LRB-0396/3
CMH&MED:amn
2019 - 2020 LEGISLATURE
February 25, 2019 - Introduced by Joint Legislative Council. Referred to
Committee on Judiciary and Public Safety.
SB50,1,2 1An Act to create 165.87 of the statutes; relating to: body cameras on law
2enforcement officers.
Analysis by the Legislative Reference Bureau
This bill is explained in the Notes provided by the Joint Legislative Council in
the bill.
For further information see the state and local fiscal estimate, which will be
printed as an appendix to this bill.
The people of the state of Wisconsin, represented in senate and assembly, do
enact as follows:
Joint Legislative Council prefatory note: This bill was prepared for the Joint
Legislative Council's Study Committee on the Use of Police Body Cameras. Key
provisions of the bill are summarized below.
Law Enforcement Agency Policies, Training, and Compliance Related to Body
Cameras
Under the bill, if a law enforcement agency uses a body camera on a law
enforcement officer, the law enforcement agency must administer a written policy
regarding all of the following:
1. The use, maintenance, and storage of body cameras and body camera data.
2. Any limitations the law enforcement agency imposes on which law enforcement
officers may wear a body camera.
3. Any limitations the law enforcement agency imposes on situations, persons, or
encounters that may be recorded by a body camera.

Also, under the bill, if a law enforcement agency uses a body camera on a law
enforcement officer, the law enforcement agency must do all of the following:
1. Train all law enforcement officers wearing a body camera on the policy described
above and on the body camera data retention requirements discussed below.
2. Train all employees that use, maintain, store, or release body camera data on
all of the following: (1) the law enforcement agency's policy on body cameras described
above; (2) the body camera data retention requirements discussed below; and (3) the
requirements regarding when the body camera data may be released as discussed below.
3. Periodically review practices regarding the body cameras and body camera data
to ensure compliance with: (1) the law enforcement agency's policy on body cameras
described above; (2) the body camera data retention requirements discussed below; and
(3) the requirements regarding when the body camera data may be released.
4. If the law enforcement agency maintains an Internet site or has an Internet site
maintained on its behalf, make its written policy available to the public at the Internet
site.
Retention of Body Camera Data
In general, the bill requires all body camera data to be retained for a minimum of
120 days after the date of recording. The bill provides the following exceptions for longer
retention:
1. Data must be retained until disposition of the investigation, case, or complaint
if the data record any of the following:
a. An encounter that resulted in the death of any individual or actual or alleged
physical injury to an individual.
b. An encounter that resulted in a custodial arrest.
c. A search during an authorized temporary questioning (commonly referred to as
a “Terry Stop”) as provided under current law.
d. An encounter that included the use of force by a law enforcement officer, except
if the only use of force was the use of a firearm to dispatch an injured wild animal.
2. Retention beyond 120 days may be directed by a law enforcement officer or law
enforcement agency, a board of police and fire commissioners, a prosecutor, a defendant,
or a court that determines that the data have evidentiary value in a prosecution. An
entity making the directive must submit a preservation order within 120 days after the
incident.
3. Data retained that are used in a criminal, civil, or administrative hearing may
not be destroyed except upon one of the following: (1) final disposition, including appeals;
(2) a determination from the court or hearing examiner that the data are no longer
needed; or (3) an order from the court or hearing examiner.
4. Body camera data may not be destroyed at any time after the receipt of an open
records request except as provided by current law.
Release of Body Camera Data
Under the bill, body camera data are, in general, open to inspection and copying
under the Open Records Law.
The bill contains an exception to the general rule that body camera data are open
to inspection and copying relating to the treatment of minors and victims of a sensitive
or violent crime, and a record subject who is in a location where the record subject has
a reasonable expectation of privacy who is captured by body camera data. Specifically, the
bill provides that the privacy of a record subject who is a minor, is a victim of a sensitive
or violent crime, or has a reasonable expectation of privacy must be maintained and that
access to such data must be provided only if the public interest in allowing access is so
great as to outweigh that public policy. In these cases, the protected record subject's face
and anything else that would allow the protected record subject to be identified may be
redacted using pixelization or another method of redaction. A decision to redact body
camera footage pursuant to these provisions is subject to be challenged in a mandamus

action in the same manner as are any other decisions to deny access to part or all of a
record under the Open Records Law.
The provisions of the bill regarding the privacy of a victim of a sensitive or violent
crime do not apply if the record subject, or his or her next of kin if the record subject is
deceased, does not object to granting access to the data. The presumption regarding the
privacy of a minor does not apply if the parent or legal guardian of the minor does not
object to granting access to the data. The presumption regarding the privacy of an
individual with a reasonable expectation of privacy does not apply if the individual does
not object to granting access to the data.
The bill defines “record subject” as an individual recorded by a body camera to
whom all of the following apply: (1) the individual is depicted in the recording, or the
individual's voice is audible in the recording; (2) the individual's identity is known to the
law enforcement agency; (3) the individual is not suspected of committing a crime or other
violation of law in connection with the law enforcement officer's presence in the location
that was recorded; and (4) the individual is not a law enforcement officer who was acting
in an official capacity, unless a crime or other violation of law has been committed or is
alleged to have been committed against the law enforcement officer while the law
enforcement officer was present at the location that was recorded.
The bill also provides that for purposes of an open records request for access to body
camera data used by a law enforcement agency, the law enforcement agency is the legal
custodian of the record. If any other authority has custody of such data, that authority
is not the legal custodian of that data and must deny any portion of an open records
request that relates to that body camera data.
Additionally, the bill provides that all of the provisions related to the release of body
camera data do not prohibit investigators investigating an officer-involved death from
releasing body camera data when required to do so under current law.
SB50,1 1Section 1. 165.87 of the statutes is created to read:
SB50,3,4 2165.87 Body cameras and law enforcement. (1) If a law enforcement
3agency uses a body camera on a law enforcement officer, the law enforcement agency
4shall do all of the following:
SB50,3,55 (a) Administer a written policy regarding all of the following:
SB50,3,76 1. The use, maintenance, and storage of body cameras and data recorded by the
7body cameras.
SB50,3,98 2. Any limitations the law enforcement agency imposes on which law
9enforcement officers may wear a body camera.
SB50,3,1110 3. Any limitations the law enforcement agency imposes on situations, persons,
11or encounters that may be recorded by a body camera.
SB50,3,1312 (b) Train all law enforcement officers wearing a body camera on the policy
13under par. (a) and on the requirements under sub. (2).
SB50,4,2
1(c) Train all employees that use, maintain, store, or release data from a body
2camera on the policy under par. (a) and on the requirements under subs. (2) and (3).
SB50,4,53 (d) Periodically review practices regarding the body cameras and data from
4body cameras to ensure compliance with the policy under par. (a) and the
5requirements under subs. (2) and (3).
SB50,4,86 (e) If the law enforcement agency maintains an Internet site or has an Internet
7site maintained on its behalf, make the policy under par. (a) available to the public
8at the Internet site.
SB50,4,11 9(2) (a) Except as provided in pars. (b), (c), and (d), all data from a body camera
10used on a law enforcement officer shall be retained for a minimum of 120 days after
11the date of recording.
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