Bill Text: NY A06487 | 2021-2022 | General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Allows police officers to wear body-worn cameras; prohibits agreements with other state or federal agencies that prevent the use of such cameras.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 11-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-01-05 - referred to governmental operations [A06487 Detail]

Download: New_York-2021-A06487-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          6487

                               2021-2022 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                     March 19, 2021
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by  M.  of  A.  DICKENS, ABINANTI, BARRON, EPSTEIN, HYNDMAN,
          GOTTFRIED, GLICK, O'DONNELL, PICHARDO, RICHARDSON, TAYLOR -- read once
          and referred to the Committee on Governmental Operations

        AN ACT to amend the executive law, in relation to allowing police  offi-
          cers  to wear body-worn cameras, and prohibiting agreements with other
          state or federal agencies that prevent the use of such cameras

          The People of the State of New York, represented in Senate and  Assem-
        bly, do enact as follows:

     1    Section  1. The executive law is amended by adding a new section 837-w
     2  to read as follows:
     3    § 837-w. Police use of body-worn cameras.  1. For the purposes of this
     4  section the following terms shall have the following meanings:
     5    (a) "Body-worn camera" shall mean  an  electronic  camera  system  for
     6  creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying, and proc-
     7  essing audiovisual recordings that are worn by a police officer.
     8    (b)  "Community caretaking function" shall mean a task undertaken by a
     9  police officer in which such police officer is performing an articulable
    10  act unrelated to the investigation of  a  crime.  "Community  caretaking
    11  function"  includes,  but is not limited to, participating in town halls
    12  or other community outreach, helping a child find the  child's  parents,
    13  providing  death  notifications,  dealing  with  individuals  asking for
    14  directions or other assistance and performing in-home or hospital  well-
    15  being checks on persons who are sick, elderly or presumed missing.
    16    (c)  "In uniform" with respect to a police officer, shall mean wearing
    17  any officially authorized uniform designated by a police agency or visi-
    18  bly wearing articles of clothing or other  items  indicating  that  such
    19  police  officer  is a police officer acting in the course of such police
    20  officer's duties, including, but not limited to, a badge, tactical gear,
    21  a gun belt, a patch or other insignia.
    22    (d) "Law enforcement-related encounters or activities" shall  include,
    23  but not be limited to, traffic stops, pedestrian stops, arrests, search-

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD03748-01-1
        A. 6487                             2

     1  es,  interrogations,  investigations,  pursuits,  crowd control, traffic
     2  control, interactions with individuals while  on  patrol  that  are  not
     3  community  caretaking functions, or any other instance in which a police
     4  officer  is  enforcing  the  laws of the municipality, county, or state.
     5  "Law enforcement-related encounters or  activities"  shall  not  include
     6  activities  occurring  while  the police officer is completing paperwork
     7  alone or in the presence of another police officer, or  community  care-
     8  taking functions.
     9    (e)  "Recording"  shall mean the process of capturing data or informa-
    10  tion stored on a recording medium for  the  retention  and  playback  of
    11  recorded  audio  and  video  including,  but not limited to, hard drive,
    12  cloud storage, solid state, digital or flash memory  technology  or  any
    13  other electronic medium.
    14    2. A police agency shall ensure that each police officer in its employ
    15  who  requests a body-worn camera is equipped with a body-worn camera and
    16  that such body-worn camera is in operation and creating a  recording  at
    17  all  times such police officer is in uniform and engaged in law enforce-
    18  ment-related encounters or activities. Each police  agency  shall  adopt
    19  policies  and  procedures  relating  to  the use of body-worn cameras by
    20  police officers in its employ and the maintenance and retention of  data
    21  and recordings.
    22    3.  No police agency shall enter into an agreement or joint task force
    23  with any other state or federal agency which requires police officers to
    24  engage in law enforcement-related encounters or activities  without  the
    25  use of a body-worn camera.
    26    § 2. This act shall take effect on the one hundred eightieth day after
    27  it shall have become a law.