohibit the legal owner of a residence or 18
business from accessing information regarding his or her residence or 19
business; 20
(10) The felony firearm offense conviction database of felony 21
firearm offenders established in RCW 43.43.822; 22
(11) The identity of a state employee or officer who has in good 23
faith filed a complaint with an ethics board, as provided in RCW 24
42.52.410, or who has in good faith reported improper governmental 25
action, as defined in RCW 42.40.020, to the auditor or other public 26
official, as defined in RCW 42.40.020; 27
(12) The following security threat group information collected 28
and maintained by the department of corrections pursuant to RCW 29
72.09.745: (a) Information that could lead to the identification of a 30
person's security threat group status, affiliation, or activities; 31
(b) information that reveals specific security threats associated 32
with the operation and activities of security threat groups; and (c) 33
information that identifies the number of security threat group 34
members, affiliates, or associates; 35
(13) The global positioning system data that would indicate the 36
location of the residence of an employee or worker of a criminal 37
justice agency as defined in RCW 10.97.030; 38
(14) Body worn camera recordings to the extent nondisclosure is 39
essential for the protection of any person's right to privacy as 40
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described in RCW 42.56.050, including, but not limited to, the 1
circumstances enumerated in (a) of this subsection. A law enforcement 2
or corrections agency shall not disclose a body worn camera recording 3
to the extent the recording is exempt under this subsection.4
(a) Disclosure of a body worn camera recording is presumed to be 5
highly offensive to a reasonable person under RCW 42.56.050 to the 6
extent it depicts: 7
(i)(A) Any areas of a medical facility, counseling, or 8
therapeutic program office where: 9
(I) A patient is registered to receive treatment, receiving 10
treatment, waiting for treatment, or being transported in the course 11
of treatment; or 12
(II) Health care information is shared with patients, their 13
families, or among the care team; or 14
(B) Information that meets the definition of protected health 15
information for purposes of the health insurance portability and 16
accountability act of 1996 or health care information for purposes of 17
chapter 70.02 RCW; 18
(ii) The interior of a place of residence where a person has a 19
reasonable expectation of privacy; 20
(iii) An intimate image; 21
(iv) A minor; 22
(v) The body of a deceased person; 23
(vi) The identity of or communications from a victim or witness 24
of an incident involving domestic violence as defined in RCW 25
10.99.020 or sexual assault as defined in RCW 70.125.030, or 26
disclosure of intimate images as defined in RCW 9A.86.010. If at the 27
time of recording the victim or witness indicates a desire for 28
disclosure or nondisclosure of the recorded identity or 29
communications, such desire shall govern; or 30
(vii) The identifiable location information of a community-based 31
domestic violence program as defined in RCW 70.123.020, or emergency 32
shelter as defined in RCW 70.123.020. 33
(b) The presumptions set out in (a) of this subsection may be 34
rebutted by specific evidence in individual cases.35
(c) In a court action seeking the right to inspect or copy a body 36
worn camera recording, a person who prevails against a law 37
enforcement or corrections agency that withholds or discloses all or 38
part of a body worn camera recording pursuant to (a) of this 39
subsection is not entitled to fees, costs, or awards pursuant to RCW 40
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42.56.550 unless it is shown that the law enforcement or corrections 1
agency acted in bad faith or with gross negligence.2
(d) A request for body worn camera recordings must:3
(i) Specifically identify a name of a person or persons involved 4
in the incident; 5
(ii) Provide the incident or case number; 6
(iii) Provide the date, time, and location of the incident or 7
incidents; or 8
(iv) Identify a law enforcement or corrections officer involved 9
in the incident or incidents. 10
(e)(i) A person directly involved in an incident recorded by the 11
requested body worn camera recording, an attorney representing a 12
person directly involved in an incident recorded by the requested 13
body worn camera recording, a person or his or her attorney who 14
requests a body worn camera recording relevant to a criminal case 15
involving that person, or the executive director from either the 16
Washington state commission on African American affairs, Asian 17
Pacific American affairs, or Hispanic affairs, has the right to 18
obtain the body worn camera recording, subject to any exemption under 19
this chapter or any applicable law. In addition, an attorney who 20
represents a person regarding a potential or existing civil cause of 21
action involving the denial of civil rights under the federal or 22
state Constitution, or a violation of a United States department of 23
justice settlement agreement, has the right to obtain the body worn 24
camera recording if relevant to the cause of action, subject to any 25
exemption under this chapter or any applicable law. The attorney must 26
explain the relevancy of the requested body worn camera recording to 27
