2021 Kentucky Revised Statutes Chapter 61 - General provisions as to offices and officers -- social security for public employees -- employees retirement system 61.168 Body-worn cameras and video and audio recordings -- Disclosure, retention, and availability for viewing governed by KRS 61.870 to 61.884 and 171.410 to 171.740 -- Exceptions.
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61.168
Body-worn cameras and video and audio recordings -- Disclosure,
retention, and availability for viewing governed by KRS 61.870 to 61.884 and
171.410 to 171.740 -- Exceptions.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
As used in this section:
(a) "Body-worn camera" means a video or audio electronic recording device that
is carried by or worn on the body of a public safety officer. This definition
does not include a dashboard mounted camera or recording device used in the
course of clandestine investigations;
(b) "Body-worn camera recording" or "recording" means a video or audio
recording, or both, that is made by a body-worn camera during the course of a
public safety officer's official duties;
(c) "Personal representative" means a court-appointed guardian, attorney, or agent
possessing written authorization to act on behalf of a person that is involved in
an incident contained in a body-worn camera recording, a person holding a
power of attorney for a person that is involved in an incident contained in a
body-worn camera recording, or the parent or guardian of a minor child
depicted in a body-worn camera recording. If a person depicted in the
recording is deceased, the term also means the personal representative of the
estate of the deceased person, the deceased person's surviving spouse, parent,
or adult child, the deceased person's attorney, or the parent or guardian of a
surviving minor child of the deceased;
(d) "Public agency" has the same meaning as in KRS 61.870(1);
(e) "Public safety officer" means any individual that is an employee of a public
agency who is certified as a first responder under KRS Chapter 311A or
whose employment duties include law enforcement or firefighting activities;
and
(f) "Use of force" means any action by a public safety officer that results in death,
physical injury as defined in KRS 500.080(13), discharge of a personal body
weapon, chemical agent, impact weapon, extended range impact weapon,
sonic weapon, sensory weapon, conducted energy weapon, or a firearm, or
involves the intentional pointing of a public safety officer's firearm at a
member of the public.
Except as provided in this section, the disclosure of body-worn camera recordings
shall be governed by the Kentucky Open Records Act, as set forth in KRS 61.870 to
61.884.
The retention of body-worn camera video recordings shall be governed by KRS
171.410 to 171.740, and the administrative regulations promulgated by the
Kentucky Department of Libraries and Archives.
Notwithstanding KRS 61.878(4), unless the request meets the criteria provided
under subsection (5) of this section, a public agency may elect not to disclose bodyworn camera recordings containing video or audio footage that:
(a) Includes the interior of a place of a private residence where there is a
reasonable expectation of privacy, unless the legal owner or lessee with legal
(5)
possession of the residence requests in writing that the release be governed
solely under the provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884;
(b) Includes the areas inside of a medical facility, counseling, or therapeutic
program office where a patient is registered to receive treatment, receiving
treatment, waiting for treatment, or being transported in the course of
treatment;
(c) Would disclose health care information shared with patients, their families, or
with a patient's care team or that is considered protected health information
under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996;
(d) Includes the areas inside of a correctional facility when disclosure would
reveal details of the facility that would jeopardize the safety, security, or wellbeing of those in custody, the staff of the correctional facility, or law
enforcement officers;
(e) Is of a sexual nature or video footage that contains nude images of an
individual's genitals, pubic area, anus, or the female nipple;
(f) Is of a minor child, including but not limited to footage involving juvenile
custody matters;
(g) Includes the body of a deceased individual;
(h) Would reveal the identity of witnesses, confidential law enforcement
informants, or undercover law enforcement officers, or if the release could
jeopardize the safety, security, or well-being of a witness or confidential
informant;
(i) Would reveal the location information of a domestic violence program or
emergency shelter;
(j) Would reveal information related to schools, colleges, and universities that is
protected by the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act;
(k) Would result in the disclosure of nonpublic or confidential data classified as
Criminal Justice Information Services data by the Federal Bureau of
Investigation;
(l) Includes a public safety officer carrying out duties directly related to the
hospitalization of persons considered mentally ill;
(m) Includes the depiction of the serious injury or death of a public safety officer;
or
(n) Includes footage made in conjunction with a law enforcement exercise that
includes special response team actions, hostage negotiations, or training
events, but only where the public release of tactics, operational protocol, or
methodology would disadvantage the capability of public safety officers to
successfully respond in emergency or other dangerous situations.
If the recording contains video or audio footage that:
(a) Depicts an encounter between a public safety officer where there is a use of
force, the disclosure of the record shall be governed solely by the provisions
of KRS 61.870 to 61.884, including all of the exceptions contained therein;
(b)
(6)
Depicts an incident which leads to the detention or arrest of an individual or
individuals, the disclosure of the record shall be governed solely by the
provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884, including all of the exceptions contained
therein;
(c) Depicts an incident which is the subject of a formal complaint submitted
against a public safety officer under KRS 15.520, 67C.326, or 95.450, or
depicts an incident which is the subject of a formal legal or administrative
complaint against the agency employing the public safety officer, the release
of the record shall be governed by the provisions of KRS 61.870 to 61.884,
including all of the exceptions contained therein; or
(d) Is requested by a person or other entity or the personal representative of a
person or entity that is directly involved in the incident contained in the bodyworn camera recording, it shall be made available by the public agency to the
requesting party for viewing on the premises of the public agency, but the
public agency shall not be required to make a copy of the recording except as
provided in KRS 61.169. The requesting parties shall not be limited in the
number of times they may view the recording under this paragraph.
Nothing in this section or KRS 61.169 shall be interpreted to override any provision
related to:
(a) Reports by law enforcement officers and criminal justice agencies under KRS
17.150;
(b) The law and rules governing discovery or the submission and display of
evidence in any court proceeding, whether criminal or civil, or any
administrative proceeding; or
(c) The provisions of KRS 189A.100.
Effective: July 14, 2018
History: Created 2018 Ky. Acts ch. 139, sec. 1, effective July 14, 2018.
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