Tennessee Police Bodycam Laws: Access & Records Rules

Tennessee has no dedicated police body camera statute setting mandate, retention, or access rules. Footage is governed by the general Tennessee Public Records Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503, with one narrow, location-based confidentiality carve-out at § 10-7-504(u), whose July 1, 2027 expiration a 2026 act, Public Chapter 672, deleted.

This page covers whether Tennessee police must use body cameras, what makes footage confidential once it exists, and how the public can request a copy. It does not cover whether a civilian may record an on-duty Tennessee officer, a separate and well-settled question addressed on Recording Law's guide to recording police.

Are Tennessee police required to wear body cameras?

No. Tennessee has never enacted a comprehensive statewide body-worn camera act comparable to neighboring states. Whether officers wear cameras, and under what circumstances they must be turned on, is left entirely to each city, county, or state agency's own policy. Coverage is uneven across the state as a result, with some municipal departments running mature programs and others operating with no cameras at all.

Lawmakers have tried more than once to change that. Sen. Raumesh Akbari and Rep. Sam McKenzie sponsored SB 1174 / HB 0741 in the 114th General Assembly, which would have required every agency that uses body cameras to adopt a written policy governing when officers must switch them on, and to train officers on that policy before issuing a camera. The House companion failed in the Public Service Subcommittee of the State and Local Government Committee on March 12, 2025.

Its official fiscal note had projected a mandatory local government cost of roughly $9.35 million a year once fully in effect, which is the scale of spending any statewide mandate has to clear. The same sponsors refiled the measure as SB 1976 / HB 2436 in 2026. The House companion was taken off notice in the State and Local Government Committee on April 8, 2026, and the Senate bill was routed to the Judiciary Committee's general subcommittee, so neither chamber passed it. As of mid-2026, Tennessee still relies on agency-by-agency policy for activation, storage, and release rather than a single statewide framework.

Is police body camera footage a public record in Tennessee?

Generally, yes, subject to important limits. Tennessee has no police bodycam-specific access statute the way South Carolina or North Carolina do. Instead, a request for footage is treated like a request for any other government record under the Tennessee Public Records Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503, which starts from a presumption that records held by a state or local government are open for citizen inspection.

That presumption comes with a residency condition that surprises many requesters. Section 10-7-503(a)(2)(A) grants the statutory right to inspect and copy public records only to citizens of Tennessee. Separately, § 10-7-503(a)(7)(A)(vi) lets a governmental entity require any requester who has photo identification to present a government-issued photo ID that includes the person's address, and, from a requester who has no photo ID, lets the entity require other forms of identification evidencing the person's residency in this state. The photo ID itself only has to show an address, not a Tennessee address, but the fallback for a requester without photo ID is proof of Tennessee residency, so the ID rule and the citizenship limit in (a)(2)(A) point the same way.

For most other records, an agency is still free to grant access to an out-of-state requester only as a matter of discretion. But as of July 1, 2026, Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(i), added by 2026 Public Chapter 711 (SB 1970), gives a non-citizen a statutory right, not just agency discretion, to inspect or receive a copy of any law enforcement record or report pertaining solely to that individual, if the requester submits a written request identifying the specific record, a copy of a valid government-issued photo ID, and a signed affidavit that the record pertains solely to them.

The examples the statute itself lists are an arrest report, incident report, crash report, and citation. Body camera footage is not among them, and the official bill summary does not mention video either. Because the list is expressly not exhaustive, footage of the requester's own encounter may fall within it, but the text does not say so, and footage that also shows other people may not pertain solely to the requester. That is our reading of the language, not a settled rule.

Two limits matter more than the page count of the act suggests. Subsection (i)(2) withholds the new right from any record that is otherwise confidential by law, any record privileged under Rule 16 of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, and any record covered by the investigative privilege. Rule 16 and the investigative privilege are exactly the grounds an agency reaches for when a prosecution is still live, which is the situation most out-of-state arrestees are in when they go looking for footage. Subsection (i)(3) also preserves the custodian's ability to charge the reasonable costs of producing the material. This statutory fix narrows the gap that caused real problems for people arrested in Tennessee who live elsewhere, discussed below, but it does not guarantee the video.

What actually makes Tennessee bodycam footage confidential?

Tennessee's main provision written specifically for police body camera video is Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-504(u), added in 2017. A second, narrower provision, § 10-7-504(a)(35), effective July 1, 2026, covers prison footage rather than police footage: it makes confidential the body camera recordings captured and maintained under title 41, chapter 51, part 4, a 2026 law (Public Chapter 956) requiring body cameras for correctional officers at a contractor-run state correctional facility in one specified county. When such a recording is relevant to a civil action or criminal prosecution, it may be released to a law enforcement agency or a prosecuting authority, or under a subpoena or court order. The title 41 camera requirement itself is set to be repealed on July 1, 2027. Subsection (u) does not create a blanket exemption. Instead, subsection (u)(1) treats video as confidential only when it depicts one of a short list of sensitive settings: minors inside a school serving any grade from kindergarten through 12, a child care agency or program, a preschool, or a nursery school; the interior of a facility licensed under Title 33 (Tennessee's mental health and substance abuse law) or Title 68 (health facilities); or the interior of a private residence that is not being investigated as a crime scene.

Three limits keep the exemption narrow. Subsection (u)(2) preserves the ability of prosecutors and defense counsel to exchange otherwise-confidential footage in a pending criminal case where a defendant's constitutional rights require it. Subsection (u)(3) states the exemption cannot be used to withhold an entire file just because part of it is confidential; agencies must redact the protected portion and release the rest. Subsection (u)(4) leaves access by other law enforcement agencies, courts, and government bodies performing official functions untouched.

