Kentucky Police Body Camera Laws: KRS 61.168 & Access

Kentucky has no general body-camera mandate, but Senate Bill 4, passed after Breonna Taylor's 2020 death, requires specially trained teams to wear activated cameras when executing no-knock warrants. Disclosure of any footage that exists runs through KRS 61.168 and the state's Open Records Act.

This guide is part of our Police Bodycam Laws by State series.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses Kentucky law governing police body cameras: the narrow warrant-execution camera mandate created by Senate Bill 4, the KRS 61.168 disclosure framework, and the Kentucky Open Records Act request process. It does not address a civilian's right to record law enforcement, which is covered separately in our guide to recording laws.

Does Kentucky require police to wear body cameras?

Not in general. Kentucky has no statute requiring every officer, or even every patrol officer, to wear a body camera. Whether a department issues cameras at all, and its rules for when to turn them on, are set locally, though the Kentucky Law Enforcement Foundation Program conditions part of an agency's state funding eligibility on having a written body-worn camera policy on file.

There is one specific, narrower mandate. Senate Bill 4, signed on April 9, 2021, a year after Breonna Taylor's death, requires that any search or arrest warrant executed without prior notice, commonly called a "no-knock" warrant, be carried out by a specially trained response team wearing activated body cameras and clearly identifying insignia. Counties with fewer than 90,000 residents can seek a court-approved exemption from the specialized-team requirement. Outside that specific warrant-execution context, Kentucky law does not require an officer to be wearing a camera during an ordinary patrol stop or call for service.

Is Kentucky bodycam footage a public record?

It can be, but access runs through the state's general open-records framework rather than a bodycam-specific open-or-closed rule. KRS 61.168, enacted in 2018 through House Bill 373, provides that disclosure, retention, and availability for viewing of body-worn camera recordings are governed by the Kentucky Open Records Act, KRS 61.870 to 61.884, and that retention itself follows the state records schedules at KRS 171.410 to 171.740, administered with the Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives.

KRS 61.168 lists specific categories an agency may withhold or must redact: footage showing the interior of a private residence, a medical or mental health facility, or a jail; a deceased person; evidence of a sexual assault; a nude body; and a minor, among others. Where a recording documents a use of force by an officer, the statute directs that disclosure is governed solely by the general Open Records Act and its ordinary exceptions, so a use-of-force recording gets no automatic fast-track and no automatic exemption beyond what any other law enforcement record would get.

How do you request bodycam footage under Kentucky's Open Records Act?

A written request goes to the agency's records custodian under KRS 61.870 to 61.884. As of a 2021 amendment to KRS 61.880, the agency generally must decide within five business days of receipt whether it will comply, up from the three-day deadline that applied before that change, and must notify the requester of its decision in writing.

An agency that wants to withhold footage outside the specific KRS 61.168 categories often relies on the general law enforcement exemption at KRS 61.878(1)(h), covering records compiled in detecting or investigating a violation whose release would harm a prospective law enforcement action. Kentucky courts have held that an agency cannot invoke that exemption just because an investigation is open; it must show a concrete, articulable risk of harm from releasing the specific record, not a generic concern about an ongoing case.

Can an attorney get a copy of the footage?

Sometimes, and with more than a viewing right. KRS 61.169 lets a copy of a body-worn camera recording go to an attorney who represents a person or entity directly involved in the incident shown in the footage, if the attorney is licensed to practice law in Kentucky, has not been disqualified under the statute, and executes an affidavit accepting responsibility for the recording's care and custody. That is a broader right than a member of the public gets under a standard open-records request, which may result only in an opportunity to inspect or a redacted copy.

Breonna Taylor and the missing body camera footage

On March 13, 2020, Louisville Metro Police officers executed a warrant at Breonna Taylor's apartment and fatally shot her during the encounter. Sergeant Jonathan Mattingly, Detective Myles Cosgrove, and Detective Brett Hankison, the officers who forced entry, were members of LMPD's Criminal Interdiction Division, a narcotics unit that had not issued body cameras to its detectives. None of the three were wearing one that night.

The absence of footage became a defining fact of the case and a national flashpoint, feeding directly into the push for Senate Bill 4. The law that resulted does not require every Kentucky officer to wear a camera, but it specifically closes the gap that existed in Taylor's case: any team executing a no-knock warrant must now wear activated cameras and display visible identification.

Is it illegal to record police in Kentucky?

That is a separate question from the one this page addresses. Kentucky generally recognizes a person's right to record an on-duty officer performing public duties in a public place. For a full explanation of that right and how it differs from the rules on police-generated bodycam footage discussed here, see Is It Illegal to Record Someone?