How to get the body camera footage
In New York City you request NYPD body camera footage under the Freedom of Information Law, and the business card the officer owed you says where to send it. Send a second letter the same week asking the department to preserve everything, because we cannot tell you how long the NYPD keeps footage.
Many police abuse cases come down to a few seconds of video. What the officer saw before the stop. What you said when asked to consent. Who moved first. If that footage exists, your case is about what it shows. If it is gone, your case is about who a jury believes.
So the footage is the first job, before any argument about the law. Here is how to ask for it, how to keep it from disappearing, and what else to request while you are at it. The longer version is on the evidence and body cameras page.
Step one: the card in your pocket
Under New York City's Right to Know Act, an NYPD officer in a stop must identify himself or herself by name, rank, command and shield number and give you a business card (Local Law 54 of 2018, in effect since October 19, 2018). The card is not a courtesy. It must carry information on how to file a complaint and where to request body camera footage.
Find that card. It tells you which officer, which command, and where the request goes. If you never received one, write that down with the date. It is a fact about the stop, and the names can still be found through the arrest paperwork or the command.
Step two: the FOIL request
The NYPD directs civilians to request body-worn camera footage under the Freedom of Information Law, FOIL. A useful request is short and exact:
- The date and the time window. Give a range wide enough to cover the whole encounter, from before the officers arrived until after they left.
- The exact place. The address or the intersection, and which corner. For a car stop, the direction of travel.
- The officers, if you know them. Names, shield numbers, command and patrol car number from the card or the paperwork.
- Every camera, not one. Ask for the footage of all officers at the scene. The second officer's camera often shows what the first officer's does not.
- No story. Identify the incident. Do not narrate it, characterize it, or explain what you think the video will show.
Keep a copy of what you sent and proof of the date you sent it.
Step three: the preservation letter
A FOIL request asks for a copy. A preservation letter asks for something different: that nothing be deleted. It is a dated, written demand to the agency to keep every recording and record of the incident, sent as early as possible.
We want to be straight about what this is. We know of no statute that requires a preservation letter, and we do not tell clients one does. It is practice, not law. Its value is simple: the agency is on notice, in writing and with a date, before any routine deletion happens.
Why we do not publish an NYPD retention period
You will find numbers online for how long the NYPD keeps body camera video. We have not been able to verify one from a primary source, so we do not publish one. The practical answer is the same whatever the number is: send the preservation request in the first week, in writing, and keep proof that you sent it.
Ask twice: once for a copy, and once that nothing be deleted. The second letter is the one people skip, and the one that matters if the first is slow.
Private video can be overwritten quickly. A bodega, a building lobby, a bus, a neighbor's doorbell: go back the next day and ask, politely, that the footage from that hour be saved. Get the name of the person you spoke to.
New Jersey: the statute does the work
New Jersey is one place where we can give you numbers, because the legislature wrote them down. Under N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5, body-worn camera recordings are retained for not less than 180 days. That becomes three years where the subject of the recording registers a complaint, where an officer or supervisor requests retention for evidentiary value, or where a member of the public requests it.
Read that last part again. In New Jersey, your written request is not only good practice. It is the event that moves the recording from the 180-day track to the three-year track. One caveat: the statute excludes correctional police officers, so it does not answer the question for footage from inside a jail.
New Jersey also requires officers to report every use of force to a statewide portal within 24 hours, and the dashboard and datasets are public. The New Jersey page covers both.
While you are asking: the officers' records
Until 2020, New York police disciplinary records were sealed by Civil Rights Law § 50-a. That statute was repealed by a bill signed on June 12, 2020 (Ch. 96, L. 2020). Law enforcement disciplinary records are now subject to FOIL, with redactions for personal information. The disciplinary records page explains what you can get and what it is good for.
Two cautions before you send anything.
First, if you were charged, a person with a pending charge should talk to their defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone. A records request that tells the story is a statement. Your defense lawyer may also have a faster route to the same video. The criminal case and civil case page explains how the two cases share evidence.
Second, asking for footage does not stop any deadline. In New York the notice of claim is still due within 90 days (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 50-e(1)(a)), whether or not the video has arrived. Do not wait for the footage to count the days.
Evidence and body cameras
Footage, 911 and radio records, private video, and the preservation letter in full.
The evidence page →The officers' records
What opened up after the repeal of section 50-a, and how to request it.
Disciplinary records →The first week
What to write down, what to request, what not to say, and who to call.
What to do after →Common questions
How long does the NYPD keep body camera footage?
We do not publish a number, because we have not been able to verify the NYPD's retention period from a primary source. That uncertainty is the reason to act in the first week: request the footage under FOIL and, separately, ask in writing that all footage of the incident be preserved.
Is a preservation letter a legal requirement?
No. We know of no statute that requires one, and we do not claim one does. It is practice: a dated, written request that puts the agency on notice to keep the recordings before any routine deletion. In New Jersey a request from a member of the public has a statutory effect, because it extends body camera retention to three years.
I have a criminal case from the same incident. Should I file the FOIL request myself?
Talk to your defense lawyer first. A person with a pending charge should talk to their defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone, and a records request can end up describing it. Your defense lawyer may also be able to obtain the footage through the criminal case. The request should identify the incident by date, time and place, not tell the story.
Tell us what happened.
One conversation with an attorney, in your language. We tell you which claims the facts support, which deadline runs first for the agency involved, what evidence to preserve this week, and whether a pending criminal case changes the timing. If it is not a case we can take, we say so and tell you where to go.
(718) 484-7510If a criminal charge is still open, talk to your defense lawyer before you describe the arrest to anyone, including us. English, Russian and Spanish in-house; an interpreter for any other language. Contingency fee, confirmed in writing before we begin.