Code enforcement seeks OK on bodycams as tense encounters rise

Taser International is now selling police departments the technology to store videos from body cameras.

Legislation awaiting its first hearing in the House and Senate would make it easier for local governments to equip code enforcement officers with body cameras.

Unlike the lukewarm embrace among law enforcement in Florida and elsewhere, the bills put forward by Rep. Bill Partington and Sen. Ana Maria Rodriguez (HB 281/SB 1104) aren’t likely to stir any controversy — they, and the linked public records bills (HB 1475/SB 1106), are fully supported by the Florida Association of Code Enforcement.

There is currently no state law prohibiting code enforcement officers from wearing body cameras, but no law explicitly authorizes it. Local governments need a statutory framework to address records retention requirements and ensure compliance with wiretapping laws. Without these legislative considerations, the goals of improving safety and accountability for code officers cannot be fully achieved. FACE, a trade organization representing 2,200 code enforcement personnel statewide, says that’s an important distinction.

Local governments seem to agree. Last year, Volusia officials floated the policy, but County Council shut it down during the exploratory phase citing the ambiguity — code enforcement officers aren’t law enforcement and thus are not afforded the same right to record others without consent.

Volusia Councilman Troy Kent offered a blunt bookend to the 2024 discussion: “This is problematic.”

The quest for clarity is in part due to a rise in dangerous, and in some cases potentially deadly, encounters between code enforcement and the general population. There is no readily available data on crimes perpetrated against code enforcement, but local media has spotlighted incidents in every pocket of Florida.

A sampling: A Biscayne Park was arrested for allegedly threatening to shoot an officer over a $25 fine in early February; two weeks later in Citrus County, code enforcement officers had handgun pulled on them while going investigate a complaint about excessive junk in someone’s front yard; and last week a Cape Coral code enforcement officer was berated with racial slurs on the job.

The incidents support FACE’s argument that this is a safety issue with no clear solution other than legislative intervention. Meanwhile, body cameras could boost code officer accountability, which may sway lawmakers who are usually reticent to upvote bills establishing new public records exemptions.

As of Tuesday, neither bill pairing has made a Committee agenda.