General Orders Details

Supervisors may direct one or more personnel to start their BWC and/or ICVS to:

• Record an incident as identified above, if the supervisor is aware that the BWC and/or ICVS is not recording.
• Record during a public gathering, to include protests, if the supervisor feels that legitimate law enforcement purposes are best served by recording.

Personnel may activate their BWC and/or ICVS for any other incident not described above if they deem the use of the BWC and/or ICVS is appropriate or necessary.

Personnel are not required to activate their BWC while attending administrative meetings or during informal or formal community engagement. However, if during the course of these events circumstances change into a law enforcement or service related contact personnel will activate their BWC.

Automated and Remote System Activation

The BWC and ICVS system used by the IUPD makes use of automation to initiate recording when pre-defined triggers occur.  Pre-defined triggers that will result in recording activation are as follows:

• The following will only initiate a recording on the BWC:
  • The emergency lights are activated in a vehicle where the officer is logged into the vehicle’s ICVS and the driver’s door of the vehicle is opened.
  • The employee begins running and continues to run for 15-20 seconds.
  • The BWC is in a horizontal position and relatively motionless for at least 30 seconds.
• The following will initiate a recording on the BWC and/or ICVS:
  • Activation of the vehicle’s emergency lights.
  • The vehicle exceeds 85 miles per hour.
  • The holster sensor of the officer logged into a BWC that is in an on-duty status and/or ICVS sends an activation signal when the officer removes their weapon from the holster.  The ICVS will only activate if the officer is in range of the ICVS.
  • The vehicle crash sensor detects a crash.
  • The release button on the rifle and/or shotgun retention device is pressed.
  • The employee logged into a BWC that is in an on-duty status and/or ICVS is attached to an incident in Computer Aided Dispatch that is classified as priority 1, 2, 3 or 4 as arrived.
  • An employee logged into a BWC that is in an on-duty status and/or ICVS enters an action zone/geofence that has been defined in Polaris.

Department administrators, supervisors, and public safety dispatchers at the direction of a public safety dispatch or law enforcement supervisor, will have the capability to remotely initiate or terminate a recording. Under exigent circumstances, public safety dispatchers may remotely initiate a recording at the request of the user wearing the BWC and/or operating a vehicle equipped with an ICVS.

These individuals will only remotely initiate or terminate recordings in situations identified as a pre-defined trigger above or in accordance with system deactivation described below.

A live view of a BWC and/or ICVS recording may be initiated for incidents that have a potential for injury, upon activation of the body-worn down feature, upon activation of the Incident Management Team, or if an employee is not responding to repeated attempts to contact them via radio. 

Personnel will be able to prevent remote activation or live viewing but will only prevent remote activation or live viewing if the conditions of restricted recordings, as provided below, are met. 

Remote activation may be prevented by pressing the stop button on the wearable remote-control device.  Live viewing may be prevented by stopping the recording.

System Deactivation

To ensure the completeness and integrity of the recording,  BWC and/or ICVS recording will not be stopped until all incidents or activities that require recording activation are completed , unless the contact moves into an area covered in Restricted Recordings as defined below or if the employee is instructed to stop a BWC and/or ICVS recording by a supervisor.

Personnel will use one of the following methods to terminate a BWC and/or ICVS recording:

• Pressing the stop button on the wearable remote-control device.
• Using the screen of the BWC, navigating to the active BWC recording record and pressing the stop button.
• Using the screen of the ICVS tablet, navigating to the active ICVS recording record and pressing the stop button.

If an employee terminates a BWC and/or ICVS recording for any reason prior to the completion of the event, they will verbally state the reason for terminating the recording prior to terminating the recording.

Indiana Code 35-44.1-2-2.5 establishes that “with the intent to commit or conceal the commission of a criminal act, turns off or disables a law enforcement recording device in violation of regulations or a policy adopted by the law enforcement agency that employs the officer commits disabling a law enforcement recording device, a Class A misdemeanor.”

Restricted Recordings

BWCs and/or ICVS will not be intentionally used to record:

• Communications or interactions with other police personnel during the employee’s shift unless those communications or interactions happen during an incident for which an employee is required to activate their BWC and/or ICVS. 
• Any break time or other personal activities such as personal phone calls, restroom and locker room use.
• Communications or interactions with an undercover officer or a confidential informant.
• Public gatherings, including protests, except when there are specific police-public interactions at such gatherings, or the officer concludes in their professional judgment that legitimate law enforcement purposes are best served by recording.
• While in medical facilities unless on a law enforcement run or call for service (e.g., crimes in progress / blood draw, etc.)  Personnel will make reasonable attempts not to record conversations between the suspect and a doctor.

