Bill Text: NC S449 | 2013-2014 | Regular Session | Amended
Bill Title: Video of DWI Stops and Chemical Tests
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-27 - Ref To Com On Rules and Operations of the Senate [S449 Detail]
Download: North_Carolina-2013-S449-Amended.html
GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2013
S 1
SENATE BILL 449
|
Short Title: Video of DWI Stops and Chemical Tests. |
(Public) |
|
|
Sponsors: |
Senator Goolsby (Primary Sponsor). |
|
|
Referred to: |
Rules and Operations of the Senate. |
|
March 27, 2013
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED
AN ACT to require all breath‑testing sites and law enforcement vehicles engaged in traffic enforcement to be equipped with a video recording device and to require the recording of all impaired driving offenses at the incident site and the breath‑testing site unless such recording is impossible, and to require a fee be assessed to a person convicted of driving while impaired to offset the cost of operating the video recording systems.
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts:
SECTION 1. Article 3 of Chapter 20 of the General Statutes is amended by adding a new section to read:
"§ 20‑138.1A. Incident site and breath‑testing site video recording.
(a) Requirement. – A person who is charged with an impaired driving offense must have his or her conduct at the incident site and the breath‑testing site video recorded.
(b) Incident Site Recording. – The video recording at the incident site shall meet the following criteria:
(1) Not begin later than the activation of the officer's blue lights.
(2) Include any field sobriety tests administered.
(3) Include the arrest of a person for an impaired driving offense and show the person being advised of his Miranda rights.
(c) Test Site Recording. – The video recording at the breath‑testing site shall meet the following criteria:
(1) Include the entire breath‑test procedure, including the suspect being informed that he or she is being video recorded.
(2) Include the person taking or refusing the breath test and the actions of the breath‑test operator while conducting the test.
(3) Include the person's conduct during the required 15‑minute pretest waiting period, unless the officer submits a sworn affidavit certifying that it was impossible to video record this waiting period.
(d) Admissibility of Recordings. – The video recordings of the incident site and of the breath‑testing site are admissible pursuant to the North Carolina Rules of Evidence in a criminal, administrative, or civil proceeding by any party to the action.
(e) Additional Evidence. – Nothing in this section may be construed as prohibiting the introduction of other relevant evidence at trial for an impaired driving offense. Failure by the arresting or charging officer to produce the video recording required by this section does not constitute grounds for dismissal of an impaired driving offense if the arresting officer submits a sworn affidavit certifying that the video recording equipment at the incident site or video equipment at the breath‑testing facility was in an inoperable condition, and stating that reasonable efforts have been made to maintain the equipment in an operable condition, and certifying that there was no other operable breath‑testing facility available in the county or, in the alternative, submits a sworn affidavit certifying that it was physically impossible to produce the video recording because the person needed emergency medical treatment or exigent circumstances existed. In circumstances including, but not limited to, roadblocks and traffic crash investigations where an arrest has been made and the video recording equipment has not been activated by blue lights, the failure by the arresting or charging officer to produce the video recordings required by this section does not constitute grounds for dismissal. However, as soon as video recording is practicable in these circumstances, video recording must begin and conform to the provisions of this section. Nothing in this section prohibits the court from considering any other valid reason for the failure to produce the video recording based upon the totality of the circumstances, nor do the provisions of this section prohibit the person from offering evidence relating to the arresting law enforcement officer's or charging officer's failure to produce the video recording.
(f) Recording Retention. – A video recording must not be disposed of in any manner except for its transfer to a master recording for consolidation purposes until a final judgment is rendered in any legal proceeding arising out of the stop or arrest.
(g) Purchase and Maintenance of Video Recording Systems. – The Department of Transportation is responsible for purchasing, maintaining, and supplying all necessary video recording equipment for use at the breath‑testing sites. The Department of Public Safety is responsible for monitoring all breath‑testing sites to ensure the proper maintenance of video recording equipment. The Department of Transportation is responsible for purchasing, maintaining, and supplying all videotaping equipment for use in all law enforcement vehicles in the State used for traffic enforcement. The Department of Public Safety is also responsible for monitoring all law enforcement vehicles used for traffic enforcement to ensure proper maintenance of video recording equipment.
(h) Rules for Video Recording System Maintenance. – The Department of Public Safety shall promulgate rules necessary to implement the provisions of this section.
(i) Installation of Video Recording Systems; Effect. – The provisions contained in this section take effect for each law enforcement vehicle used for traffic enforcement as soon as the law enforcement vehicle is equipped with a video recording device. The provisions contained in this section take effect for a breath‑testing site once the breath‑testing site is equipped with a video recording device."
SECTION 2. G.S. 7A‑304(a) is amended by adding a new subdivision to read:
"(11) For the video recording system services of the Department of Public Safety, the district or superior court judge shall, upon conviction, order payment of the sum of three hundred dollars ($300.00) to be remitted to the Department of Public Safety. This cost shall be assessed only in cases in which, as part of the investigation leading to the defendant's conviction, the arresting agency utilized a mobile video recording system or a fixed video recording system to record the administration of field sobriety testing or chemical analysis procedures. The court may waive or reduce the amount of the payment required by this subdivision upon a finding of just cause to grant such a waiver or reduction."
SECTION 3. Nothing in this act shall require the purchase and installation of the required video recording systems in a law enforcement vehicle or at a breath‑testing site unless funds are appropriated by the General Assembly for such purpose.
SECTION 4. This act becomes effective December 1, 2013, and applies to impaired driving offenses committed on or after that date. Prosecutions for offenses committed before the effective date of this act are not abated or affected by this act, and the statutes that would be applicable but for this act remain applicable to those prosecutions.
