In August 2018 Loyola University Chicago Campus Safety deployed body worn cameras.

The following is a working copy of the Department's body worn camera policy. 

I. POLICY

The Loyola University of Chicago (the “University”) Department of Campus Safety (the “Department”) may provide uniformed law enforcement officers (“law enforcement officers” or “officers”) of the Department with access to officer-worn body cameras for use during the performance of their duties. The use of officer-worn body cameras is intended to enhance the mission of the Department by accurately depicting contacts between officers of the Department and the public. They also serve to enhance the accuracy of officer reports and testimony in court.

II. PURPOSE
The Department recognizes that trust and mutual respect between law enforcement agencies and the communities they protect and serve are essential to effective policing and the integrity of our criminal justice system. Officer-worn body cameras have developed as a technology that will provide state-of-the-art evidence collection and additional opportunities for training and instruction. Officer-worn body cameras may provide impartial evidence and documentation to settle disputes and allegations of officer misconduct. Ultimately, the uses of officer-worn body cameras will help collect evidence while improving transparency, and accountability, and strengthening public trust. While utilizing officer-worn body cameras, the Department will protect individual privacy consistent with state law.

This policy provides guidelines for the use of portable audio/video recording devices by officers of this Department while in the performance of their duties. Portable audio/video recording devices include all recording systems whether body-worn, hand-held or integrated into portable equipment.

This policy does not apply to mobile audio/video recordings, interviews or interrogations conducted at Department facilities, authorized undercover operations, wiretaps or eavesdropping (concealed listening devices).

III. DEFINITIONS

Definitions as used in this policy include:

“Board” – The Illinois Law Enforcement Training Standards Board created by the Illinois Police Training Act.

“Community caretaking function” – A task undertaken by a law enforcement officer in which the officer is performing an articulable act unrelated to the investigation of a crime. Includes but is not limited to participating in town halls or other community outreach, helping a child find his or her parents, providing death notifications, and performing in-home or hospital well-being checks on the sick, elderly, or persons presumed missing.

“Officer-worn body camera” – An electronic camera system for creating, generating, sending, receiving, storing, displaying, and processing audiovisual recordings that may be worn about the person of a law enforcement officer.

“Law enforcement-related encounters or activities” – Include but are not limited to, traffic stops, pedestrian stops, arrests, searches, interrogations, investigations, pursuits, crowd control, traffic control, non-community caretaking interactions with an individual while on patrol, or any other instance in which the officer is enforcing the laws of the municipality, county, or State. Does not include when the officer is completing paperwork alone or only in the presence of another law enforcement officer.

“Portable recorder or recorder” – Either an audio-only recording device or an officer-worn body camera.

“Recording” – The process of capturing data or information stored on a recording medium as required under this policy.

“Recording medium” – Any recording medium authorized by the Board for the retention and playback of recorded audio and video including, but not limited to, VHS, DVD, hard drive, cloud storage, solid state, digital, flash memory technology, or any other electronic medium.

“Uniformed Officer” – A law enforcement officer who is wearing any officially authorized uniform designated by a law enforcement agency, or a law enforcement officer who is visibly wearing articles of clothing, a badge, tactical gear, gun belt, a patch, or other insignia that he or she is a law enforcement officer acting in the course of his or her duties.

IV. ANNUAL REPORTING
The Department must provide an annual report to the Board, on or before May 1, of the year. The report shall include:
A. A brief overview of the makeup of the Department, including the number of officers utilizing officer-worn body cameras;
B. The number of officer-worn body cameras utilized by the Department;
C. Any technical issues with the equipment and how those issues were remedied;
D. A brief description of the review process used by supervisors within the Department;
E. For each recording used in prosecution of conservation, criminal, or traffic offenses or municipal ordinance violations:
i. The time, date, location, and precinct of the incident;
ii. The offense charged and the date charges were filed; and

F. Any other information relevant to the program.

V. OFFICER-WORN BODY CAMERAS ADMINISTRATIVE REQUIREMENTS
The Board developed basic guidelines for the use of officer-worn body cameras which are the basis for this written policy and must be adopted by each law enforcement agency to include the following:

A. Cameras must be equipped with pre-event recording, capable of recording at least the 30 seconds prior to camera activation, for a period of 10 hours or more, unless the officer-worn body camera was purchased and acquired by the law enforcement agency prior to July 1, 2015.