Classification as a restricted recording does not supersede a recording’s classification as a law enforcement recording.  Restricted recordings as described in the first two bullet points above will be considered Restricted Non-Law Enforcement Recordings and restricted recordings as described in the remaining three bullet points above will be considered Restricted Law Enforcement Recordings.

BWCs will not be removed from the employee’s uniform and left in a location for the purposes of creating a covert recording.

Adding Restrictions to Recordings

In the event restricted recordings are captured, a user may ask for the entire recording or the applicable portions of the recording to have a restriction added by attaching a note to the recording and sharing the recording with a supervisor.  Users may indicate which section(s) of a law enforcement recording contain material which meets the definition of a restricted recording by adding one or more markers to the recording to indicate start and/or stop points for the restricted material.

Supervisors receiving a request to add a restriction to a recording, or a portion of a recording will comply with the request unless they have reason to believe that it does not meet the definition of a restricted recording.  A supervisor may view a recording, or portion of a recording, identified by a user as restricted only if it is necessary to determine if the definition of a restricted recording has been met.  Supervisors will attach a note to the recording to document their decision.  The supervisor will share the restricted recording with the original user to ensure the user has access to the chain of custody log.

If a portion of an otherwise unrestricted law enforcement recording contains a section which meets the definition of a restricted recording, the supervisor will add a restriction to the original recording and then share the original recording with a recording technician, who will produce a copy of the original with the approved section(s) redacted using blurring and/or audio redaction.  The recording technician will then share the redacted copy with appropriate users.  The original, unredacted copy will be classified and retained according to applicable retention policies as defined below. 

As part of an internal affairs investigation, a user with the ability to restrict recordings will add a restriction to the recording and will share the recording with the assigned investigator. The involved user(s) will not have access to the recording during the investigation. If disciplinary action or legal proceedings result from such investigation, the user will have access to the recording to defend themselves in accordance with existing law and policy.

Restricted recordings may be viewed by any user with whom the recording has been shared, regardless of that user’s role.

The superintendent for public safety’s office reserves the right to restrict any recording at any time.

Use of BWC and/or ICVS Off Duty

Officers are required to wear and use their issued BWC and operate the ICVS in accordance with this general order while they are engaged in off-duty employment.

Except as provided above, personnel will not use department issued BWCs and/or ICVSs while off duty.

Permissible Access and Distribution of Recordings (9.1.7 b)

Access to recordings on the Recording Management System are controlled using role-based access control. Users who have been classified as one of the following roles may access recordings and perform other actions based on permissions assigned to that role:

• Officers (including non-sworn personnel who are assigned a BWC) may access their own BWC or ICVS recordings and recordings that have been shared with them by another user for the purposes of classifying recordings, recommending recordings for training use, writing reports, or preparing for court testimony. 
• Detectives may access all BWC or ICVS recordings related to a case that they are assigned to investigate for the purpose of furthering the investigation.
• Supervisors may access their own recordings as defined above and may also access recordings of personnel under their supervision to:
  • Gather further information regarding an incident they are reviewing for approval to ensure accuracy of the case report.
  • Classify recordings generally and including at the request of the user, as restricted law enforcement recordings or restricted non-law enforcement recordings.
  • Review critical decision-making incidents, vehicle and foot pursuits, and arrests.
  • Recommend a recording for training use.
  • Investigate complaints or allegations of misconduct.
  • Randomly review recordings as specified in the supervisor responsibility section of this order.
• Communication Operators may access any non-restricted recording for the purpose of locating an image of a suspect in a criminal offense related to a crime or incident that is in progress or has just occurred.
• Recording Technicians may access any recording for the purpose of redacting recordings, preparing recordings for, or delivering recordings to, prosecutors, defense attorneys, department or university administrators, media outlets or any other individual as directed, in writing, by the superintendent for public safety or their designee, or for the purpose of responding to a lawfully issued subpoena or request, or as otherwise required by applicable law.  Requests pursuant to the Indiana Access to Public Records Act (APRA) and subpoenas will be handled according to procedures as outlined in Restrictions to Recording Access and Distribution below.
• Department Administrators, to include the superintendent for public safety and their staff, division chief of police or their designee, professional standards and education staff, and system administrators including the director for information technology and systems and their designee(s) and may access any recording for:
  • Any of the reasons allowed to officers, detectives, supervisors, or recording technicians.
  • Obtaining information regarding the depicted incident, to include but not limited to, as part of a case review.
  • Performing audits of recording access.
  • Reviewing any recording on behalf of university administration.
  • Assessing the effectiveness of BWCs and ICVSs.
• Individuals who are prosecutors, defense attorneys, media representatives, and university officials may be granted an account with which specific recordings can be shared but will not have unrestricted access to all recordings.    

