Bill Summary for S 660 (2021-2022)
Printer-friendly: Click to view
Summary date:
Bill Information:
View NCGA Bill Details | 2021 |
AN ACT TO REGULATE THE DISSEMINATION AND REMOVAL OR DESTRUCTION OF BOOKING PHOTOGRAPHS.Intro. by Lazzara, Britt, Nickel.
View: All Summaries for Bill | Tracking: |
Bill summary
Enacts new GS 15A-502.01 to prohibit a law enforcement agency from providing a copy of a booking photograph in any format to a person requesting a copy if: (1) the booking photograph will be placed in a publish-for-pay publication or posted to a publish-for-pay website or (2) the booking photograph is prohibited from disclosure under GS 132-1.4 ( Criminal investigations; intelligence information records; Innocence Inquiry Commission records). Defines booking photograph as a photograph or image of an individual generated for identification purposes when the individual is booked into a detention facility. Requires the person requesting the booking photograph to affirm in a written statement that it will not be used for the prohibited purposes. Sets out the procedure for requiring a publish-for-pay publication or publish-for-pay website to remove or destroy a booking photograph, when requested. If the photograph is not removed and destroyed as required, the individual submitting the removal request may bring a civil action about the publication or website which will be liable for all costs, including reasonable attorneys' fees, resulting from any legal action the individual brings in relation to the failure of the publish-for-pay publication or publish-for-pay website to remove and destroy the booking photograph, as well as the specified civil penalty amounts.
Amends GS 15A-152, concerning civil liability for dissemination of certain criminal history information, to specify that it does not apply to booking photographs.
Amends GS 132-1.4 to specify that booking photographs are not public record, unless: (1) the person in the booking photograph is convicted of a criminal offense based upon the conduct for which the person was incarcerated at the time the photograph was taken, (2) a law enforcement agency releases or disseminates the photograph after determining that the individual is a fugitive or an imminent threat to another person or to the public and that releasing or disseminating the photograph will assist in apprehending the person or reducing or eliminating the threat, or (3) a court of competent jurisdiction orders the release or dissemination of the photograph based on a finding that the release or dissemination is in furtherance of a legitimate law enforcement interest. Makes additional conforming and clarifying changes.
Allows the Revisor of Statutes to make specified changes.
Effective October 1, 2021.