New Jersey Body-Worn Camera Footage Requests
Request body-worn camera footage from the law-enforcement agency whose officer recorded the event. Identify the incident as precisely as possible: date, approximate time, location, officer or unit, case number, and the event you want recorded.
Quick answer
Body-camera footage is not automatically released in full. The agency must evaluate access, redaction, privacy, criminal-investigation, victim, juvenile, medical, security, and other legal issues. Ask the custodian to identify the specific basis for any withholding or redaction.
Start with the recording agency
The municipality, county, State Police, campus, transit, park, or authority agency employing the officer is usually the starting point. If officers from several agencies responded, each agency may maintain separate recordings.
Do not file with a municipality merely because the event occurred there if the recording officer worked for a different agency.
Details that help locate footage
Include:
- Incident date
- Beginning and ending time, if known
- Exact address or location
- Case, CAD, summons, or report number
- Officer name, badge number, vehicle, or unit
- Names or descriptions of involved persons
- Nature of the event
- The portion of the encounter you need
A request for “all body-camera footage for the year” is likely to create identification, burden, privacy, and review problems. Tie the request to an identifiable incident or bounded group of events.
Sample request language
Please provide all body-worn camera recordings created by officers of [AGENCY] concerning the incident on [DATE] at approximately [TIME] at [LOCATION], under case/CAD/report number [NUMBER], if available. This request includes recordings from each responding officer from initial dispatch or arrival through the conclusion of the encounter. Please provide the recordings electronically. If any recording or portion is withheld or redacted, please identify the specific legal basis and the recording affected.
If you need related records, add them separately:
Please also provide the incident report, CAD event history, 911 audio, radio transmissions, mobile-video recording, and use-of-force report associated with the same incident.
How agencies use and review BWC recordings
New Jersey Attorney General Directive 2022-1 and its statewide Body Worn Camera Policy govern agency use, access, storage, and dissemination of BWC recordings. The policy restricts access and use to authorized purposes and requires notice to the County Prosecutor—or the Division of Criminal Justice for a state-level agency—before an agency complies with an OPRA or common-law request for a recording.
Public access is a separate question from whether an officer recorded the event. An agency may need to review the footage frame by frame or redact audio and images before release.
What Fuster v. Township of Chatham decided
In 2025, the New Jersey Supreme Court held that the Body Worn Camera Law’s review provision is subject to OPRA and ordered disclosure of the requested recording under the circumstances before it. The Court rejected an automatic confidentiality rule for that recording, but it did not hold that every BWC recording must be released without review or redaction.
That distinction matters: Fuster strengthens access to BWC recordings while preserving a record-specific analysis under OPRA, the Body Worn Camera Law, privacy protections, and other applicable law.
Timing and preservation
A custodian must respond as soon as possible and generally within seven business days after receiving a complete non-commercial request, subject to other statutory periods and permitted extensions. Video review and redaction can affect production time.
The statewide policy generally requires a recording to be retained for at least 180 days. Certain recordings must be kept for at least three years or longer because of a complaint, an eligible retention request, an investigation, an arrest, use of force, litigation periods, or an internal-affairs matter. If the event is recent and important, submit a focused request promptly and separately consider whether a preservation or extended-retention request is appropriate. Do not assume every recording is kept permanently.
Related guides
Official sources
Reviewed 2026-07-28 by Benjamin Shore, Esq. This guide is general information about New Jersey public records, not legal advice.
- NJ Attorney General Directive 2022-1 — Statewide Body Worn Camera Policy (New Jersey Office of the Attorney General)
- NJ Supreme Court — Fuster v. Township of Chatham (Supreme Court of New Jersey)
- NJ Government Records Council — Exceptions and Denial of Access (New Jersey Government Records Council)
- NJ Government Records Council — Time Frame for Access (New Jersey Government Records Council)
Frequently asked questions
Is all body-camera footage a public record?
No. The agency must evaluate the particular footage and applicable exemptions, redactions, directives, and laws.
Can an agency blur faces or remove audio?
An agency may redact protected visual or audio information when the law requires it. The response should identify the legal basis for redaction.
Should I request the incident report too?
Usually yes. Reports, CAD history, 911 audio, radio traffic, dash camera, photographs, and BWC footage are separate records.
What if I do not know the officer’s name?
Provide the date, time, location, agency, case or CAD number, and event description. Ask for recordings made by all responding officers.
Does a seven-business-day response mean the video must be delivered by then?
Not always. The general rule concerns the custodian’s response, and other statutory periods or permitted extensions may apply. Video review and redaction can require additional time.