Recording Access and Distribution

Individuals who are not authorized to view recordings by this order will not be allowed to review any recording at the scene of an incident.  This does not include showing an individual a photo or video that was sent to a BWC or ICVS for the purposes of furthering an investigation, which is permitted.

Any request to access or view a recording by a requestor as defined by IC 5-14-3-5.1 (a), requests made pursuant to the APRA, or requests related to a lawfully issued state or federal subpoena may be forwarded to the Office of the Vice President and General Counsel (OVPGC), depending on the nature of the request. The OVPGC may be granted access to recordings by department administrators, after receiving approval from the superintendent for public safety or their designee, for the purpose of processing public records requests, responding to lawfully issued subpoenas, and for other legal review or providing legal advice.

Users will not:

• share recordings with anyone who does not have an official need to access the recording. 
• access recordings for unofficial purposes or while off duty.
• make copies of recordings with any other device.
• intentionally view a recording using a user account other than their own.

The director for professional standards and education or their designee may authorize the sharing of a recording with IUPD employees for the purposes of training.

The superintendent for public safety or their designee may authorize the sharing of a recording at their discretion.

Redaction of Recordings

Prior to the sharing of a recording, the individual authorizing the sharing will assess the need to redact or withhold the recording, in consultation with the OVPGC, for video or audio depictions described in IC 5-14-3-5.2(e) and any depiction of a Criminal Justice Information as defined by the CJIS Security Policy or an investigatory record as defined in IC 5-14-3-2(i). 

• Recordings requested pursuant to IC 5-14-3-5.1(b) will only be redacted as described by IC 5-14-3-5.1(c).
• If a recording needs to be redacted, a user with the ability to redact video will produce a redacted copy of the recording without altering the original recording.

Storage and Data Retention Requirements (9.1.7 c)

BWC and ICVS recordings will be securely uploaded to the Recording Management System using any available wi-fi path, and personnel will ensure all recordings from their BWC or ICVS have uploaded prior to ending their shift. All recordings will contain information related to the date, BWC or ICVS identifier, and assigned user.

Unaltered, original BWC and ICVS law enforcement recordings, regardless of their restricted status, will be stored securely and in accordance with IC 5-14-3-5.3 Retention of Law Enforcement Recordings:

• If a recording is used in a criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding, IUPD will retain the recording until final disposition of all appeals and order from the court.
• IUPD will retain a recording for at least two years, if notified within 180 days of the creation of a law enforcement recording of:
  • Any request, in writing, regardless of reason given, to include no reason, by a requestor as defined by IC 5-14-3-5.1(a).  IUPD will not ask or compel a requestor to provide a reason for requesting a recording.
  • A formal or informal complaint filed with the public agency regarding a law enforcement activity depicted in the recording.
• Law enforcement recordings, as defined by IC 5-14-3-2 (k), which do not meet any of the criteria above, will be retained for 190 days.

Unaltered, original BWC and ICVS recordings identified as restricted non law enforcement recordings will be retained for 14 days.

Any employee who is permitted to access recordings is encouraged to notify training coordinators of any recording that may be of value for training purposes.  Any law enforcement recording identified by the director for professional standards and education, or their designee may be retained indefinitely for training purposes.

Recordings will not be stored on external media such as USB drives, flash cards, CDs, or DVDs unless such storage is necessary to deliver recordings to an individual who will not be granted an account on the Recording Management System or directed by a prosecutor or their designee.

All BWC and ICVS recordings are the sole property of Indiana University.

Classifications

Polaris will automatically apply the standard retention classification to a recording that is associated with a Computer Aided Dispatch entry.  The employee who generates any recording will be responsible for reviewing their recording to ensure the auto generated classification was added and adding or removing classifications as needed.

