LAW ENFORCEMENT BODY CAMERA TASK FORCE
Recommended Regulations for the Procurement and Use of Body Worn Cameras
by Law Enforcement, August 2, 2022
 LAW ENFORCEMENT BODY CAMERA TASK FORCE
Recommended Regulations for the Procurement and Use of Body Worn Cameras
by Law Enforcement, August 2, 2022
I. INTRODUCTION
A. Background
The legislature created the Law Enforcement Body Camera Task Force in the Act Relative to
Justice, Equity, and Accountability in Law Enforcement in the Commonwealth, otherwise known
as the police reform law, for the purpose of drafting recommended regulations for the
procurement and use of body-worn cameras by law enforcement officers, and minimum
requirements for the storage and transfer of audio and video recordings collected by body-worn
cameras. St. 2020, c. 253, § 104.
As required by the statute, the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security (EOPSS), in
collaboration with the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security (EOTSS), established
the Law Enforcement Body Camera Task Force (Task Force). The Task Force has completed its
work and recommends the procurement policy and body worn camera policy contained herein,
which are consistent with the statutory requirements.
Section 104 of Chapter 253 of the Acts and Resolves of 2020 required the Task Force to establish
the following:
• Standards for the procurement of body-worn cameras, including a requirement that such
cameras or associated processing software include technology for redacting the images
and voices of victims and by-standers;
• Standards regarding the use of facial recognition or other biometric-matching software or
other technology to analyze recordings obtained through the use of such cameras;
provided, however, that such standards may prohibit or allow such use subject to
requirements based on best practices and protocols;
• Standards for training law enforcement officers in the basic use of such cameras;
• Standards for:
(A) The types of law enforcement encounters and interactions that shall be recorded and
what notice, if any, shall be given to those being recorded; and
(B) When a camera should be activated and when to discontinue recording;
• A requirement that a camera be equipped with pre-event recording, capable of recording
at least the 30 seconds prior to camera activation;
• A requirement preventing an officer from accessing or viewing any recording of an
incident involving the officer before the officer is required to make a statement about the
incident;
• Standards for the identification, retention, storage, maintenance, and handling of
recordings from body cameras, including a requirement that recordings be retained for
not less than 180 days but not more than 30 months for a recording not relating to a court
proceeding or ongoing criminal investigation or for the same period of time that evidence
is retained in the normal course of the court’s business for a recording related to a court
proceeding;
• Standards pertaining to the recordings of use of force, detention or arrest by a law
enforcement officer or pertaining to ongoing investigations and prosecutions to assure
that recordings are retained for a period sufficient to meet the needs of all parties with an
interest in the recordings;
• Standards for the security of facilities in which recordings are kept;
• Requirements for state procurement of contracts for body-worn cameras and for data
storage through which qualified law enforcement agencies may purchase goods and
services;
• Best practice language for contracts with third-party vendors for data storage, which shall
provide that recordings from such cameras are the property of the law enforcement
agency, are not owned by the vendor and cannot be used by the vendor for any purpose
inconsistent with the policies and procedures of the law enforcement agency;
• Procedures for supervisory internal review and audit;
• Sanctions for improper use of cameras, including a requirement that a law enforcement
officer who does not activate a body-worn camera in response to a call for assistance shall
include that fact in their incident report and note in the case file or record the reason for
not activating the camera;
• Sanctions for tampering with a camera or recordings and for improper destruction of
recordings;
• Regulations pertaining to handling requests for the release of information recorded by a
body-worn camera to the public;
• Requirements for reporting by law enforcement agencies utilizing body-worn cameras;
• Retention schedule for recordings to ensure that storage policies and practices are in
compliance with all relevant laws and adequately preserve evidentiary chains of custody
and identify potential discovery issues; and
• Process by which body camera footage may be included in a public record.
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B. Task Force Supplemental Recommendations
The Task Force discussed three additional issues at length and concluded that the importance of
these issues warrant inclusion in this report, although they do not fall directly within the scope
of the statute’s requirements.
1. It is the belief of the Task Force that the financial impact of a body worn camera program
on respective police departments is significant. While implementation of a program serves
communities, it requires significant financial support to launch and maintain a program. It is
the consensus of the Task Force that individual police departments seek adequate financial
support from all available funding sources, including cities, towns, as well as the
Commonwealth’s leadership, to budget for a body worn camera program accordingly.
Proposed financial cost projections should be provided to the respective leadership in the
town/city, to the extent that it can be.
2. It is the Task Force’s opinion that the video retention policy they are required by the statute
to recommend, which is 30 months, be extended to 37 months because a 30-month retention
policy may adversely impact parties in a civil action filed after the expiration of the 30 months
but before the statute of limitations runs for civil cases, which is 3 years. In addition, the “not
less than 180 days” statutory retention requirement does not allow sufficient time to determine
whether recordings need to be accessed. Therefore, although the Task Force is required to
recommend “not less than 180 days,” consideration should be given to retaining the footage
for one year.
