Thea Digiammerino

New Police Camera Laws Starting October 1 in Connecticut

The new law addresses the timing of the release of bodycam and dashcam footage after an incident.

Police bodycams have given the public a new view of how officers do their jobs, both well, and poorly.

Starting Tuesday, a new state law takes effect that gives officers time to review the videos before the public sees them, in certain circumstances.

Going forward, certain incidents involving police will have a short window where officers can watch the video first, and then a mandatory time when they must be released.

The new law says when it comes to an officer use of force case, or one where the officer is the subject of an internal investigation, they have at least 48 hours to review the video before a department can release it to the public.

If the officer involved does not request to see the video, a police department can release the video after 96 hours.

This applies to dashcam and bodycam video that is on the officer’s person, or vehicle, or if the officer was captured on another officer’s dashcam or bodycam.

The release of any of this video could be blocked by other exemptions including juveniles in the video, or domestic violence incidents, for example.

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