Classification of a recording impacts the retention period of that recording.  Personnel to include sworn officers, non-sworn personnel, supervisors, and recording technicians will be responsible for ensuring the following classifications are applied to recordings when they become aware of circumstances described below:

• Aborted Traffic Stop – This classification will be applied to any recording depicting an attempted traffic stop which was aborted by the initiating officer for the purposes of avoiding a vehicle pursuit.
• Retain – This classification will be applied to any recording that:
  • Is generated during a response to an incident that is criminal in nature.
  • Is generated during a response to an incident which resulted in an arrest or a referral to university officials for administrative action against a student, faculty, or staff member, even if the recording does not depict the arrest or related incident itself.
  • Is captured during an investigation into an incident which may become a civil or administrative proceeding, such as interviews of suspects or witnesses in sexual assault cases even if the victim has not decided on moving forward with a criminal case.
  • IUPD is advised to retain related to a civil proceeding.
• Use of Force – This classification will be applied to all recordings which depict use of force by an officer.
• Vehicle Pursuit – This classification will be applied to all recordings which depict a vehicle pursuit as defined in G9.2.2 Pursuit of Motor Vehicles.
• Foot Pursuit – This classification will be applied to all recordings which depict a foot pursuit.
• Animal Incident – This classification will be applied to all recordings which depict any use of force against an animal.
• Weapon Draw Only – This classification will be applied to all recordings which depict an officer drawing a firearm or less lethal weapon and never encountering a non law enforcement officer while the weapon is drawn.
• De-escalation Incident – This classification will be applied to all recordings which depict an officer utilizing verbal and non-verbal techniques or strategies to reduce the intensity of an interaction and therefore avoiding the need to apply any physical use of force.
• Equipment Testing – This classification will be applied to all recordings generated resulting from testing any component of the BWC or ICVS for proper functioning.
• Vehicle Inspection – This classification will be applied to all recordings generated resulting from an inspection of the police vehicle.  

Roles and Responsibilities

Roles and responsibilities for implementing, maintaining, administering, and using BWCs and ICVS are described below.

BWC and ICVS System Coordinators

The director for information technology and systems will serve as the department systemwide BWC and ICVS Coordinator.

The BWC and ICVS Coordinator or their designee(s) will:

• Administer the BWC and ICVS environment, to include hardware and software configuration, account provisioning, cellular data plan management, providing and maintaining a hardware inventory system, and performing audits of system and recording access.
• Provide technical consultation and guidance to the professional standards and education staff for the purposes of developing training.
• Ensure division BWC and ICVS Coordinators are performing their duties.

Each division has identified a division BWC and ICVS Coordinator, appointed by the division chief of police, whose responsibilities will include:

• Ensuring personnel who use a BWC or ICVS have completed department approved training on the use of the BWC and/or ICVS prior to issuing a BWC and/or prior to operating a vehicle equipped with an ICVS.
• Issuing and recovering BWCs from users and updating the hardware inventory system.
• Arranging for repair or replacement of any damaged or malfunctioning BWC or ICVS hardware.

Responsibilities of Personnel Using BWC and/or ICVS

All personnel who have been issued a BWC will have their BWC powered on while they are on duty or engaged in off-duty employment. Personnel should power off their BWC when they are off duty. Personnel will not deactivate the GPS location services of the BWC or ICVS while on duty. Personnel will only use BWCs and ICVSs issued by IUPD and will not use personal equipment such as smart phones to generate recordings while on duty.

Personnel will wear their BWC utilizing the in-uniform carrier while in the Class B uniform. The external carry case will only be worn in the following circumstances:

• if an internal carrier is not available due to pending uniform modifications;
• when responding to an incident requiring the need to don their rifle vest; or
• while on duty or engaged in off-duty employment in attire other than a uniform or training attire.

Personnel will not wear any equipment or uniform article in such a way that the equipment, or use of the equipment, or uniform article partially or completely obscures the view of the BWC.

Officers who are providing mutual aid to another agency, to include IUPD participation in multi-jurisdictional specialty teams, are required to wear and use a BWC as described by this General Order. This provision can be waived by the superintendent for public safety or their designee.

At the beginning of each shift personnel will:

• Log into, inspect and test the BWC and/or ICVS to verify proper functioning, including checking that the battery is fully charged, and the date/time stamp is accurate, and will notify their supervisor of any problems.
  • Officers should complete inspection of handguns prior to turning on the BWC to prevent automated initiation of a recording due to a handgun being removed from the holster.
• Use the BWC to check the battery level of the wearable remote-control device and the holster sensor to confirm that the battery level for these devices is above 20%. 
  • If the battery level of the wearable remote-control device is below 20% the employee will notify their supervisor so they can be given a replacement battery.  The employee will be responsible for replacing the battery.
  • If the battery level of the holster sensor is below 20% the officer will charge the holster sensor until it is above 20% before starting their duty shift

BWC and ICVS hardware is the responsibility of each employee and will be used with reasonable care to ensure proper functioning. Equipment malfunctions will be brought to the attention of the employee’s supervisor as soon as possible so that appropriate action can be taken to resolve the issue(s).

