On July 1, 2023, a new Colorado law with the intent to enhance law enforcement integrity and accountability goes into effect. The Enhance Law Enforcement Integrity Bill (SB20-217) was signed into law in 2000 and provided police agencies across the state ample time to get into compliance with this new law.
This new law requires all police officers to wear body cameras and record their interactions with the public. All agencies, including the Colorado State Patrol, must issue body-worn cameras to their officers. There are exceptions for officers working in detention facilities and court rooms, and while working as a civilian, during administrative tasks, or undercover. When the police are responding to a call, or investigating a crime, a body worn camera must be in use. A primary example is that body work cameras must be used for all traffic stops suspecting impaired driving.
Here are the highlights of the new law:
- Effective for incidents on or after July 1, 2023.
- Peace officer shall wear and activate a body-worn camera or dash camera, if the peace officer’s vehicle is equipped with a dash camera, when responding to a call for service, entering into a premises for the purposes of enforcing the law or in response to a call for service, during a welfare check except for a motorist assist, or during any interaction with the public initiated by the peace officer, whether consensual or nonconsensual, for the purpose of enforcing the law or investigating possible violations of the law.
- The body-worn camera or dash camera does not need to be on when en route to a call for service but should be turned on shortly before the vehicle approaches the scene.
- Peace officer may turn off a body-worn camera to avoid recording personal information that is not case related; when working on an unrelated assignment; when there is a long break in the incident; and in administrative, tactical, and management discussions when civilians are not present.
- Peace officer does not need to wear or activate a body-worn camera if the peace officer is working undercover.
- Does not apply to jail peace officers or staff of a local law enforcement agency working in any place in the jail that has functioning video cameras; except when performing a task that requires an anticipated use of force, including cell extractions and restraint chairs.
- Does not apply to the civilian or administrative tasks, executive detail of the Colorado State Patrol, and peace officers working in a courtroom.
- If a peace officer fails to activate a body-worn camera or dash camera or tampers with body-worn- or dash-camera footage or operation when required to activate the camera, there is a permissive inference in any investigation or legal proceeding, excluding criminal proceedings against the peace officer, that the missing footage would have reflected misconduct by the peace officer.
- If a peace officer fails to activate or reactivate his or her body-worn camera as required, or tampers with or operation when required, any statements or conduct sought to be introduced in a prosecution through the peace officer related to the incident that were not recorded due to the peace officer’s failure to activate or reactivate the body-worn camera as required by this section or if the statement or conduct was not recorded by other means creates a rebuttable presumption of inadmissibility.
- The above does not apply if the body-worn camera was not activated due to a malfunction of the body-worn camera and the peace officer was not aware of the malfunction, or was unable to rectify it, prior to the incident, provided that the law enforcement agency’s documentation shows the peace officer checked the functionality of the body-worn camera at the beginning of his or her shift.
- Local law enforcement agencies and the Colorado State Patrol shall establish and follow a retention schedule for body-worn camera recordings in compliance with Colorado state archives rules and direction.
- For all incidents in which there is a complaint of peace officer misconduct , law enforcement shall release, upon request, all unedited video and audio recordings of the incident, including those 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 Colorado State Patrol received the request for release of the video or audio recordings.
- All video and audio depicting a death must be provided upon request to the victim’s spouse, parent, legal guardian, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, significant other, or other lawful representative, and such person shall be notified of his or her right to receive and review the recording at least seventy-two hours prior to public disclosure. A person seventeen years of age and under is considered incapacitated, unless legally emancipated.
- Any video that raises substantial privacy concerns for criminal defendants, victims, witnesses, juveniles, or informants, including video depicting nudity; a sexual assault; a medical emergency; private medical information; a mental health crisis; a victim interview; a minor, including any images or information that might undermine the requirement to keep certain juvenile records confidential; 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; significantly explicit and gruesome bodily injury, unless the injury was caused by a peace officer; or the interior of a home or treatment facility, shall be blurred to protect the substantial privacy interest while still allowing public release.
