Requires police departments and agencies to provide district attorneys' offices access to such departments' and agencies' electronic record systems for discovery purposes.
STATE OF NEW YORK
________________________________________________________________________
613
2025-2026 Regular Sessions
IN SENATE(Prefiled)
January 8, 2025
___________
Introduced by Sen. MYRIE -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
printed to be committed to the Committee on Codes
AN ACT to amend the criminal procedure law, in relation to giving prose-
cutors' offices access to law enforcement records for discovery
purposes
The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assem-bly, do enact as follows:
1 Section 1. Legislative intent. The legislature enacted reforms of the
2 discovery process in two thousand twenty to enhance transparency and
3 fairness in criminal proceedings by ensuring that defendants have timely
4 access to the evidence against them. However, the implementation of
5 these reforms has placed significant burdens on both district attorneys'
6 offices and law enforcement agencies, which must meet tight deadlines
7 for the collection and disclosure of vast amounts of records. The
8 effects of this burden are exacerbated by the current lack of direct
9 access by district attorneys' offices to law enforcement evidence
10 systems, forcing prosecutors to rely on a manual and delayed process for
11 obtaining critical materials.
12 To address these challenges, this act seeks to improve the efficiency
13 of the discovery process by granting district attorneys' offices direct
14 access to law enforcement records and databases related to the subject
15 matter of criminal cases. This access will help alleviate delays, reduce
16 the administrative burden on both prosecutors and law enforcement, and
17 ensure that cases are resolved based on their merits rather than proce-
18 dural failures. By allowing staff in district attorneys' offices to
19 directly retrieve records, the act also aims to return police officers
20 to their core responsibilities of maintaining public safety.
21 The legislature finds that these reforms will promote the timely and
22 fair resolution of criminal cases, advancing the interests of justice
23 for both defendants and the public at large.
EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
[] is old law to be omitted.
LBD00487-02-5
S. 613 2
1 § 2. Section 245.20 of the criminal procedure law is amended by adding
2 a new subdivision 8 to read as follows:
3 8. Prosecutor access to law enforcement materials. (a) Each district
4 attorney's office shall have access to all electronic record systems
5 including but not limited to documents, audio files, and video files,
6 containing information related to the subject matter of a criminal case,
7 or information that a court has ordered the prosecutor to disclose to
8 the defense, of every police department or agency certified in accord-
9 ance with paragraph (d) of subdivision one of section eight hundred
10 forty-six-h of the executive law that operates within the county of such
11 district attorney.
12 (b) Every police department or agency shall issue no fewer than one
13 login credential to each district attorney's office with access to such
14 department's or agency's computer system pursuant to paragraph (a) of
15 this subdivision and shall issue no fewer than one additional login
16 credential for every twenty thousand residents of the county as deter-
17 mined by the most recent federal census. The credentials issued may
18 restrict the user to viewing, printing, downloading, or otherwise saving
19 the materials accessed with no ability to generate, edit, or delete any
20 documents, and may restrict a district attorney's office's access to
21 materials related to the subject matter of an actual case.
22 (c) The login credentials issued pursuant to paragraph (b) of this
23 subdivision shall grant access to all electronic files maintained in the
24 department's or agency's computer systems for every case brought to the
25 district attorney's office to include, but not be limited to, all docu-
26 ments required for full compliance with this article.
27 (d) All departments and agencies with one hundred thousand or more
28 individuals living in the area over which such department or agency has
29 jurisdiction shall provide the relevant district attorney's office or
30 offices with access to such computer systems within the physical
31 location of such district attorney's office or offices. All departments
32 and agencies with fewer than one hundred thousand individuals living in
33 the area over which such department or agency has jurisdiction shall
34 provide the relevant district attorney's office or offices with access
35 to such computer systems in an easily accessible police precinct.
36 § 3. This act shall take effect on the ninetieth day after it shall
37 have become a law.