Personnel will note in incident, arrest, and related reports when BWC and/or ICVS recordings were made during the incident in question, but these recordings will not take the place of a written narrative.

Personnel will ensure that all BWC recordings have uploaded to the ICVS or Polaris and all BWC and ICVS recordings are accurately classified before completing their duty shift. 

If an employee fails to activate the BWC and/or ICVS, fails to record the entire contact, or interrupts the recording, the employee will document the reason and circumstances in a case supplement for incidents that generate a case, or by generating an administrative case report for incidents that did not generate a case. 

Employees are responsible for charging their issued BWC and holster sensor and ensuring those devices retain sufficient charge to complete a duty assignment.  Employees are responsible for notifying their supervisor if they have any concerns regarding the battery life or functionality of their holster sensor or BWC.  

Additional Supervisor Responsibilities

Supervisory personnel will ensure that personnel utilize the BWCs and ICVSs in accordance with this order.

Supervisors will ensure each employee who has been issued a BWC has the BWC at the beginning of their duty shift or the employee is told to retrieve the BWC prior starting their duty shift.  Any employee who has been issued a BWC but does not have a functioning BWC will be issued a replacement. 

Any officer who reports to a supervisor that their ICVS is not functioning properly will, if possible, be assigned to a vehicle with a functioning ICVS prior to beginning their duty shift.  A malfunctioning ICVS will not prohibit use of the vehicle if no other vehicles are available.

Shift supervisors will review all recordings that depict a Critical Decision-Making Incident (CDMI) that occurred during their shift.  Supervisors whose direct subordinates were involved in a CDMI will review the related BWC and/or ICVS recordings.  These reviews should be completed prior to the end of the supervisor’s duty shift.  If this is not possible, the review will be conducted prior to the end of the supervisor’s next duty shift.  Supervisors will review all portions of the recording which depict the CDMI, events leading to or injuries resulting from a CDMI, but are not required to review portions of the recording that do not depict the CDMI.

By 2359 hours on the 15^th day of each month, supervisors whose direct subordinates are issued BWCs or operate vehicles which are equipped with ICVSs will review two recordings generated by the subordinate during the previous calendar month.  Reviews will be logged in Polaris by having the classification “Monthly Review” added by the reviewing supervisor at the time of the review.  

The monthly reviews are conducted to ensure the equipment is operating properly, employees are using the devices appropriately, and may identify any areas in which additional training or guidance is required.  The monthly reviews will not be conducted with the intent of generating a complaint or internal investigation but if a supervisor observes a violation of any general order, university policy or law in the process of reviewing a recording, the supervisor will take appropriate action to address the violation.  Supervisors will report any technical issues discovered during a month review, in writing, to the appropriate division BWC/ICVS Coordinator.

Recording Technician Responsibilities

Recording technicians will:

• Apply classifications that will extend a recording’s retention period upon becoming aware of administrative, criminal or civil proceedings related to events depicted in a recording.
• Place restrictions on and perform redactions of recordings as required by this General Order, local, state, or federal regulation, and/or at the direction of the OVPGC.
• Provide recordings to prosecutors and university officials as appropriate upon request. 
• Provide recordings in response to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), APRA requests or legal process, after consulting with the OVPGC.

Professional Standards and Education Responsibilities

The director for professional standards and education or their designee will:

• Approve department training on BWCs, ICVSs and the Recording Management System and retain records that all users have completed necessary training before using any of these devices or systems.
• Ensure that any additional training which may be required at periodic intervals to ensure the continued effective use and operation of the equipment and to incorporate changes, updates, or other revisions in policy and equipment is provided to users.
• Review videos suggested by users as training materials and approve or deny their use for training.

Related Information

Indiana Code

• 5-14-3-2 Access to Public Records – Definitions
• 5-14-3-5.1 Inspection of law enforcement recordings; obscuring of undercover law enforcement officer; obscuring of confidential informants
• 5-14-3-5.2 Exemptions to right of inspection; court orders permitting inspection
• 5-14-3-5.3 Retention of law enforcement recordings
• 6-4.1-1-9 Personal Representative
• 29-3-1-7.5 Incapacitated Person
• 35-44.1-2-2.5 Disabling a Law Enforcement Recording Device

Indiana University

Office of the Vice President and General Counsel, Open Records Request Form: http://www.indiana.edu/~vpgc/sample-agreements/open-records-requests.shtml

Indiana University Police Department

• G2.2.1 Interviews and Interrogations
• G7.1.10 Reporting Use of Force Incidents
• G9.2.2 Pursuit of Motor Vehicles