Amended in Assembly April 27, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 20, 2015

Amended in Assembly April 9, 2015

Amended in Assembly March 26, 2015

California Legislature—2015–16 Regular Session

Assembly Bill No. 66

Introduced by Assembly Member Weber

(Principal coauthor: Assembly Member Bonta)

( begin delete Coauthor: Assembly Member end delete begin insert Coauthors: Assembly Members Gipson and end insert Rodriguez)

December 17, 2014

An act to add Section 830.16 to the Penal Code, relating to peace officers.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

AB 66, as amended, Weber. Peace officers: body-worn cameras.

Existing law makes it a crime to intentionally record a confidential communication without the consent of all parties to the communication. Existing law exempts specified peace officers from that provision if they are acting within the scope of their authority.

This bill would impose specified requirements and prohibitions on a law enforcement agency that requires a peace officer employed by the agency to use a body-worn camera, including, among other things, a requirement that the agency conspicuously post its policies and procedures regarding body-worn cameras on its Internet Web site, and a prohibition on a peace officer operating a body-worn camera under certain circumstances. begin insert The bill would further require that when a peace officer is involved in an incident involving a serious use of force, the officer may only review his or her body-worn camera video after making an initial statement and report. end insert The bill would also require those law enforcement agencies to consider specified guidelines when adopting a body-worn camera policy, including, among others, a requirement that a peace officer equipped with a body worn camera activate the camera when responding to calls for assistance and when performing law enforcement activities in the field. Except as provided, the bill would specifically require that a request for a file from a body-worn camera be processed in accordance with the California Public Records Act.

Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:

SECTION 1.  

The Legislature finds and declares:

(a) Twenty-first century policing demands more transparency
in everyday interactions with the public. In light of a number of
high profile use of force incidents involving law enforcement,
body-worn cameras are seen as an important means toward
achieving this goal.

(b) Several law enforcement agencies in California are already
implementing body-worn camera programs. Because of the
potential of this technology to document law enforcement
interactions, we must be cognizant in protecting citizen privacy
and not violate civil liberties.

(c) The development of best practices will be necessary to ensure
the public’s trust in law enforcement. The use of the portable video
recording system provides documentary evidence for criminal
investigations, internal or administrative investigations, and civil
litigation.

(d) The Legislature intends for officers to utilize body-worn
cameras in accordance with the provisions in this act to maximize
the effectiveness of the audio and video documentation to achieve
operational objectives and to ensure evidence integrity.

SEC. 2.  

Section 830.16 is added to the Penal Code, to read:

830.16.  

(a) A law enforcement agency that requires a
body-worn camera to be used by a peace officer that the agency
employs shall comply with the following requirements:

(1) A law enforcement agency shall conspicuously post its
policies and procedures regarding body-worn cameras on its
Internet Web site.

(2) A peace officer shall only use the body-worn camera systems
issued and approved by the law enforcement agency that employs
him or her for official police duties.

(3) A peace officer shall not make copies of any body-worn
camera files for his or her personal use or use a recording device
such as a telephone camera or secondary video camera to record
a body-worn camera file.

(4) A peace officer shall not operate a body-worn camera under
any of the following circumstances:

(A) In a health facility or medical office when patients may be
in view of the body-worn camera or when a health care practitioner
is providing care to an individual.

(B) During an ambulance response to an accident or illness
where the victim is not involved in any criminal activity.

(C) Situations where recording would risk the safety of a
confidential informant or undercover peace officer.

(5) Operation of a body-worn camera shall begin with the officer
providing on-camera notice to a person being recorded that a
body-worn camera is recording video, and provide the person with
the option to request that the body-worn camera be turned off under
both of the following circumstances:

(A) When the subject of the video is a victim of rape, incest,
domestic violence, or other forms of domestic or sexual harm.

(B) When an officer is at a private residence without a warrant
and in a nonemergency situation.

(6)  begin delete Where end delete begin insert (A) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert When end insert a peace officer is involved in an incident
involving begin delete use of force or an incident resulting in injury or death, end delete
begin insert a serious use of force, end insert a peace officer may only review his or her
body-worn camera video begin delete only end delete after making his or her initial
statement and begin delete report in an administrative or criminal inquiry or
investigation. Once end delete begin insert report. end insert

begin insert (B) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert (i) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert Once end insert a peace officer’s initial report has been submitted
and begin delete approved and the officer has been interviewed by the
appropriate investigator, the investigator shall end delete begin insert approved, a
supervisor may end insert show the begin insert peace end insert officer the body-worn camera
video. The peace officer may be given the opportunity to provide
additional information to supplement his or her begin delete statement and may
be asked additional questions by the investigators. end delete begin insert statement. end insert If
the review results in a modified report, both of the reports shall be
provided to all parties to a civil, criminal, or administrative
investigation. begin insert The fact that a modified or secondary report was
prepared shall not be the sole basis for placing an officer on a
Brady List. end insert

begin insert

(ii) For the purposes of this subparagraph, “Brady List” means
any system, index, list, or other record containing the names of
peace officers whose personnel files are likely to contain evidence
of dishonesty or bias, which is maintained by a prosecutorial
agency or office in accordance with the holding in Brady v.
Maryland (1963) 373 U.S. 83.