3. The Task Force heard from the public on the issue of an officer’s access to the BWC video
footage, and more specifically on the issue of when such access should be given for the
purpose of making a written statement concerning an event. While the Task Force discussed
the issue, and the members had differing views on what the recommended regulation should
be, the legislature constrained the Task Force’s ability to offer a recommendation other than
that imposed by the statute, which requires that the Task Force make the following
recommendation:
• An officer may not access or view “any recording of an incident involving the officer
before the officer is required to make a statement about the incident;”
Accordingly, this is the recommendation in section R.5.2, which concerns on-duty
requirements.
Sincerely,
The Law Enforcement Body Camera Task Force
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 LAW ENFORCEMENT BODY CAMERA TASK FORCE MEMBERS
Angela F.F. Davis, Assistant Undersecretary of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice
Chair, Secretary of the Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Designee
Major Steven McCarthy
Vice-Chair, Colonel of the Massachusetts State Police Designee
Timothy Mitchell, Operations Project Management, Office Director
Secretary of the Executive Office of Technology Services and Security Designee
Stephen J. Carley, Esq.
Assistant Attorney General Attorney General Designee
Rose King, Esq.
Committee for Public Counsel Services Designee
Grace Lee, Esq., People’s United Bank
Massachusetts House Asian Caucus Designee
Steven Brooks, Esq., Brooks & Crowley, LLP
Massachusetts House Asian Caucus Designee
Officer Israul Marrero, Boston Police Department
Massachusetts Minority Law Enforcement Officers Association Designee
Lieutenant (Ret.) Carmelo Ayuso, Massachusetts State Police
President, Massachusetts Minority State Police Officers Association Designee
Officer Kaleigh S. Marshall, Chelmsford Police Department
Massachusetts Association of Women in Law Enforcement Designee
Patrick McDermott, Norfolk County Sheriff
President, Massachusetts Sheriffs’ Association Designee
Sergeant Timothy King, Waltham Police Department
Massachusetts Coalition of Police Designee
Michael O’Keefe, Cape and Islands District Attorney
President, Massachusetts District Attorneys Association Designee
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Emiliano Falcon-Morano, Esq., Policy Counsel
President, American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts Designee
Fred Taylor
President, NAACP New England Area Conference Designee
Alyssa Hackett, Esq.
President, Massachusetts Criminal Defense Lawyers Association Designee
Chief Steven M. Sargent, Worcester Police Department
Gubernatorial appointment: Police Chief, City with population in excess of 100,000
Chief Thomas W. Fowler, Salisbury Police Department
Gubernatorial appointment: Police Chief, City or Municipality with population no
greater than 50,000
Hillary Farber, Esq.; Professor of Law, University of Massachusetts School of Law
Gubernatorial appointment: Constitutional or Privacy law expert
Mayor Dominic Sarno; City of Springfield
Gubernatorial appointment: Elected Official
Deborah Batista, Executive Vice President; New England Police Benevolent Association, Inc.
Gubernatorial appointment: Representative of a law enforcement labor organization
*Please be advised, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Judicial Court declined to make an
appointment, and the Massachusetts Black and Latino Legislative Caucus did not make two
appointments.
Executive Office of Public Safety and Security Staff:
Suleyken Walker, Esq.; EOPSS Deputy General Counsel, Task Force Counsel
Dan Nakamoto; EOPSS Chief Operating Officer, Task Force Advisor
Michaela Martini; EOPSS Criminal Justice Advisor, Task Force Staff
Amy Putvinskas; EOPSS Program Coordinator, Task Force Staff
The Task Force devoted an extensive period of time discussing various viewpoints to ensure that
all stakeholder groups, individuals, and members of the public were considered in the creation
of these recommended guidelines.
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 STATEMENT OF PURPOSE OF BODY CAMERAS
The purpose of body worn cameras is to:
• Improve community relations;
• Foster better accountability for the actions of its personnel;
• Deter or document inappropriate conduct by police officers and by members of the
public;
• Capture digital audio-video evidence for criminal, civil, and traffic-related court cases;
• Assist with training officers; and
• Improve the quality of interactions between officers and the members of the public.
DEFINITIONS
Activation: The action of initialization or making a unit active.
Audit log: A system or document that records what sources were accessed, when, by whom.
Body Worn Camera (BWC): Wearable integrated audio/video recording equipment.
Body Worn Camera User (BWC User): An individual as prescribed by a law enforcement or
public safety agency charged with the use of a Body Worn Camera in accordance with
recommended regulations. All law enforcement officers who would reasonably be expected to
interact with members of the public shall wear a body camera, in accordance with department
policy.
