SB1747 - 551R

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Title 38, chapter 8, Arizona Revised Statutes, is amended by adding article 3, to read:

ARTICLE 3. LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICER CAMERAS AND RECORDINGS

START_STATUTE38-1151. Definitions

In this article, unless the context otherwise requires:

1. "Contact":

(a) means an interaction that is with an individual who is either inside or outside of a motor vehicle and that is initiated by a peace officer, whether consensual or nonconsensual, to enforce a law or for investigating a possible violation of a law.

(b) does not include routine interactions with the public at the point of entry or exit from a controlled area.

2. "Peace officer" has the same meaning prescribed in section 1-215.

3. "Physical force" means using physical techniques on or tactics, chemical agents or weapons against another individual.

4. "Tamper" means to intentionally damage, disable, dislodge or obstruct the sight or sound or otherwise impair functionality of a body-worn camera or to intentionally damage, delete or fail to upload some or all portions of the video and audio of a body-worn camera.

START_STATUTE38-1152. Peace officers; cameras; incident recording requirements; exceptions; presumptions; certification suspension or revocation; retention schedule; privacy interests; filing deadlines; notice

A. on or Before July 1, 2023, every local law enforcement agency in this state and the department of public safety shall provide a body-worn camera for each peace officer who is employed by the law enforcement agency or the department of public safety and who has contact with the public.

B. Except as provided in subsection C, D or E of this section, a peace officer must wear and activate a body-worn camera, or activate a dash camera if the peace officer's vehicle is equipped with a dash camera, when responding to a call for service or during any contact with the public that is initiated by the peace officer, whether consensual or nonconsensual, to enforce a law or investigate THE possible violation of a law.

C. A peace officer may turn off a body-worn or dash camera:

1. To avoid recording personal information that is not related to a case.

2. When working on an unrelated assignment.

3. When there is a long break in the incident or contact that is not related to the initial incident.

4. In an administrative, tactical or management discussion that is not related to the initial incident.

D. A peace officer does not need to wear or activate a body-worn camera if the peace officer is working undercover or in a court room.

E. This section does not apply to a peace officer or the staff who work in the jail of a local law enforcement agency if the jail has video cameras except if performing a task that requires the anticipated use of physical force, including during a cell extraction or if using a restraint chair.

F. If a peace officer fails to activate a body-worn camera or dash camera when required to by this section or tampers with body-worn or dash camera footage or operation when required to activate the camera, there is a permissive inference against the peace officer in any investigation or legal proceeding, excluding criminal proceedings, that the missing footage would have reflected misconduct by the peace officer. If a peace officer fails to activate or reactivate the officer's body-worn camera when required to by this section or tampers with body-worn or dash camera footage or operation when required to activate the camera, any statement that is sought to be introduced in a prosecution through the peace officer that is related to the incident and that was not recorded because the peace officer failed to activate or reactivate the body-worn camera as required to by this section or if the statement was not recorded by other means creates a rebuttable presumption of inadmissibility. Notwithstanding any other law, this subsection does not apply if the body-worn or dash camera was not activated due to a malfunction of the body-worn or dash camera and the peace officer was not aware of the malfunction, or was unable to rectify it, before the incident, provided that the law enforcement agency's documentation shows the peace officer checked the functionality of the body-worn or dash camera at the beginning of the peace officer's shift.

G. In addition to any criminal liability or other penalty under the law, if a court, administrative law judge, hearing officer or final decision in an internal investigation finds that a peace officer intentionally failed to activate a body-worn or dash camera or tampered with a body-worn or dash camera, except as allowed in this section, the peace officer's employer shall impose discipline up to and including termination to the extent allowed by the applicable constitutional and statutory personnel laws and case law.

H. In addition to any criminal liability or other penalty under the law, if a court, administrative law judge, hearing officer or final decision in an internal investigation finds that a peace officer intentionally failed to activate a body-worn or dash camera or tampered with a body-worn or dash camera, except as allowed in this section, with the intent to conceal unlawful or inappropriate actions or obstruct justice, the Arizona peace officer standards and training board shall suspend the peace officer's certification at least one year. A suspension pursuant to this subsection may be lifted within the period of the suspension only if the peace officer is exonerated by a court.