Older summaries also describe a sunset clause. Subsection (u)(5) used to provide that the whole subsection would be deleted on July 1, 2027. Public Chapter 672 of 2026, effective April 7, 2026, deleted (u)(5), so subsection (u), Tennessee's police bodycam confidentiality rule, no longer has an expiration date.

Does the rule change if an officer shoots and kills someone?

Yes, on a separate track. Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-8-311 governs the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's investigative record of an "officer-involved shooting death," defined as a death from a shooting by an officer who is on duty or performing off-duty activities within the scope of law enforcement duties. That investigative record, which typically includes any body camera footage TBI collected, becomes a public record once the TBI's investigation is complete and the district attorney general has finished the prosecutorial function, meaning a charging decision and, where charges are filed, the case's conclusion. The district attorney general also has discretion to release all or part of the record earlier, before that point is reached.

How long must Tennessee agencies keep body camera footage?

There is no statewide statute setting a minimum or maximum retention period for body camera video, unlike states such as Illinois or Georgia that specify a day count in their bodycam laws. Retention instead runs through the same local government records-retention schedules that cover other municipal and county records, developed under guidance from the Secretary of State's Division of Records Management together with the Municipal Technical Advisory Service and County Technical Assistance Service. In practice that produces significant variation: reporting on Tennessee body camera policies has found retention ranging from near-immediate deletion of routine footage up to indefinite retention, with 1-year, 2-year, and 7-year windows common depending on whether the footage is tied to an arrest, a use of force, or a pending case.

A real access dispute, and why residency mattered

Labreesha Batey, an Alabama resident, was arrested by the Tennessee Highway Patrol on a DUI charge that a judge later dismissed after testing showed no substances in her system. Because she lived out of state, Tennessee's residency requirement under § 10-7-503(a)(2)(A) meant she had no statutory right to request the trooper's body camera footage of her own arrest. She waited more than a year and spent thousands of dollars in legal fees, ultimately filing a federal lawsuit, before the Highway Patrol released the video. The legislature has since addressed cases like hers: effective July 1, 2026, Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(i) gives an out-of-state resident a statutory right to law enforcement records pertaining solely to them, on the written-request, photo-ID, and affidavit terms described above, so a future Batey-style delay over residency alone should be far harder to justify. Whether that right reaches the video in a still-active case is a separate question, because it yields to Rule 16 and the investigative privilege. In a separate case highlighting how retention and disclosure decisions play out locally, Rutherford County paid a $90,000 settlement to 78-year-old David Dutton after a "sober DUI" arrest, another episode defense attorneys point to when arguing that faster, more consistent access to body camera footage would resolve wrongful-arrest disputes sooner.

This article provides general legal information about Tennessee body camera and public-records rules as of mid-2026, including a confidentiality provision whose July 1, 2027 sunset was deleted in 2026. It is not legal advice. For help with a specific records request, consult a Tennessee attorney or the custodian agency's records office.

For how other states handle bodycam mandates and public access, see Recording Law's Police Bodycam Laws hub.

More Tennessee Laws

• Tennessee Data Privacy Laws
• Tennessee Drone Laws
• Tennessee Recording Laws

Frequently Asked Questions

Do Tennessee police officers have to wear body cameras?

No. Tennessee has no statewide law requiring any agency to use body cameras. Adoption, activation, and retention are set by each department's own policy.

Is body camera footage a public record in Tennessee?

Generally yes, under the general presumption of the Tennessee Public Records Act, Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503, unless a specific exemption applies. The main bodycam-specific exemption, § 10-7-504(u), only covers footage from certain sensitive locations.

What footage does Tennessee law keep confidential?

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-504(u)(1), only footage showing minors in a K-12 school or certain child care settings, the interior of a Title 33 or Title 68 licensed facility, or the interior of a private residence not under criminal investigation. Footage outside those settings is not shielded by this section.

Is Tennessee's body camera confidentiality law permanent?

It no longer has an end date. Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-504(u)(5) had provided that the subsection would be deleted on July 1, 2027, but Public Chapter 672 of 2026 deleted (u)(5), so the rule continues unless the General Assembly changes it.

Can an out-of-state resident get Tennessee body camera footage?

Possibly, as of July 1, 2026, for records about their own encounter, as a matter of statutory right rather than agency discretion. Tenn. Code Ann. § 10-7-503(a)(2)(A) still limits the general right to inspect and copy public records to Tennessee citizens, but new subsection (i), added by 2026 Public Chapter 711, entitles a non-citizen to inspect or receive a copy of any law enforcement record or report pertaining solely to that individual, on a written request, a valid government-issued photo ID, and a signed affidavit that the record pertains solely to them. The statute lists an arrest report, incident report, crash report, and citation as its examples and does not name body camera footage, though the list is not exhaustive. The right also does not reach records that are confidential by law, privileged under Rule 16 of the Tennessee Rules of Criminal Procedure, or covered by the investigative privilege.

How long do Tennessee police have to keep body camera video?

There is no statewide minimum. Retention follows local government records-retention schedules, so it varies significantly by department, with reported ranges from near-immediate deletion to indefinite retention.

What happens to body camera footage after a police shooting death in Tennessee?

Under Tenn. Code Ann. § 38-8-311, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's investigative record, which can include body camera video, becomes public once the TBI's investigation and the district attorney general's prosecutorial function are both complete, though the district attorney general may release it earlier.