Illinois
Illinois Police Body Camera Laws: Mandate & Retention (2026)
Illinois requires nearly every police agency in the state to equip officers with body cameras under the Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act, 50 ILCS 706, with the last agencies brought under the mandate by January 1, 2025. Footage access runs through Illinois's general Freedom of Information Act.
Information last verified on 2026-07-08. This article has not yet been reviewed by a licensed lawyer.
Scope note: This article covers Illinois police body cameras: the mandate, activation, retention, and public access to footage. It does not address whether a civilian may record an on-duty Illinois police officer; that question is covered separately in Is It Illegal to Record Someone?
For how other states handle mandate status, retention, and access, see the police body camera laws by state hub.
Does Illinois require police to wear body cameras?
Yes. The Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act, 50 ILCS 706/10-1 et seq., phased in a statewide mandate covering essentially every Illinois law enforcement agency, state and local. Agencies serving 500,000 or more residents had to comply by January 1, 2022; agencies serving 100,000 to 500,000 by January 1, 2023, or July 1, 2023 if they had ordered cameras by October 1, 2022; agencies serving 50,000 to 100,000 by January 1, 2024; and every remaining agency, including departments serving fewer than 50,000 people and state agencies with law enforcement officers, by January 1, 2025. With roughly 846 law enforcement agencies statewide, Illinois has one of the broadest statutory bodycam mandates in the country, though reporting on compliance has noted that the Act itself does not spell out a direct financial or operational penalty against a noncompliant agency.
| Agency size (population served) | Compliance deadline |
|---|---|
| 500,000 or more | January 1, 2022 |
| 100,000 to 500,000 | January 1, 2023 (or July 1, 2023 if cameras were ordered by October 1, 2022) |
| 50,000 to 100,000 | January 1, 2024 |
| Under 50,000, plus remaining state agencies | January 1, 2025 |
When must an Illinois officer turn the camera on?
Under 50 ILCS 706/10-20, an officer must activate the body camera any time the officer is in uniform and responding to a call for service or engaged in a law enforcement-related encounter or activity while on duty, which is broader than a rule limited to arrests, traffic stops, or force. The statute carves out specific exceptions: officers do not have to activate a body camera inside a patrol vehicle already covered by a functioning in-car camera, inside a correctional facility or courthouse with its own camera system, during interactions with a confidential informant, during routine community-caretaking functions, or when a victim or witness asks that recording stop, unless exigent circumstances or reasonable suspicion of a crime exist. The Act also defines when an encounter becomes flagged for extended retention: a formal or informal complaint, a firearm discharge or use of force, a death or serious injury, a detention or arrest beyond a minor traffic offense, an internal misconduct investigation, or a determination by a supervisor, prosecutor, defendant, or court that the recording has evidentiary value.
How long must Illinois agencies keep bodycam footage?
Illinois sets a 90-day statutory floor for ordinary footage; no recording, other than one documenting a purely non-law-enforcement activity, may be altered, erased, or destroyed before that 90-day period runs. Footage from a flagged encounter cannot be destroyed until at least 2 years after the flag date, and if the recording is used in a criminal, civil, or administrative proceeding, it must be kept until the court issues a final disposition and order. If an agency does delete footage before the 90-day floor expires, in the narrow case of a non-law-enforcement recording, it must keep a written record for one year documenting who deleted it and why. That paper-trail requirement gives requesters and courts a way to check whether an early deletion was proper.
Can the public get a copy of Illinois bodycam footage?
Access to Illinois bodycam footage runs through the state's general Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140, rather than a bodycam-specific disclosure rule. FOIA starts from a presumption that records in an agency's custody are open, and an agency that wants to withhold a record carries the burden of proving an exemption applies by clear and convincing evidence. The exemption agencies invoke most often for active cases is Section 7(1)(d)(vii), which lets an agency withhold records, including footage, whose disclosure would interfere with a pending or actively ongoing law enforcement investigation. Once the case is no longer active, that basis for withholding generally falls away. A public body must respond to a FOIA request within 5 business days, extendable by 5 more business days if collecting, reviewing, and redacting the footage requires additional time. Illinois State Police and other law enforcement agencies maintain dedicated FOIA intake channels for exactly these requests.
