Empowers district attorneys to review and release at their discretion, all footage from body worn cameras utilized by law enforcement agencies within the county of such district attorney.
NEW YORK STATE ASSEMBLY MEMORANDUM IN SUPPORT OF LEGISLATION submitted in accordance with Assembly Rule III, Sec 1(f)
BILL NUMBER: A8824
SPONSOR: Gibbs TITLE OF BILL:
An act to amend the county law, in relation to the powers and duties of
district attorneys
PURPOSE OR GENERAL IDEA OF BILL::
The purpose of this bill is to give district attorneys the authority to
review any footage from body-worn cameras and the authority to release
such footage at their own discretion or the request of an investigative
agency.
SUMMARY OF PROVISIONS::
Section one. Amends Section 700 of the county law by adding a new subdi-
vision 12 to read as follows: 12. Every district attorney shall have the
power to review all footage from body worn cameras utilized by law
enforcement agencies within the county of such district attorney. A
district attorney may release any such footage at the discretion of such
district attorney or at the request of a local, state or federal inves-
tigative agency.
Section two. Sets that this act shall take effect immediately.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN ORIGINAL AND AMENDED VERSION (IF APPLICABLE):
Click here to enter text.
JUSTIFICATION::
This bill would create another scenario when law enforcement agencies
must turn over camera footage, at the request of the District Attorney
for that county. Giving district attorneys the authority to review such
footage provides an extra layer of accountability and oversight to an
otherwise internal process. The bill would also give the District Attor-
ney the authority to release any such footage obtained under this law.
As a dual chief prosecutor and elected official, district attorneys are
in a unique position to balance the privacy, security, and other
concerns of law enforcement with the need for public transparency and
accountability.
Over the last decade, law enforcement agencies have begun implementing
and utilizing body-worn cameras to increase transparency and account-
ability when interacting with the public. Footage from body-worn cameras
is used in a variety of circumstances, including criminal prosecution,
misconduct investigations, and officer training: The New York City
Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) found that the widespread use of
body-worn cameras cut more than half the number of complaints for which
the CCRB was unable to make a determination, from 51% with no footage to
23% with footage.
Currently, state law only requires body-worn camera footage to be turned
over for discovery purposes in criminal cases and to the Attorney Gener-
al's Office of Special Investigations (OSI) after they decide to inves-
tigate. This means any footage of interactions with the public that does
not lead to criminal charges being filed or an investigation by OSI
remains in the sole custody of that department. There are no require-
ments that departments use this footage for review or training and,
according to the New York Times, the NYPD has ended its review program.
Unless the department has a release policy, like OSI, the public can
only view the footage through the Freedom of Information Law (FOIL)
process. The process puts the decision of which footage and how much of
it to release on the department being scrutinized, which can, like in
the case of the death of Miguel Richards, lead to unnecessary and
burdensome delays only solved through lawsuits years after the event
occurred.
PRIOR LEGISLATIVE HISTORY::
New Bill
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS FOR STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS::
None
EFFECTIVE DATE:
This act shall take effect immediately.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
8824
IN ASSEMBLY
January 18, 2024
___________
Introduced by M. of A. GIBBS -- read once and referred to the Committee
on Local Governments
AN ACT to amend the county law, in relation to the powers and duties of
district attorneys
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Section 700 of the county law is amended by adding a new
2 subdivision 12 to read as follows:
3 12. Every district attorney shall have the power to review all footage
4 from body worn cameras utilized by law enforcement agencies within the
5 county of such district attorney. A district attorney may release any
6 such footage at the discretion of such district attorney or at the
7 request of a local, state or federal investigative agency.
8 § 2. This act shall take effect immediately.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD13881-02-3