the cause of action and specify that he or she is seeking relief from 28
redaction costs under this subsection (14)(e). 29
(ii) A law enforcement or corrections agency responding to 30
requests under this subsection (14)(e) may not require the requesting 31
individual to pay costs of any redacting, altering, distorting, 32
pixelating, suppressing, or otherwise obscuring any portion of a body 33
worn camera recording. 34
(iii) A law enforcement or corrections agency may require any 35
person requesting a body worn camera recording pursuant to this 36
subsection (14)(e) to identify himself or herself to ensure he or she 37
is a person entitled to obtain the body worn camera recording under 38
this subsection (14)(e). 39
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(f)(i) A law enforcement or corrections agency responding to a 1
request to disclose body worn camera recordings may require any 2
requester not listed in (e) of this subsection to pay the reasonable 3
costs of redacting, altering, distorting, pixelating, suppressing, or 4
otherwise obscuring any portion of the body worn camera recording 5
prior to disclosure only to the extent necessary to comply with the 6
exemptions in this chapter or any applicable law. 7
(ii) An agency that charges redaction costs under this subsection 8
(14)(f) must use redaction technology that provides the least costly 9
commercially available method of redacting body worn camera 10
recordings, to the extent possible and reasonable.11
(iii) In any case where an agency charges a requestor for the 12
costs of redacting a body worn camera recording under this subsection 13
(14)(f), the time spent on redaction of the recording shall not count 14
towards the agency's allocation of, or limitation on, time or costs 15
spent responding to public records requests under this chapter, as 16
established pursuant to local ordinance, policy, procedure, or state 17
law. 18
(g) For purposes of this subsection (14): 19
(i) "Body worn camera recording" means a video and/or sound 20
recording that is made by a body worn camera attached to the uniform 21
or eyewear of a law enforcement or corrections officer while in the 22
course of his or her official duties; ((and))23
(ii) "Corrections agency" has the same meaning as "correctional 24
institution" in RCW 9.94.049; and25
(iii) "Intimate image" means an individual or individuals engaged 26
in sexual activity, including sexual intercourse as defined in RCW 27
9A.44.010 and masturbation, or an individual's intimate body parts, 28
whether nude or visible through less than opaque clothing, including 29
the genitals, pubic area, anus, or postpubescent female nipple.30
(h) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to restrict 31
access to body worn camera recordings as otherwise permitted by law 32
for official or recognized civilian and accountability bodies or 33
pursuant to any court order. 34
(i) Nothing in this section is intended to modify the obligations 35
of prosecuting attorneys and law enforcement under Brady v. Maryland, 36
373 U.S. 83, 83 S. Ct. 1194, 10 L. Ed. 2d 215 (1963), Kyles v. 37
Whitley, 541 U.S. 419, 115 S. Ct. 1555, 131 L. Ed.2d 490 (1995), and 38
the relevant Washington court criminal rules and statutes.39
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(j) A law enforcement or corrections agency must retain body worn 1
camera recordings for at least 60 days and thereafter may destroy the 2
records in accordance with the applicable records retention schedule;3
(15) Any records and information contained within the statewide 4
sexual assault kit tracking system established in RCW 43.43.545;5
(16)(a) Survivor communications with, and survivor records 6
maintained by, campus-affiliated advocates. 7
(b) Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to restrict 8
access to records maintained by a campus-affiliated advocate in the 9
event that: 10
(i) The survivor consents to inspection or copying;11
(ii) There is a clear, imminent risk of serious physical injury 12
or death of the survivor or another person; 13
(iii) Inspection or copying is required by federal law; or14
(iv) A court of competent jurisdiction mandates that the record 15
be available for inspection or copying. 16
(c) "Campus-affiliated advocate" and "survivor" have the 17
definitions in RCW 28B.112.030; 18
(17) Information and records prepared, owned, used, or retained 19
by the Washington association of sheriffs and police chiefs and 20
information and records prepared, owned, used, or retained by the 21
Washington state patrol pursuant to chapter 261, Laws of 2017;22
(18) Any and all audio or video recordings of child forensic 23
interviews as defined in chapter 26.44 RCW. Such recordings are 24
confidential and may only be disclosed pursuant to a court order 25
entered upon a showing of good cause and with advance notice to the 26
child's parent, guardian, or legal custodian. However, if the child 27
is an emancipated minor or has attained the age of majority as 28
defined in RCW 26.28.010, advance notice must be to the child. 29
Failure to disclose an audio or video recording of a child forensic 30
interview as defined in chapter 26.44 RCW is not grounds for 31
penalties or other sanctions available under this chapter; and32
(19) Information exempt from public disclosure and copying under 33
RCW 43.10.305(2)(f). 34
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