Policy Text
1Santa Clara County Office of the Sheriff
Surveillance Use Policy for the In-Car Video Recording System
ttDash-Cam Systemtt
Purpose
The In-Car Video Recording System, referred to as the "Dash-Cam System" is currently
composed of the Axon Fleet 2 Solution and shall be utilized to capture footage of people
or events of interest during patrol and enforcement functions. The Dash-Cam System shall
be attached to law-enforcement vehicles for the purpose of recording law enforcement
interactions with the public, including a detainee/arrestee's conduct in the back seat of the
law-enforcement vehicle. The Dash-Cam System shall be set up so that the cameras tum
on when Sheriff s Office personnel activate the vehicle's emergency equipment or when
the equipment is manually turned on by the operator. A search warrant is not required for
the use of the Dash-Cam System.
The Dash-Cam System shall be affixed to Sheriff s Office patrol vehicles, and may be
affixed to other Sheriff s Office vehicles. Patrol vehicles not affixed with the Dash-Cam
System due to mechanical issues or budgetary constraints shall not be in violation of this
Surveillance Use Policy.
The Dash-Cam System consists of two cameras: one installed in the front of the vehicle,
pointing forward in a windshield mount, and the second pointed at the law enforcement
vehicle's back seat. When the vehicle is running, the cameras shall be powered by the
vehicle. If the vehicle's ignition is shut off, an inline Axon Fleet power unit shall
provide power for up to 4 hours of recording.
2, Authorized and Prohibited Uses
The Dash-Cam System shall be used to record law-enforcement activities from a camera in
the patrol car, including the following types of law-enforcement activities:
. Vehicle enforcement stops
o Vehiclepursuits
. Detention ofpersons
. Consensualencounters
. Transportation of arrestees or others
. Evidence Collection
. Other law-enforcement or first-responder uses not prohibited by law
The Dash-Cam System shall not be integrated with facial recognition technology
The Dash-Cam System and its data shall not be used to harass, intimidate, or discriminate
against any individual or group, nor shall it be used for personal or non-law enforcement
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Surveillance Use Policy - In-Car Video Recording System ("Dash Cam System")Page I of4
October 2019
3
4purposes.
Data Collection
The Dash-Cam System shall record video and audio. Still images maybe generated from the
video.
Data Access
Sheriff s Office enforcement personnel may see and hear Dash-Cam System data through
the vehicle's Tablet display monitor. Sheriff s Office personnel shall only download data
from the Dash-Cam System to a DVD, disc, thumb drive, or other storage device for the
purpose of preserving the data as part of a specific criminal, civil, or administrative
investigation, or for training purposes. Access to downloaded data shall only be for the
purposes of a specific criminal, civil, or administrative investigation, or for training purposes.
Supervisors and command staff may also review data to ensure compliance with Sheriff s
Office policies or to identify training needs. Other County personnel designated in
writing by the Sheriff or the Sheriff s designee may receive access to the extent that the
Sheriff or Sheriff s designee determines that access is reasonably necessary for a specific
criminal, civil, or administrative investigation or action. Access to downloaded data for
the purpose of training shall be limited to Sheriff s supervisors, command staff, and
training staff for the purpose of training, and deputies may see and hear such data only for
a training purpose.
5.Data Protection
The Dash-Cam System shall upload data to a protected, secure seryer or storage cloud
once the vehicle is in a designated parking location at Sheriff s Office Headquarters, the
West Valley Patrol Division station, the Transit Patrol Division station, or the South
County Patrol Division station. Dash-Cam data maintained on the secured server or in a
secured cloud shall be encrypted and require a usemame and password to access.
Data (including copies) downloaded onto a disc or electronic storage device shall be
retained in a locked, secure facility.
6. Data Retention
All data, including data stored on Axon's Evidence Management System, not downloaded
or retained as part of a criminal or administrative investigation, or as evidence in a civil suit,
or for training pu{poses, shall be deleted no later than 12 months after the recording occurred,
Data may be downloaded onto an electronic storage device only for the purposes of a specific
criminal or administrative investigation, or as evidence in a civil suit, or for training purposes.
Such data shall be maintained and retained in accordance with applicable state or federal
evidentiary laws. Data retained for a specific criminal or administrative investigation, or
for a civil suit shall be retained only for the duration of a specific case and shall be deleted
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Surveillance Use Policy - In-Car Video Recording System ("Dash Cam System")Page 2 of 4
October 2019
7or destroyed at the closing of the case in compliance with legal retention requirements, or
in the absence of a legal retention requirement, retention shall not exceed one year after
the closing of the case. Data downloaded for training purposes shall be retained only as
long as it is deemed by the SherifPs Training Unit Captain to have training value. Such
training data shall be deleted as soon as practical and no longer than 90 days once it is
determined to no longer hold training value.
Public Access
The public does not have access to view data directly from the mounted Dash-Cam System.