Act 218 took effect in 2023, requiring all law enforcement agencies to adopt and implement a set of minimum standards. The law allows departments to establish additional standards that are more restrictive.
The Municipal Association’s Risk Management Services drafted model policies for each of the standards, available for use by all cities and towns at www.masc.sc (keyword: law enforcement model policies). Departments that are not SC Municipal Insurance Trust or SC Municipal Insurance and Risk Financing Fund members should reach out to the SC Criminal Justice Academy for policy questions.
The sixth model policy is “Body-Worn Cameras,” explaining how officers must handle these devices and the recordings they create.
It states the department’s purpose for using the cameras: “to collect evidence to be used in the prosecution of those who violate the law, for officer evaluation and training, and to provide accurate documentation of law enforcement and citizen interaction.”
The policy requires that officers receive training on how to maintain the cameras, including by confirming that they are functioning and have fully charged batteries at the beginning of each shift.
Officers who primarily answer calls and interact with residents must wear them at all times under the policy, although they are not required to keep the cameras activated at all times during the shift. They must create audio and video recordings for the entirety of several kinds of situations, including
- when on the scene of any violent crime;
- any situation with the use of force;
- during a motor vehicle accident investigation when the people involved in the accident are present;
- any incident involving a suspicious person, public drunkenness, field sobriety tests, public disorderly conduct, or emotionally-disturbed persons;
- any call for service where citizen contact is made, field contacts, as well as adversarial contact or potentially adversarial contact occurs. This includes citizen transports, but not ride-alongs; and
- all arrests, searches and seizures of evidence, as well as all traffic stops, investigatory stops and foot pursuits.
The policy requires that officers “make every reasonable effort to ensure” that the camera accurately captures the law enforcement events in question, including activating the recording as soon as the contact or event begins, positioning the camera to capture the event, and never erasing, modifying or tampering with the recordings.
Some circumstances noted in the policy would not involve recording, for example, a location with a reasonable expectation of privacy like a restroom or locker room, or encounters with confidential informants. The policy gives officers the choice of discontinuing a recording for a nonconfrontational encounter, such as the interview of a witness or victim.
In situations where the officer decides to stop recording, the policy requires the officer to verbally state the reason for stopping the recording. In instances where the officer responds to a call for assistance without turning on the camera, the officer must document the reason in the incident report or case file.
The policy also spells out how officers are to handle the camera data after its creation. They must move the data onto the law enforcement agency’s designated server or storage device at the end of each shift, after which the department will maintain the data for at least 90 days with no alterations or deletions. In cases that are prosecuted, the data is to be further maintained until after the case is adjudicated and the time for appeals is exhausted.
Supervisors, under the policy, are required to review at least one recording from every officer every 90 days to determine that they are complying with the policy.
Find more information about all law enforcement policies online.