Solicitor’s office to evaluate guidelines for body camera use after Governor Haley signs new law

HORRY COUNTY, S.C. (WBTW) – Governor Nikki Haley signed a bill helping police in the state get body cameras on Wednesday. The law requires police agencies to create a policy for which officers will wear the cameras, when they should and should not be recording and how videos are stored.

If the policy is approved, agencies could get money lawmakers say they will set aside next year for cameras.

Although all officers are required to wear the cameras, that doesn’t mean all of the video recorded will be made public. The bill is exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

“We’ve got to figure out how to edit this stuff in such a way that you get what you need and we don’t give away that’s going to get somebody killed or hurt or even a rat or whatever because they’re not going to continue coming forward,” 15th Circuit Solicitor Jimmy Richardson said.

Richardson says one major difference in dealing with body cameras is the office will have to look through hours of footage and edit appropriately. This differs from dash cam video also used.

“For the most part the ones that have on the video cameras are highway patrolmen. Their camera automatically comes on when they cut on the blue light,” Richardson said.

In moving forward, as officers make the new guidelines, safety will be a top priority.

“Suppose a witness is out there and he’s talking to the police on what and the police believes is a very small segment of it but he’s talking about a gang member, a very violent gang member,” Richardson said.

Officials will work on ways to maximize the use for body cameras while protecting the rights of victims and witnesses. Local departments like the Surfside Beach Department created their own policies when they deployed body cameras back in April.

“So we hope that as the requirements through the Solicitor’s office and Criminal Justice Academy come out with requirements, we hope that our policies will meet or exceed those requirements already,” Lt. Kenneth Hofmann said.

The new law will give South Carolina law enforcement agencies nine months to create their own body camera policies. Once the state law enforcement training council reviews and approves an agency’s policy, the agency could apply for money for the cameras. The delay will give lawmakers an extra year to find money to pay for the cameras.