Bill Text: NY A08596 | 2019-2020 | General Assembly | Introduced

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

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 15-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2020-01-08 - referred to governmental operations [A08596 Detail]

Download: New_York-2019-A08596-Introduced.html

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                STATE OF NEW YORK
        ________________________________________________________________________

                                          8596

                               2019-2020 Regular Sessions

                   IN ASSEMBLY

                                   September 13, 2019
                                       ___________

        Introduced  by M. of A. DICKENS -- read once and referred to the Commit-
          tee 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-u
     2  to read as follows:
     3    § 837-u. 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-
    24  es,  interrogations,  investigations,  pursuits,  crowd control, traffic

         EXPLANATION--Matter in italics (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                              [ ] is old law to be omitted.
                                                                   LBD13482-01-9
        A. 8596                             2

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