end insert begin insert

(C) For the purpose of subparagraph (A), “serious use of force”
means any of the following:

end insert begin insert

(i) Force resulting in death.

end insert begin insert

(ii) Force resulting in a loss of consciousness.

end insert begin insert

(iii) Force resulting in protracted loss, impairment, serious
disfigurement, or function of any body part or organ.

end insert begin insert

(iv) Weapon strike to the head.

end insert begin insert

(v) Intentional firearm discharge at a person, regardless of
injury.

end insert begin insert

(vi) Unintentional firearm discharge if a person is injured as a
result of the discharge.

end insert

(b) In addition to subdivision (a), a law enforcement agency
shall consider the following guidelines when adopting a body-worn
camera policy:

(1) A peace officer equipped with a body-worn camera shall
activate the camera when responding to calls for assistance and
when performing law enforcement activities in the field, including,
but not limited to, traffic or pedestrian stops, pursuits, arrests,
searches, seizures, interrogations, and any other investigative or
enforcement encounters in the field.

(2) A peace officer shall ensure that a body-worn camera is fully
functional, including, but not limited to, ensuring that the camera
can be turned on and off and record video and audio, and that the
camera is properly charged, prior to going into the field. A peace
officer shall not violate a person’s reasonable expectation of
privacy when ensuring that a body-worn camera is fully functional
pursuant to this paragraph.

(3) A peace officer wearing a body-worn camera shall position
the camera on his or her chest, head, shoulder, collar, or any area
above the mid-torso of his or her uniform to facilitate optimum
recording field of view.

(4) Both video and audio recording functions of a body-worn
camera shall be activated when an officer is responding to a call
for service or at the initiation of any other law enforcement or
investigative encounter between a police officer and a member of
the public. During an encounter with a member of the public, the
officer shall notify the member of the public that the body-worn
camera is recording, and shall not deactivate the body-worn camera
until the conclusion of the encounter.

(5) A peace officer may stop recording when an arrestee is
secured inside a fixed place of detention, as defined in paragraph
(3) of subdivision (g) of Section 859.5.

(6) A peace officer shall record any interview of a suspect or
witness in its entirety, unless paragraphs (4) and (5) of subdivision
(a) apply.

(7) When recording interviews of a begin delete suspect or witness, end delete begin insert suspect, end insert
a peace officer shall, where applicable, inform the suspect begin delete or
witness end delete of his or her rights under Miranda v. Arizona (1966) 384
U.S. 436.

(8) In the event of contradicting requests made by a homeowner,
occupant, or renter to stop recording the encounter, the
contradicting requests shall be recorded on video and the peace
officer shall continue to operate and record the encounter.

(9) A peace officer shall not remove, dismantle, or tamper with
any hardware or software components or parts of a body-worn
camera.

(10) A peace officer shall not use body-worn camera functions,
when there is no investigatory interaction with a member of the
public, to record any personal conversation of or with another
agency member or employee without the permission of the
recorded member or employee.

(11) A peace officer shall not use a body-worn camera to record
non-work-related activity or to record in places where a reasonable
expectation of privacy exists.

(12) A peace officer shall not allow a computerized facial
recognition program or application to be used with a body-worn
camera or a recording made by a body-worn camera unless the
use has been authorized by a warrant issued by a court.

(13) When safe and practical, an on-scene supervisor may
retrieve a body-worn camera from an officer. The supervisor shall
be responsible for ensuring the camera data is uploaded into the
desired data processing and collection method.

(c) This section does not require a peace officer, in a public
venue, to cease recording an event, situation, or circumstance
solely at the demand of a citizen.

(d) (1) Any request from within a law enforcement agency for
recordings from a body-worn camera from that agency shall be
completed by the system administrator with the approval of the
head of the agency.

(2) All other requests for recordings from a body-worn camera
shall be processed in accordance with the California Public Records
Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 6250) of Division 7
of Title 1 of the Government Code).

begin insert

(e) Any use of body-worn cameras by a peace officer not
otherwise prescribed by this section or any other law is subject to
bargaining pursuant to the Myers-Milias-Brown Act (Chapter 10
(commencing with Section 3500) of Division 4 of Title 1 of the
Government Code).

end insert