The Sonya Massey case: Illinois's bodycam law in practice
The clearest real-world example of Illinois's bodycam framework in operation is the Sonya Massey shooting. On July 6, 2024, Sangamon County Sheriff's Deputy Sean Grayson responded to Massey's home near Springfield after she called 911 to report a possible prowler. Bodycam footage from Grayson and a second responding deputy shows Grayson threatening to shoot Massey over a pot of water on her stove, then firing three times as she ducked behind the pot. Illinois State Police released roughly 36 minutes of combined footage from both deputies' cameras on July 22, 2024, 16 days after the shooting, consistent with the flagged-encounter framework under 50 ILCS 706 that governs footage tied to a death or use of deadly force. That footage became the central evidence at trial. Grayson had been indicted on first-degree murder and other charges; a Sangamon County jury convicted him of the lesser offense of second-degree murder on October 29, 2025, after a seven-day trial, and a judge sentenced him to 20 years in prison on January 29, 2026. Separately, the Sangamon County Board approved a $10 million settlement of Massey's family's wrongful-death claim against the county in February 2025. The case illustrates both halves of Illinois's framework at once: a mandatory-activation requirement that ensured the encounter was recorded at all, and a release process, run through Illinois State Police rather than the county, that got the footage into public view within weeks rather than months.
Frequently asked questions
Disclaimer
This article provides general legal information about Illinois's Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act, 50 ILCS 706, and the Illinois Freedom of Information Act, 5 ILCS 140, as verified on 2026-07-08. It does not constitute legal advice and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Readers seeking a specific recording, or evaluating a denied public-records request, should consult a lawyer licensed in Illinois.
Related articles
- Police body camera laws by state: the complete hub
- Idaho police body camera laws: retention and public records access
- Indiana police body camera laws: retention and public access
- Is it illegal to record someone?
Last updated: 2026-07-08. Statutes cited reflect their in-force version as of 2026-07-08.
Frequently Asked Questions
Does Illinois require police departments to use body cameras?
Yes. The Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act, 50 ILCS 706, phased in a statewide mandate by agency population, with every remaining Illinois law enforcement agency required to comply by January 1, 2025.
How long does Illinois keep police bodycam footage?
At least 90 days for ordinary footage. Footage from a flagged encounter, such as a use of force, arrest, complaint, or death or serious injury, must be kept at least 2 years from the flag date under 50 ILCS 706.
Can I get a copy of Illinois police bodycam footage?
Generally yes, through a Freedom of Information Act request under 5 ILCS 140. Records are presumptively open, though an agency can withhold footage tied to an active investigation under Section 7(1)(d)(vii) until that investigation is no longer ongoing.
What happened to the bodycam footage in the Sonya Massey case?
Illinois State Police released roughly 36 minutes of combined footage from two deputies' body cameras on July 22, 2024, 16 days after the July 6, 2024 shooting. That footage was the central evidence at Deputy Sean Grayson's trial, which ended in a second-degree murder conviction on October 29, 2025.
What is a flagged encounter under Illinois's Body Camera Act?
An encounter is flagged when a formal or informal complaint is filed, an officer discharges a firearm or uses force, a death or serious injury occurs, the encounter leads to a detention or arrest beyond a minor traffic offense, the officer faces an internal investigation, or a supervisor, prosecutor, defendant, or court determines the recording has evidentiary value.
Can an Illinois police officer be punished for not turning on the body camera?
The Act itself does not spell out a specific statutory penalty for an individual non-activation, and reporting has noted limited enforcement against noncompliant agencies. A failure to activate is typically addressed through the employing agency's own discipline policy and can affect how a later investigation or court proceeding evaluates the evidence.
How do I request Illinois police bodycam footage?
Submit a written Freedom of Information Act request to the specific agency that holds the recording, such as the local police department, sheriff's office, or Illinois State Police, which maintains a dedicated FOIA intake process for video recordings.
Sources and References
- 50 ILCS 706/10-1 et seq. (Law Enforcement Officer-Worn Body Camera Act)(ilga.gov).gov
- 5 ILCS 140 (Illinois Freedom of Information Act)(ilga.gov).gov
- Illinois Attorney General Public Access Bureau: FOIA for Law Enforcement Agencies, Video Recordings(illinoisattorneygeneral.gov).gov
- CNN: Illinois police release bodycam video of fatal shooting of Sonya Massey(cnn.com)
- CNN: Sean Grayson sentenced to 20 years for fatal shooting of Sonya Massey(cnn.com)
- Capitol News Illinois: $10 million settlement in Sonya Massey wrongful death case(capitolnewsillinois.com)
- NBC News: Sean Grayson found guilty of murder in the death of Sonya Massey(nbcnews.com)