Are Police Officers Required to Wear Body Cameras in North Carolina?

North Carolina is unique in that law enforcement officers wear body cameras to record videos of interactions between them and the public. The video recordings taken by law enforcement are not considered public records. In 2016, House Bill 972 was signed into law.

House Bill 792 states that the law's purpose is “to provide that recordings made by law enforcement agencies are not public records.” The definition of recordings is broad and includes any audio, visual, or combination recording made by a body-worn camera, dashboard camera, or any other recording device operated on behalf of or by law enforcement agencies or Personnel carrying out law enforcement responsibilities.

Police recordings can be released to a person whose image or voice appears in the recording or represents that person. However, law enforcement can disclose only those portions of the recording relevant to the person's request. A judge must issue a court order for the recordings to be released to the public.

Since it was passed in 2016, House Bill 972 has been debated extensively. After a police officer shot an individual named Anthony Brown Jr. in 2022, many advocates called for the law to be changed to allow recordings to be released to the public. The police union representing the officer who engaged in the shooting asked that the body camera footage be released completely and in an unedited way. Advocates who support the law say that keeping the body camera footage from the public ensures due process and the right to a fair trial.

As the law currently states, body camera footage is not a public record. However, it can be viewed by or disclosed to the public under certain circumstances. An important distinction between the laws of other states is that they cannot be automatically given to the public in North Carolina.

Suppose the video footage depicts a serious bodily injury or a death. In that case, a personal representative of the deceased, the injured victim, or a personal representative, such as an attorney, can fill out a notarized form and turn it in to the relevant law enforcement agency. The police department can petition the court to disclose the footage within three days by filling out another form.

After the law enforcement agency petitions the court, the judge will review the video or audio recording. The judge has only seven business days to disclose the full footage. However, the judge does not have to disclose the full footage. They can disclose footage with editing or redaction at a later date with or without editing or simply refuse to give access to the footage. At that point, the head of the relevant law enforcement agency, any law enforcement employees captured in the video recording, the investigating agency, the district attorney, and the party requesting the video footage will receive notice and be allowed to be heard at a proceeding.

If the footage does not depict the death or serious injury of one more person, anyone whose voice or image is in the recording can fill out a form to view the footage. Personal representatives of an adult person in the recording or a deceased person whose image or voice is in the recording can also be asked to review the footage. Once the appropriate law enforcement agency receives the form, the agency must disclose parts of the footage relevant to the party requesting it.

The police department must notify the party or parties requesting the video of their decision not to release footage within three days of their request. In that case, the party requesting the footage can appeal to the superior court, which will review the decision. A longer process must occur for everyone else who is not eligible to request the footage. For example, members of the general public, including city council members, must file a civil lawsuit in Superior Court requesting video footage. A recent ruling by the North Carolina Court of Appeals has made the release of video footage to members of the public even more complicated.

If you or your loved one has been injured, or your loved one has been killed in a police shooting, or you are an officer being accused of using unlawful force, you must discuss your case with a skilled attorney. Contact Arnold & Smith, PLLC, to schedule a complimentary, no-obligation case evaluation with a skilled attorney in Charlotte, North Carolina.