Digital Evidence: Data or information which is stored that may be used as evidence in legal
proceedings.
Equipment Standards: Defined metrics for conformity and usage of equipment to meet a
threshold of performance expectations.
Labeling/categorizing/tagging video: The process of labeling content of a video, identifying
specific information for future reference.
Light Emitting Diode (LED): A semiconductor diode which glows when connected to voltage.
Metadata: Data which describes or provides contextual information about content or other data
such as a text or image.
Post Event Recording: The ability of the BWC to create a recorded event from the device memory
even if the user did not activate the recording feature of the BWC. Post Event Recording
capabilities vary by manufacturer.
Pre-event recording: The ability of a BWC to capture video from its memory buffer.
Wide High Dynamic Range Camera: Technology enhancing capability of capturing images,
light and view.
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 RECOMMENDED REGULATION FOR THE PROCUREMENT OF BODY CAMERAS
R.1 EQUIPMENT STANDARDS
R.1.1 - Tamper Resistant
BWCs proposed by the vendor should prevent recordings from being edited or deleted, nor
should it be possible to overwrite the existing data before it has been transferred from the
recording device and stored. The vendor should describe, in detail, how video and audio
recordings are protected.
R.1.2 - Device Storage
BWCs should have a minimum of 16 hours of high-definition video recording time with non-
volatile, onboard storage. BWC storage may be less, provided that captured video is offloaded
during, or immediately after, recording. Storage for offloaded data should meet the tamper
resistance requirements. The vendor should specify the maximum onboard memory storage
capacity of its BWC unit.
R.1.3 - Battery
BWCs should have a battery which provides a minimum of 8 hours of recording time (with a hot
swappable battery solution) or a minimum of 12 hours of recording time (with a battery
integrated into the BWC). Batteries should be rechargeable. Camera equipment should include a
visible charging indicator to show active charging and full charged status. The vendor should
specify (1) if its battery is internal or removable, (2) the recording life of the camera battery, (3)
the standby duration of the battery, (4) battery charging time, and (5) whether the camera can be
charged without docking and uploading the video (the vendor should describe how this is
accomplished with its product).
R.1.4 - Durability
BWCs should withstand considerable and repetitive pressure, vibration, and mechanical shock.
It should operate within a temperature range from -20F to 125F and be resistant to common
environmental hazards, such as dust, condensation, water splashes, and radio frequency
interference. Equipment should meet the MIL-STD-810G or similar standard. The vendor should
describe the tests used on its devices (e.g., drop test, operating temperatures, vibration, water
resistance, etc.) in its documentation. The BWC unit should be a ruggedized, military/industrial
grade device capable of functioning normally in harsh environments and in adverse weather
conditions. The vendor should describe in its documentation whether its product is intrinsically
safe in a potentially explosive environment.
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R.1.5 - Weight and Form Factor
The BWC proposed by the vendor should not distract or hinder the BWC user wearing the device
from performing other job functions, especially ones related to user safety. BWCs should be
designed for maximum usability and safety. The vendor should specify the physical dimensions of
the BWC (including the camera, control unit, and battery), along with the weight of the BWC unit.
R.1.6 - Camera Mounting
The BWC should be capable of attaching to the user’s uniform using secure mounting options,
while providing full unobstructed recording. The vendor should fully specify varied mounting
options provided.
R.1.7 - Device Management
Vendors’ proposed systems should have the capability of pushing configuration and software
upgrades wirelessly to connected cameras without necessity of any user input. The agency should
set requirements for periodic upgrades of equipment that do not interfere with its operation.
R.1.8 - Digital Channels
The wireless recording devices should utilize individual channels to avoid multiple devices
interfering with each other. The vendor should specify the maximum number of channels
supported by its solution.
R.1.9 - Auto Stop
The system should have a means of detecting when the system is inadvertently left in record mode.
The system should allow an option to prompt the user or to automatically stop the recording.
R.1.10 - Disk Usage Meter and Low Disk Warning
If the vendor-proposed solution includes the storing of video recordings on a DVR/Hard Disk, it
should also provide an on-screen Disk Usage Meter that graphically shows the user how much
video is currently on the DVR/Hard Disk, along with how much space remains. Additionally, the
system should have audible and visual warnings when the drive is nearing capacity.
R.1.11 - LED Indicators for Audio, Video, and Record
To ensure user awareness, the system should have LED indicators showing record, microphone,
and camera activity.
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R.1.12 - Saved Officer Setting
The vendor should describe how its system stores and saves user preference settings such as
LCD Screen Brightness, LED Indicator Brightness, Volume, and Front Camera Auto-Zoom.
These settings should be saved so that when each user logs in, his or her settings are restored.
R.1.13 - Separate Audio Channels
In order to isolate the audio during playback between the microphone(s) and the cabin
microphone using a standard left/right stereo fader control,