The Senate passed a bill Wednesday that aims to eventually equip law enforcement officers across South Carolina with body cameras but restricts the public release of the videos.
The Senate, by a 41-3 vote, approved a measure directing the Criminal Justice Academy’s governing board to create body-camera guidelines within six months.
The guidelines would include which officers should wear cameras and how long data should be stored. State and local law enforcement agencies would then have three months to submit their own policies for council review.
The Legislature could reject the guidelines if lawmakers don’t like any of them.
The vote comes three weeks after a bystander’s video of a North Charleston police officer fatally shooting a black man as he ran away prompted the officer’s arrest for murder.
