A. A law enforcement agency shall require peace officers the agency employs and who routinely interact with the public to wear a body-worn camera while on duty. Each law enforcement agency subject to the provisions of this section shall adopt policies and procedures governing the use of body-worn cameras, including:
(1) requiring activation of a body-worn camera whenever a peace officer is responding to a call for service or at the initiation of any other law enforcement or investigative encounter between a peace officer and a member of the public;
(2) prohibiting deactivation of a body-worn camera until the conclusion of a law enforcement or investigative encounter;
(3) requiring that any video recorded by a body-worn camera shall be retained by the law enforcement agency for not less than one hundred twenty days; and
(4) establishing disciplinary rules for peace officers who:
(a) fail to operate a body-worn camera in accordance with law enforcement agency policies;
(b) intentionally manipulate a body-worn camera recording; or
(c) prematurely erase a body-worn camera recording in violation of law enforcement agency policies.
B. Peace officers who fail to comply with the policies and procedures required to be adopted pursuant to Subsection A of this section shall be presumed to have acted in bad faith and shall be deemed liable for the independent tort of negligent spoliation of evidence or the independent tort of intentional spoliation of evidence.
C. As used in this section:
(1) "body-worn camera" means an electronic device worn on a person's body that records both audio and video data;
(2) "law enforcement agency" means the police department of a municipality, the sheriff's office of a county, the New Mexico state police or the department of public safety; and
(3) "peace officer" means any full-time salaried or certified part-time salaried officer who by virtue of office or public employment is vested by law with the duty to maintain the public peace.
History: Laws 2020 (1st S.S.), ch. 7, § 1.
ANNOTATIONSEffective dates. — Laws 2020 (1st S.S.), ch. 7 contained no effective date provision, but, pursuant to N.M. Const., art. IV, § 23, was effective September 20, 2020, 90 days after the adjournment of the legislature.