- Unblurred footage shall 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 witness, victim, or criminal defendant may waive in writing the individual privacy interest that may be implicated by public release.
The full text of Colorado Revised Statute Section 24-31-902 (2020) reads as follows:
(1)(a)
(I) By July 1, 2023, all local law enforcement agencies in the state and the Colorado state patrol shall provide body-worn cameras for each peace officer of the law enforcement agency who interacts with members of the public. Law enforcement agencies may seek funding pursuant to section 24-33.5-519.
(II)
(A) Except as provided in subsection (1)(a)(II)(B) or (1)(a)(II)(C) of this section, a peace officer shall wear and activate a body-worn camera or dash camera, if the peace officer’s vehicle is equipped with a dash camera, when responding to a call for service, entering into a premises for the purposes of enforcing the law or in response to a call for service, during a welfare check except for a motorist assist, or during any interaction with the public initiated by the peace officer, whether consensual or nonconsensual, for the purpose of enforcing the law or investigating possible violations of the law. The body-worn camera or dash camera does not need to be on when en route to a call for service, but should be turned on shortly before the vehicle approaches the scene.
(B) A peace officer may turn off a body-worn camera to avoid recording personal information that is not case related; when working on an unrelated assignment; when there is a long break in the incident; and in administrative, tactical, and management discussions when civilians are not present.
(C) A peace officer does not need to wear or activate a body-worn camera if the peace officer is working undercover.
(D) The provisions of this subsection (1)(a)(II) do not apply to jail peace officers or staff of a local law enforcement agency working in any place in the jail that has functioning video cameras; except that this subsection (1)(a)(II) applies to jail peace officers when performing a task that requires an anticipated use of force, including cell extractions and restraint chairs. The provisions of this subsection (1)(a)(II) also do not apply to the civilian or administrative staff of the Colorado state patrol or a local law enforcement agency, the executive detail of the Colorado state patrol, and peace officers working in a courtroom.
(III) If a peace officer fails to activate a body-worn camera or dash camera as required 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 in any investigation or legal proceeding, excluding criminal proceedings against the peace officer, that the missing footage would have reflected misconduct by the peace officer. If a peace officer fails to activate or reactivate his or her body-worn camera as required by this section or tampers with body-worn- or dash-camera footage or operation when required to activate the camera, any statements or conduct sought to be introduced in a prosecution through the peace officer related to the incident that were not recorded due to the peace officer’s failure to activate or reactivate the body-worn camera as required by this section or if the statement or conduct was not recorded by other means creates a rebuttable presumption of inadmissibility. Notwithstanding any other provision of law, this subsection (1)(a)(III) does not apply if the body-worn camera was not activated due to a malfunction of the body-worn camera and the peace officer was not aware of the malfunction, or was unable to rectify it, prior to the incident, provided that the law enforcement agency’s documentation shows the peace officer checked the functionality of the body-worn camera at the beginning of his or her shift.
(IV)
(A) In addition to any criminal liability and penalty under the law, if a court, administrative law judge, hearing officer, or a final decision in an internal investigation finds that a peace officer intentionally failed to activate a body-worn camera or dash camera or tampered with any body-worn or dash camera, except as permitted in this section, the peace officer’s employer shall impose discipline up to and including termination, to the extent permitted by applicable constitutional and statutory personnel laws and case law.
(B) In addition to any criminal liability and penalty under the law, if a court, administrative law judge, hearing officer, or a final decision in an internal investigation finds that a peace officer intentionally failed to activate a body-worn camera or dash camera or tampered with any body-worn or dash camera, except as permitted in this section, with the intent to conceal unlawful or inappropriate actions or obstruct justice, the P.O.S.T. board shall suspend the peace officer’s certification for a period of not less than one year and the suspension may only be lifted within the period of the suspension if the peace officer is exonerated by a court, administrative law judge, or internal affairs investigation.
