Evidence and body cameras
A police abuse case is won on the record of a few minutes, and most of that record is held by the other side. Body-worn camera footage, the 911 call, radio transmissions, the arrest paperwork, the officers' disciplinary histories: all of it exists, and all of it can be requested, but none of it is certain to exist a year from now. This page goes through each kind of evidence, how it is requested in New York and New Jersey, and why the requests go out in the first week rather than after the criminal case.
Every request on this page can be made before anyone decides whether to sue, and every one is made by us in the first week of a case for a simple reason: evidence that is not requested is deleted, overwritten or forgotten, and the defense will say the missing footage would have shown probable cause. The requests cost nothing and commit you to nothing. If a criminal charge is pending, talk to your defense lawyer before describing the arrest to anyone; the requests below do not require a word about what happened, and the criminal case and civil case page explains why that matters.
Body-worn camera footage
New York City
Under the Right to Know Act, an NYPD officer who stops, frisks or searches you must identify themselves by name, rank, command and shield number and give you a business card that includes information on how to file a complaint and where to request body-camera footage (Local Law 54 of 2018, effective October 19, 2018). The card is the starting point: it identifies the officer and it tells you where the request goes. The NYPD directs civilians to request body-worn camera footage under the Freedom of Information Law, and the FOIL request is the formal route.
We request preservation immediately, and we do not publish a retention period
How long the NYPD keeps body-camera footage before routine deletion is not stated on this site, because we have not verified the department's own retention schedule from a primary source and will not publish a number we cannot cite. The practical answer is the same either way: a written request that the department preserve all footage of the incident goes out in the first week, together with the FOIL request, and is followed up. A request that arrives after routine deletion produces a letter saying so, and that letter is what the defense will point to.
New Jersey
New Jersey sets retention by statute. Body-worn camera recordings are retained not less than 180 days, and for three years where a complaint is registered by the subject of the recording, where an officer or supervisor requests retention for evidentiary value, or where a member of the public requests it (N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5). Correctional police officers are excluded. A written request from you or from us is what moves the footage from the 180-day floor to three years, so the request is sent before anything else. The New Jersey page has the rest of that state's rules, including the Attorney General's Use of Force Portal, to which officers must report every use of force within 24 hours and whose datasets are public; a use of force that was not reported is a fact in the case.
The other recordings and records
Body cameras are one camera. The incident usually appears in several other places, and each is requested separately. Nothing in this section is a legal requirement that the agency produce the record on request; it is what we ask for, in writing, in the first week, and what we obtain in discovery if the request is refused.
The 911 call and the radio
The 911 call that brought the officers, the dispatcher's description of what was reported, and the radio transmissions during the stop and the arrest. These fix the time, they record what the officers were told before they arrived, and they often record what the officers said to each other before and after the force was used. The 911 call is frequently the clearest evidence of what the officers actually knew, which is the whole question on a false arrest claim.
Surveillance video
Cameras on buildings, in stores, on transit, on doorbells, in the precinct and in the holding area. Private cameras overwrite on their own schedules and their owners do not know a lawsuit is coming; a letter to the building or the store in the first days is the only way that footage survives. Bystanders' phone video is the same: ask, and ask that the original file be kept.
The arrest paperwork
The arrest report, the criminal court complaint sworn by the officer, the property voucher, the desk appearance ticket, the stop report, and in a consent search the documentation the Right to Know Act requires (Local Law 56 of 2018). The officer's sworn version of events, written within hours, is compared line by line to the footage.
Medical records
Emergency room records, ambulance records, the jail's medical intake, follow-up treatment and imaging. A record dated the day of the incident is the injury; a record dated three weeks later is an argument. Photographs of injuries taken each day for a week belong in the same file.