I. In addition to any criminal liability or other penalty under the law, if a court, administrative law judge, hearing officer or final decision in an internal investigation finds that a peace officer intentionally failed to activate a body-worn or dash camera or tampered with a body-worn or dash camera, except as allowed in this section, with the intent to conceal unlawful or inappropriate actions or obstruct justice, in an incident that results in a civilian death, the Arizona peace officer standards and training board shall permanently revoke the peace officer's certification. A revocation pursuant to this subsection may be overturned only if the peace officer is exonerated by a court.

J. A local law enforcement agency and the department of public safety shall establish and follow a retention schedule for body-worn and dash camera recordings that complies with the rules and directions adopted by the Arizona state library, archives and public records.

K. For any incident that involves a complaint of peace officer misconduct by another peace officer, a civilian, or a nonprofit organization, through notice to the law enforcement agency involved in the alleged misconduct, the local law enforcement agency or the department of public safety shall release all unedited video and audio recordings of the incident, including recordings made from body-worn cameras, dash cameras, or otherwise collected through investigation, to the public within twenty-one days after the local law enforcement agency or the department of public safety received the complaint of misconduct.

L. All video and audio recordings that depict a death caused by a peace officer must be provided on request to the victim's spouse, parent, legal guardian, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild or significant other or other lawful representative and the requesting person shall be notified of the person's right to receive and review the recording at least seventy-two hours before public disclosure of the video or audio recording.

M. Notwithstanding any other provision in this section, any video recording that raises a substantial privacy interest for a criminal defendant, a victim, a witness, a juvenile or an informant, including a video recording that depicts any of the following shall be redacted or blurred to protect the substantial privacy interest while still allowing public release:

1. nudity.

2. a sexual assault.

3. a medical emergency.

4. any private medical information.

5. a mental health crisis.

6. a victim interview.

7. a minor, including any images or information that might undermine the requirement to keep certain juvenile records confidential.

8. any personal information other than the name of any person not arrested, cited, charged or issued a written warning, including a government-issued identification number, date of birth, address or financial information.

9. significantly explicit and gruesome bodily injury, unless the injury was caused by a peace officer.

10. the interior of a home or treatment facility.

N. Unredacted footage may not be released without the written authorization of the victim or, if the victim is deceased or incapacitated, the written authorization of the victim's next of kin. A person who is seventeen years of age or younger is considered incapacitated unless legally emancipated.

O. If redaction or blurring is insufficient to protect the substantial privacy interest, the local law enforcement agency or the department of public safety, on request, shall release the video to the victim or, if the victim is deceased or incapacitated, to the victim's spouse, parent, legal guardian, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild or significant other or other lawful representative within twenty days after receipt of the complaint of misconduct. In cases in which the recording is not released to the public pursuant to this subsection, the local law enforcement agency shall notify the person whose privacy interest is implicated, if contact information is known, within twenty days after receipt of the complaint of misconduct and inform the person of the person's right to waive the privacy interest.

P. A witness, victim or criminal defendant may waive in writing the individual privacy interest that may be implicated by a public release of the recording. On receipt of a written waiver of the applicable privacy interest, accompanied by a request for release, the law enforcement agency may not redact or withhold release to protect that privacy interest.

Q. Any video recording that would substantially interfere with or jeopardize an active or ongoing investigation may be withheld from the public, except that the video recording shall be released not later than forty-five days after the date of the misconduct allegation. if release of a video recording is delayed pursuant to this subsection, the prosecuting attorney shall prepare a written explanation of the interference or jeopardy that justifies the delayed release, contemporaneous with the refusal to release the video recording. On release of the video recording, the prosecuting attorney shall release the written explanation to the public.

R. If criminal charges have been filed against a party to the incident and that party wishes to file a constitutional objection to the release of the video recording in the pending criminal case, that party must file the objection before the twenty-one-day period expires. Only in cases in which there is a pending criminal investigation or prosecution of a party to the incident, the twenty-one-day period begins from the date of appointment of counsel, the filing of an entry of appearance by counsel or the election to proceed pro se by the defendant in the criminal prosecution made on the record before a judge. If the defendant elects to proceed pro se in the criminal case, the court shall advise the defendant of the twenty-one-day deadline for the defendant to file any constitutional objection to the release of the video recording in the pending criminal case as part of the court's advisement. The court shall hold a hearing on any objection not later than seven days after it is filed and issue a ruling not later than three days after the hearing. END_STATUTE

Sec. 2. Effective date

This act is effective from and after December 31, 2021.