Local police officers may use video cameras in the exercise of their duties. The law was promulgated by President Nicușor Dan
Video camera carried by a German policeman Photo: MARIJAN MURAT / AFP / Profimedia
President Nicusor Dan promulgated the law that allows local police officers to use portable photo-video-audio cameras in the exercise of their duties, informs Agerpres.
“The new regulation clearly establishes the situations in which these systems can be used in the public space, without the consent of the persons concerned, such as legitimation, detection of contraventions, the use of means of immobilization or interventions to protect life and public order”, writes the head of state, on Saturday, on Facebook.
According to him, as far as the circumstances allow, the citizens will be informed that they are registered, and the local authorities have the obligation to publicly communicate the equipping of the local police with such equipment.
The data is kept for a maximum of six months and then destroyed, except in cases where it constitutes evidence in a legal proceeding. To technically implement this new system, local public administrations will be able to access European funds.
This law contributes to increasing the transparency of local police activity and strengthening public safety, while offering a higher level of protection to both citizens and agents, says the president on Facebook.
The rules the police will have to follow
The Chamber of Deputies adopted the project, as a decision-making body, on December 17, 2025.
The draft law has as its regulatory object the completion of the Local Police Law no. 155/2010, with a new chapter: “The use of portable photo-audio-video recording means and the protection of personal data” – which authorizes the Local Police to use photo-audio-video recording means and implicitly to carry and use, during the exercise of their duties, portable BodyCam type photo-audio-video recording devices. The initiative aims to establish the express normative framework for this activity, defining the conditions, limits and guarantees in which the use of the means of registration can take place, only in accordance with the principles of personal data protection and respecting the rights and civil liberties of the persons concerned.
The Local Police Structures are obliged to communicate to the public the provision of local police officers with portable photo-audio-video recording means by displaying visible signs on their uniforms or equipment and by publishing the relevant information.
The recordings made by means of BodyCam devices are kept for a period of 6 months from the date of their acquisition, except for situations where they are used in a judicial procedure, in which case they follow the evidence regime. At the end of this term, the records are destroyed, through irreversible procedures, the project provides.
The local police officers assigned to use the portable photo-audio-video recording means or to access the personal data collected through them are trained on the personal data protection rules prior to the validation of use/access and, thereafter, at least once a year.
The National Authority for the Supervision of the Processing of Personal Data carries out, ex officio, a control of the data processing operations collected by the Local Police structures through the means of registration.
