Vermont Police Body Camera Laws: Mandate & Access

Vermont requires only Vermont State Police Field Force officers to wear a body camera, under 20 V.S.A. § 1819. Local departments face no bodycam mandate at all, though any agency that chooses to use cameras must follow a statewide model policy, and footage access runs through Vermont's general public records law.

This guide is part of our Police Bodycam Laws by State series.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses Vermont law governing police body-worn cameras: the State Police Field Force mandate under 20 V.S.A. § 1819, the model-policy requirement under § 2369, and public access to footage under Vermont's general Public Records Act. It does not address a bystander's right to record on-duty police, a different legal question covered in our guide to recording laws.

Does Vermont require police to wear body cameras?

Only in a narrow slice of policing. Under 20 V.S.A. § 1819, the Vermont Department of Public Safety must equip every trooper assigned to the State Police Field Force Division, the troopers who patrol Vermont's roads and respond to calls for service, with a body camera or similar video recording device whenever they routinely deal with the public. That requirement took effect October 2, 2020, after years of internal debate inside the Vermont State Police over cost and implementation, according to VTDigger. It does not extend to VSP detectives, administrative staff, or specialized units outside the Field Force. Far more significant for most Vermonters: no statute requires any of Vermont's municipal police departments, county sheriffs, or the Capitol Police to use body cameras at all. Whether a local department has cameras, and how many of its officers wear them, is a decision made entirely at the local level, subject to local budgets.

"The Department shall ensure that all members assigned to the Vermont State Police Field Force Division who routinely engage with members of the public related to the enforcement of laws are equipped with a body camera or other video recording device on his or her person." (20 V.S.A. § 1819)

What is Vermont's model body camera policy, and who has to follow it?

20 V.S.A. § 2369 does not require any agency to buy body cameras, but it controls every agency that decides to. Any Vermont law enforcement agency, state or local, that authorizes its officers to use body cameras must adopt, follow, and enforce the model body-worn camera policy set by the Vermont Criminal Justice Council, a requirement in effect since January 1, 2022. The Council formally voted to accept the current version of that policy at its December 7, 2022 meeting, according to the Vermont Criminal Justice Council. Agencies may add their own stricter provisions, but a local policy that falls below the model's minimum requirements is void. The model policy fills in the operational detail the statute itself leaves out: baseline rules for when officers activate and deactivate cameras, how footage is stored, and how an agency should respond to public-records requests for that footage.

How can the public get a copy of Vermont bodycam footage?

Vermont has not passed a bodycam-specific access statute, so requests for footage are handled the same way as any other police record: through the general Vermont Public Records Act, 1 V.S.A. §§ 315 to 320. The exemption agencies invoke most often is the law-enforcement-investigation exemption at § 317(c)(5)(A), which lets an agency withhold records connected to crime detection or investigation if disclosure could reasonably be expected to interfere with enforcement proceedings, deprive someone of a fair trial, identify a confidential source, expose investigative techniques, endanger someone's safety, or constitute an unwarranted invasion of personal privacy, according to Vermont's statutes portal. That exemption is not absolute. Section 317(c)(5)(B) requires records reflecting the initial arrest of a person, including any ticket, citation, or complaint issued for a traffic violation as that term is defined in 23 V.S.A. § 2302, and records reflecting the charge of a person, to remain public regardless of the investigation exemption. Once a case closes, or the interference rationale no longer applies, the balance tips back toward disclosure, though Vermont agencies retain broad day-to-day discretion in the meantime.

How long is Vermont bodycam footage kept?

Vermont sets no statewide bodycam retention period by statute. Retention instead runs on the same schedule used for other law-enforcement records, maintained by the Vermont State Archives and Records Administration and incorporated by reference into the Criminal Justice Council's model policy. In practice, this means retention length depends on the type of record: an ordinary traffic stop is treated differently from footage tied to a use-of-force incident, a citizen complaint, or an open prosecution, which an agency must hold as long as the underlying matter remains active. Vermonters researching a specific department's retention window should check that department's individual policy or contact its records custodian directly, since the statewide model sets a floor rather than a single fixed number of days.

Real-world test: the South Burlington ICE raid footage

Vermont's records-based approach to bodycam access was tested in March 2026. During a March 11 immigration enforcement operation in South Burlington that drew protesters and led to a confrontation between demonstrators and law enforcement, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, Vermont State Police, and South Burlington police were all on scene. Vermont Public filed public-records requests with the state police and the South Burlington and Burlington police departments seeking the bodycam footage. South Burlington police denied the request outright, citing a pending case that could deprive a person of a right to a fair trial, tracking the language of § 317(c)(5)(A); as of the report, the city had not yet responded to Vermont Public's appeal of that denial. Burlington police separately denied the request, also citing the fair-trial exemption, while interim police chief Shawn Burke told the Burlington City Council the department was withholding footage over an internal investigation into use-of-force complaints and a pending FBI request for the same material; Vermont Public appealed that denial, and Burlington's mayor, Emma Mulvaney-Stanak, upheld it, according to Vermont Public. Vermont State Police did not deny the request outright but said it needed additional time to collect and review the recordings. The episode shows how Vermont's fair-trial and investigation exemptions operate when a high-profile incident and an active case intersect: release is not automatic even when public interest in the footage is high.

Is a civilian allowed to record the police in Vermont?

That is the reverse question from the one this page answers, and Vermont law treats it differently. Recording an on-duty police officer performing public duties in a public place is generally protected activity, not something that requires the officer's consent under Vermont's wiretap statute. For the full analysis of that separate right, see Is It Illegal to Record Someone?

More Vermont Laws

• Vermont Data Privacy Laws
• Vermont Drone Laws
• Vermont Recording Laws