Are Police Officers Required to Wear Body Cameras in Georgia?

Not according to state law. The 2023 Transparency in Policing Act would have required most officers to wear body cameras in most situations. But this bill died in March 2024, having never made it past the House of Representatives, when the legislative session ended. Some cities and counties have body camera requirements, but these rules usually come and go as the political winds blow one way or another.

For a criminal defense lawyer, bodycam footage is especially valuable in excessive force claims, as outlined below. Excessive force could be an independent claim or a mitigating circumstance in another criminal matter. But the significance goes deeper. Body cams send a powerful message that a police force is willing to be fully accountable. That’s a message most law enforcement officers aren’t ready to send.

Resisting Arrest

Verbal confrontations with police officers often escalate into resisting arrest charges. Many people are very edgy these days. Minor disagreements quickly become physically violent. Frequently, police officers make one of several arguments in these cases:

• If the suspect failed to comply with a lawful order
• The officer feared for his/her safety, or thought they had a weapon

Bodycam footage could refute these common arguments. Failure to comply with a lawful order is a good example. Usually, when police officers make such statements, they mean “s/he didn’t comply fast enough to satisfy me,” which is generally not a criminal offense. Body cam footage short-circuits that argument.

Usually, however, a Norcross criminal defense lawyer doesn’t need body cam footage to refute such arguments. “I feared for my safety” is a good example. In court, jurors can see that a 6-2 officer with deadly weapons and combat training had little or nothing to fear from a 5-8 unarmed and untrained suspect.

Filming the Police

Many people believe they have a First Amendment right to film police as they carry out their official duties. That is not necessarily true. First Amendment protection only applies to fundamental rights. Most federal appeals courts have ruled that such activity is a basic right and the First Amendment applies. However, the Supreme Court has yet to weigh in on this issue. If the Supreme Court makes the opposite conclusion (filming the police is not a fundamental right), their decision trumps the lower courts’ decisions.

Regardless of how this matter comes out, police officers retain the right to impose reasonable time, place, and manner restrictions on wannabe filmmakers. “Stand behind the line” is a reasonable time, place, and manner restriction.

Count on a Hard-Hitting Gwinnett County Attorney

Georgia state law doesn’t require police officers to wear body cameras. For a confidential consultation with an experienced criminal law attorney in Norcross, contact Zimmerman & Associates.