B. Cameras must be turned on at all times when the officer is in uniform and is responding to calls for service or engaged in any law enforcement-related encounter or activity, that occurs while the officer is on duty.
i. If exigent circumstances exist which prevent the camera from being turned on, the camera must be turned on as soon as practicable.
ii. Officer-worn body cameras may be turned off when the officer is inside of a patrol car which is equipped with a functioning in-car camera; however, the officer must turn on the camera upon exiting the patrol vehicle for law enforcement-related encounters.

C. Cameras must be turned off when:

i. The victim of a crime requests that the camera be turned off, and unless impractical or impossible, that request is made on the recording;

ii.A witness of a crime or a community member who wishes to report a crime requests that the camera be turned off, and unless impractical or impossible that request is made on the recording; or
iii. The officer is interacting with a confidential informant used by the law enforcement agency. However, an officer may continue to record or resume recording a victim or a witness, if exigent circumstances exist, or if the officer has reasonable articulable suspicion that a victim or witness, or confidential informant has committed or is in the process of committing a crime. Under these circumstances, and unless impractical or impossible, the officer must indicate on the recording the reason for continuing to record despite the request of the victim or witness.

D. Cameras may be turned off when the officer is engaged in community caretaking functions. However, the camera must be turned on when the officer has reason to believe that the person on whose behalf the officer is performing a community caretaking function has committed or is in the process of committing a crime. If exigent circumstances exist which prevent the camera from being turned on, the camera must be turned on as soon as practicable.

E. The officer must provide notice of recording to any person if the person has a reasonable expectation of privacy, including, but not limited to, inside a University residence hall or University Wellness Center, and proof of notice must be evident in the recording. If exigent circumstances exist which prevent the officer from providing notice, notice must be provided as soon as practicable.

F. For the purpose of redaction, labeling, or duplicating recordings, access to camera recordings shall be restricted to only those personnel responsible for those purposes. The recording officer and his or her supervisor may access and review recordings prior to completing incident reports or other documentation, provided that the officer or his or her supervisor discloses that fact in the report or documentation, after first obtaining permission from the Chief or his or her designee to review the recording.

G. The Department shall ensure proper care and maintenance of officer-worn body cameras. Upon becoming aware, officers must as soon as practical document and notify the appropriate supervisor of any technical difficulties, failures, or problems with the officer-worn body camera or associated equipment. Upon receiving notice, the appropriate supervisor shall make every reasonable effort to correct and repair any of the officer-worn body camera equipment.

VI. NO EXPECTATION OF PRIVACY

All recordings made by officers of any Department-issued device at any time, and any recording made while acting in an official capacity of this Department, regardless of ownership of the device it was made on, shall remain the sole property of the University. Officers or any other employees of the Department, shall have no expectation of privacy or ownership interest in the contents of these recordings.

VII. SURREPTITIOUS USE OF THE PORTABLE RECORDER
A. Illinois law prohibits any individual from surreptitiously recording any conversation in which any party to the conversation has a reasonable belief that the conversation is private or confidential.
B. However, officers using officer-worn body cameras are not prohibited from recording a private conversation if the person is provided notice of the recording and proof of that notice is captured on the recording. If exigence circumstances exist that prevent the officer from recording notice, notice must be provided as soon as practicable.

VIII. EXPLOSIVE DEVICE
Many portable recorders, including officer-worn body cameras and audio/video transmitter, emit radio waves that could trigger an explosive device. Therefore, these devices should not be used where an explosive device may be present.

IX. PROHIBITED USE OF PORTABLE RECORDERS
Officer-worn body cameras should not be used to record:
A. Communications with other Department personnel, during routine, non-enforcement related activities;
B. Communications with other Department personnel during planned and tactical discussions;
C. Encounters with covert officers or informants; or
D. When an officer is on break or is otherwise engaged in personal activities.