(C) In addition to any criminal liability and penalty under the law, if a court, administrative law judge, hearing officer, or a final decision in an internal investigation finds that a peace officer intentionally failed to activate a body-worn camera or dash camera or tampered with any body-worn or dash camera, except as permitted in this section, with the intent to conceal unlawful or inappropriate actions, or obstruct justice, in an incident resulting in a civilian death or serious bodily injury, the P.O.S.T. board shall permanently revoke the peace officer’s certification and the revocation may only be overturned if the peace officer is exonerated by a court, administrative law judge, or internal affairs investigation.
(b) A local law enforcement agency and the Colorado state patrol shall establish and follow a retention schedule for body-worn camera recordings in compliance with Colorado state archives rules and direction.
(2)
(a) For all incidents in which there is a complaint of peace officer misconduct by another peace officer, a civilian, or nonprofit organization, through notice to the law enforcement agency involved in the alleged misconduct, the local law enforcement agency or the Colorado state patrol shall release, upon request, all unedited video and audio recordings of the incident, including those 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 Colorado state patrol received the request for release of the video or audio recordings.
(b)
(I) All video and audio recordings depicting a death must be provided upon request to the victim’s spouse, parent, legal guardian, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, significant other, or other lawful representative, and such person shall be notified of his or her right, pursuant to section 24-4.1-302.5(1) (j.8), to receive and review the recording at least seventy-two hours prior to public disclosure. A person seventeen years of age and under is considered incapacitated, unless legally emancipated.
(II)
(A) Notwithstanding any other provision of this section, any video that raises substantial privacy concerns for criminal defendants, victims, witnesses, juveniles, or informants, including video depicting nudity; a sexual assault; a medical emergency; private medical information; a mental health crisis; a victim interview; a minor, including any images or information that might undermine the requirement to keep certain juvenile records confidential; 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; significantly explicit and gruesome bodily injury, unless the injury was caused by a peace officer; or the interior of a home or treatment facility, shall be blurred to protect the substantial privacy interest while still allowing public release. Unblurred footage shall 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 seventeen years of age and under is considered incapacitated, unless legally emancipated. This subsection (2)(b)(II)(A) does not permit the removal of any portion of the video.
(B) If blurring is insufficient to protect the substantial privacy interest, the local law enforcement agency or the Colorado state patrol shall, upon request, 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, 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 (2)(b)(II)(B), 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 his or her right to waive the privacy interest.
(C) A witness, victim, or criminal defendant may waive in writing the individual privacy interest that may be implicated by public release. Upon 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.
(III) Any video that would substantially interfere with or jeopardize an active or ongoing investigation may be withheld from the public; except that the video shall be released no later than forty-five days from the date of the allegation of misconduct; except that in a case in which the only offenses charged are statutory traffic infractions, the release of the video may be delayed pursuant to rule 8 of the Colorado rules for traffic infractions. In all cases when release of a video is delayed in reliance on this subsection (2)(b)(III), 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. Upon release of the video, the prosecuting attorney shall release the written explanation to the public.
(c) If criminal charges have been filed against any party to the incident, that party must file any constitutional objection to release of the recording in the pending criminal case 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 shall begin 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, receipt of the criminal complaint, and the defendant’s receipt of the video in discovery 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 release of the recording in the pending criminal case as part of the court’s advisement. The court shall hold a hearing on any objection no later than seven days after it is filed and issue a ruling no later than three days after the hearing. The hearing is considered a critical stage as defined in section 24-4.1-302 and gives victims the right to be heard pursuant to section 24-4.1-302.5.
(3) Subsection (1)(a)(III) of this section, as it relates to only an officer tampering with body-worn or dash-camera footage or operation, and subsection (2) of this section apply on and after July 6, 2021, when a peace officer is wearing a body-worn camera or the officer’s vehicle is equipped with a dash camera. If a peace officer is wearing a body-worn camera or the officer’s vehicle is equipped with a dash camera, the remaining portions of this section apply on and after July 1, 2022. This section does not require a law enforcement agency to provide its law enforcement officers with body-worn cameras prior to July 1, 2023.