| 12 | 13 | | A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1 |
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| 13 | 14 | | AN ACT TO PROHIBIT THE RELEASE OF BOOKING PHOTOGRAPHS. 2 |
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| 14 | 15 | | The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 3 |
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| 15 | 16 | | SECTION 1. G.S. 132-1.4 reads as rewritten: 4 |
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| 16 | 17 | | "§ 132-1.4. Criminal investigations; intelligence information records; Innocence Inquiry 5 |
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| 17 | 18 | | Commission records. 6 |
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| 18 | 19 | | … 7 |
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| 19 | 20 | | (b) As used in this section: 8 |
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| 20 | 21 | | (1) "Records Records of criminal investigations" means all investigations. – All 9 |
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| 21 | 22 | | records or any information that pertains to a person or group of persons that is 10 |
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| 22 | 23 | | compiled by public law enforcement agencies for the purpose of attempting 11 |
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| 23 | 24 | | to prevent or solve violations of the law, including information derived from 12 |
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| 24 | 25 | | witnesses, laboratory tests, surveillance, investigators, confidential 13 |
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| 25 | 26 | | informants, photographs, and measurements. The term also includes any 14 |
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| 26 | 27 | | records, worksheets, reports, or analyses prepared or conducted by the North 15 |
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| 27 | 28 | | Carolina State Crime Laboratory at the request of any public law enforcement 16 |
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| 28 | 29 | | agency in connection with a criminal investigation. 17 |
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| 29 | 30 | | (2) "Records Records of criminal intelligence information" means records 18 |
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| 30 | 31 | | information. – Records or information that pertain to a person or group of 19 |
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| 31 | 32 | | persons that is compiled by a public law enforcement agency in an effort to 20 |
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| 32 | 33 | | anticipate, prevent, or monitor possible violations of the law. 21 |
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| 33 | 34 | | (3) "Public Public law enforcement agency" means a agency. – A municipal 22 |
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| 34 | 35 | | police department, a county police department, a sheriff's office, a company 23 |
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| 35 | 36 | | police agency commissioned by the Attorney General pursuant to G.S. 74E-1, 24 |
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| 36 | 37 | | et seq., and any State or local agency, force, department, or unit responsible 25 |
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| 37 | 38 | | for investigating, preventing, or solving violations of the law. 26 |
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| 38 | 39 | | (4) "Violations Violations of the law" means crimes law. – Crimes and offenses 27 |
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| 39 | 40 | | that are prosecutable in the criminal courts in this State or the United States 28 |
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| 40 | 41 | | and infractions as defined in G.S. 14-3.1. 29 |
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| 41 | 42 | | (5) "Complaining witness" means an Complaining witness. – An alleged victim 30 |
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| 42 | 43 | | or other person who reports a violation or apparent violation of the law to a 31 |
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| 43 | 44 | | public law enforcement agency. 32 |
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| 44 | 45 | | (6) Booking photograph. – An image of an individual taken by an arresting public 33 |
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| 45 | 46 | | law enforcement agency for the purpose of identification or taken when the 34 |
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| 46 | 47 | | individual was processed into a jail. 35 |
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| 49 | 54 | | (n) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, and except as otherwise provided in this 1 |
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| 50 | 55 | | subsection, booking photographs are confidential, are not public records as defined in G.S. 132-1, 2 |
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| 51 | 56 | | and public law enforcement agencies are prohibited from publishing, distributing, or releasing 3 |
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| 52 | 57 | | booking photographs. A public law enforcement agency may release a booking photograph only 4 |
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| 53 | 58 | | when the booking photograph is a record of criminal investigation related to a missing person 5 |
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| 54 | 59 | | report. A court of competent jurisdiction may order the release of a booking photograph upon a 6 |
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| 55 | 60 | | showing by the person requesting disclosure that the disclosure is actually necessary for 7 |
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| 56 | 61 | | immediate law enforcement needs." 8 |
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| 57 | 62 | | SECTION 2. This act becomes effective October 1, 2025. 9 |
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