X. RETENTION REQUIREMENTS FOR OFFICER-WORN BODY CAMERA RECORDINGS
A. Recordings made on officer-worn body cameras must be retained by the Department or by the camera vendor used by the Department, on a recording medium for a period of 90 days.
i. Under no circumstances shall any recording made with an officer-worn body camera be altered, erased, or destroyed prior to the expiration of the 90 day storage period.
ii. Following the 90-day storage period, any and all recordings made with an officer-worn body camera must be destroyed, unless any encounter captured on the recording has been flagged. An encounter is deemed to be flagged when:
a. A formal or informal complaint has been filed;
b. The officer discharged his or her firearm or used force during the encounter;
c. Death or great bodily harm occurred to any person in the recording;
d. The encounter resulted in a detention or an arrest, excluding traffic stops which resulted in only a minor traffic offense or business offense (petty offense or Class C misdemeanor);
e. The officer is the subject of an internal investigation or otherwise being investigated for possible misconduct;
f. The supervisor of the officer, prosecutor, defendant, or court determines that the encounter has evidentiary value in a criminal prosecution; or
g. The recording officer requests that the video be flagged for official purposes related to his or her official duties.
iii. Under no circumstances shall any recording made with an officer-worn body camera relating to a flagged encounter be altered or destroyed prior to two years after the recording was flagged. If the flagged recording was used in a criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding, the recording shall not be destroyed except upon a final disposition and order from the court. The above listed retention/storage requirements are obtained directly from the State of Illinois Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act.
B. Following the 90-day storage period, recordings may be retained if a supervisor designates the recording for training purposes. If the recording is designated for training purposes, the recording may be viewed by officers, in the presence of a supervisor or training instructor, for the purposes of instruction, training, or ensuring compliance with Department policies.

XI. RELEASE OF AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDINGS
To the extent required by law or other legal process, the Department will respond to requests for recordings made with the use of an officer-worn body camera covered by this policy.

XII. ACCIDENTIAL RECORDINGS OR DELETIONS
In the event of an accidental activation of the officer-worn body camera during non-enforcement or non-investigative activities, or in a situation where a reasonable expectation of privacy exists, officers shall notify their supervisors.

XIII. QUALITY ASSURANCE
A. Department supervisors shall ensure officers equipped with officer-worn body cameras utilize them in accordance with Department policies and training.

B. At least on a monthly basis, each Department Command Sergeant shall randomly review three recordings of law enforcement-related encounters or activities pertaining to officers under the Command Sergeant’s purview, in order to ensure that equipment is operating properly, that officers are using the cameras appropriately and in accordance with Department policies and training, and to identify any areas in which additional training or guidance may be required. Command Sergeants shall document their review when completed.

C. Except for reviews conducted under paragraph XIII(B), a Department supervisor shall review only those recordings relevant to their investigative scope and conduct further investigation that he or she deems appropriate. The Department supervisor is responsible for forwarding information pertaining to his or her investigation via the chain of command.

D. Recordings shall not be used to discipline a Department officer unless:
i. A formal or informal complaint of misconduct has been made;
ii. A use of force incident has occurred;
iii. The encounter on the recording results in an internal or external investigation; or
iv. As corroboration of other misconduct.
Nothing in this paragraph XIII(D) shall be construed to limit or prohibit a law enforcement officer from being subject to an action that does not amount to discipline.

E. EVIDENCE
To the extent permitted by law, a recording made with the use of an officer-worn body camera covered by this policy may be used as evidence in any administrative, judicial, legislative, or disciplinary proceeding.

F. PUBLIC RECORDING OF LAW ENFORCEMENT
No officer may hinder or prohibit any person, not a law enforcement officer, from recording a law enforcement officer in the performance of his or her duties in a public place or where the officer has no reasonable expectation of privacy.
The unlawful confiscation or destruction of the recording medium of a person who is not a law enforcement officer may result in discipline or other penalties. However, an officer may take reasonable action to maintain safety and control,
secure crime scenes and accident sites, protect the integrity and confidentiality of investigations, and protect the public safety and order.