New York Senate Bill S06773

New York 2025-2026 Regular Session

• Introduced: 3/24/25
• Refer: 3/24/25
• Refer: 1/7/26

Caption

Includes a police or peace officer turning off their body camera or deleting a body camera recording in the crime of tampering with physical evidence and obstructing governmental administration.

Summary

This bill amends New York’s Penal Law to expressly cover certain body-camera misconduct by police and peace officers. It adds a new form of tampering with physical evidence when an officer, believing body-camera evidence may be used in an official or prospective proceeding, conceals, alters, or deletes the footage or its audio recording with the intent to prevent its use. The bill also adds a new form of obstructing governmental administration when an officer intentionally turns off a body camera or its audio in situations where department or agency policy requires recording. The measure is framed as an expansion of existing evidence-tampering and obstruction offenses to address body-worn camera recordings as evidence. It does not create a new standalone offense; instead, it places this conduct within existing felony and misdemeanor provisions, making the evidence-tampering conduct a class E felony and the obstruction conduct a class A misdemeanor. The bill would take effect 30 days after becoming law.

Impact

The bill would amend Penal Law sections 215.40 and 195.05 to specifically include body-camera footage and audio in the scope of tampering with physical evidence and obstructing governmental administration. As a result, police and peace officers could face criminal liability for deleting, altering, concealing, or intentionally disabling body cameras or audio recordings when such conduct is intended to prevent the evidence from being used or when it violates a recording policy. The bill would strengthen the legal consequences for misconduct involving body-worn cameras and could affect police departments, prosecutors, defense counsel, and public oversight of law-enforcement encounters.

Sentiment

The bill appears to reflect a generally reform-oriented and accountability-focused sentiment, with sponsors seeking to close a perceived gap in the Penal Law regarding body-camera evidence. The caption and text suggest support for stronger enforcement of recording requirements and preservation of evidence in police conduct cases. No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no documented opposition or recorded floor sentiment in the materials supplied.

Contention

The main point of contention is likely the scope of criminal liability for police and peace officers, particularly whether turning off a body camera or deleting footage should be treated as a crime rather than solely as a disciplinary or administrative violation. Supporters would likely emphasize transparency, evidence preservation, and accountability, while critics may argue the bill could criminalize policy violations that are already addressed through internal discipline, or raise concerns about proof of intent and the practical effects on officers in the field. Another possible issue is the bill’s focus on officers specifically, which may be viewed as necessary because of their access to evidence, but also as a targeted expansion of criminal exposure for law enforcement.