SB26-190 Release Information About Peace Officer Use of Force

The act clarifies that video and audio recordings (recordings) depicting an incident of a peace officer's use of force that resulted in death (incident) must be provided to the decedent's immediate family within 21 days after the incident regardless of whether there is a complaint of peace officer misconduct for the incident.     The act requires the multi-agency team investigating the incident or the law enforcement agency that employs the peace officer who used force in the incident to notify the decedent's immediate family about the multi-agency team investigation into the incident within 24 hours after the scene of the incident is cleared. The notification must include the names of the law enforcement agencies that comprise the multi-agency investigating team and the status of the investigation.     The act prohibits a peace officer participating in the investigation of a criminal matter involving an incident from making an extrajudicial statement on behalf of a law enforcement agency that the peace officer knows or reasonably should know will be disseminated by means of public communication and will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing an adjudicative proceeding on the matter. Video of an incident produced for purposes of a community or critical incident briefing must include certain disclaimers, and narration or commentary must be limited to the facts of the incident.(Note: This summary applies to this bill as enacted.)