The officers' disciplinary histories
Civil Rights Law § 50-a, which for decades shielded police disciplinary records from disclosure, was repealed by S.8496, signed June 12, 2020 (Ch. 96, L. 2020). Law enforcement disciplinary records in New York are now subject to FOIL with personal-information redactions. The CCRB's history of complaints against an officer is part of that picture. In a lawsuit the histories are obtained in discovery and matter in two ways: to a Monell claim, which asks whether the City knew of a pattern and did nothing (Connick v. Thompson, 563 U.S. 51 (2011)), and to the officer's credibility. The disciplinary records page goes through what is available.
The preservation letter
A preservation letter is a written demand to the agency, sent as early as possible, that it retain every recording and record of the incident: body-camera footage from every officer present, dashboard and precinct video, the 911 and radio recordings, the arrest and stop reports, the use of force reports, and the officers' memo books. No statute on this site requires a preservation letter or sets a penalty for ignoring one, and we do not claim otherwise. It is practice. Its purpose is to put the agency on notice before routine deletion, so that footage which later turns out to be missing was missing after a request, not before one. In New Jersey the same letter is the public request that triggers three-year retention under N.J.S.A. 40A:14-118.5. In New York it goes with the FOIL request and, for the City, with the notice of claim to the Comptroller within 90 days.
The 50-h transcript
After a notice of claim is served, the City may demand a 50-h examination, sworn testimony about the claim (N.Y. Gen. Mun. Law § 50-h). The transcript becomes evidence: it is the claimant's first sworn account, taken by the City's lawyer, and it will be compared to the footage and to every later deposition. With a criminal charge pending, the examination is adjourned or handled with both lawyers, because the same transcript is available to the prosecution. The notice of claim page explains the examination.
What the evidence decides
The legal questions in a police abuse case are questions about a moment. Whether the officer had probable cause is judged on the totality of the circumstances known to the officer at the time (District of Columbia v. Wesby, 583 U.S. 48 (2018)). Whether force was reasonable is judged on the totality of the circumstances with no "moment of threat" cutoff (Barnes v. Felix, 605 U.S. ___ (2025)), weighing the severity of the crime, whether the person posed an immediate threat, and whether the person was actively resisting or fleeing (Graham v. Connor, 490 U.S. 386 (1989)). Whether qualified immunity applies asks what a reasonable officer would have known on those facts. Every one of those questions is answered by the footage and the records if they exist, and by the officer's sworn account if they do not. The first week is when you decide which.
The first week
Medical care, a dated account, witnesses, photographs, the notice of claim, and what not to say.
What to do after →Officer disciplinary records
What the 50-a repeal opened, what FOIL produces, and how the histories are used in a case.
Disciplinary records →Discovery and depositions
What each side gets in a lawsuit, the officers under oath, and the summary judgment motion.
Discovery →Common questions
How do I get the NYPD body-camera footage?
The NYPD directs civilians to request body-worn camera footage under the Freedom of Information Law, and the Right to Know business card the officer was required to give you says where to send the request. We file the FOIL request and a separate written request to preserve the footage in the first week. We do not publish the NYPD's retention period because we have not verified it, and that is the reason for the early request.
How long does New Jersey keep body-camera footage?
Not less than 180 days by statute, and three years where the subject of the recording files a complaint, an officer or supervisor requests retention for evidentiary value, or a member of the public requests it. A written request from you or your lawyer is what turns 180 days into three years. Correctional police officers are excluded from the statute.
Can I see the officer's disciplinary record?
In New York, since the repeal of Civil Rights Law 50-a in June 2020, law enforcement disciplinary records are subject to FOIL with personal-information redactions. In a lawsuit the officers' disciplinary histories are also obtained in discovery. The police disciplinary records page explains what is available and how it is used.
Is a preservation letter required by law?
No statute on this site requires one, and we do not claim one does. A preservation letter is practice: a written demand that the agency keep every recording and record of the incident, sent as early as possible, so that the agency is on notice before routine deletion. In New Jersey the request also triggers the three-year body-camera retention by statute.
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.