[gooseyman]

It can absolutely vary by department. However, the NYPD historically has set trends other departments follow.

From their Patrol Guide, below is what an officer is to do with video before their next tour of duty. My local department adopted this language almost verbatim.

These cameras are not upload and forget it. I'd encourage you to read on some of this as your comment "how would that even work" tells me your jaw is about to be on the floor when you read about the levels of red tape attached to these. To be clear, I'm pro camera and accept these costs of oversight. That doesn't mean the system cannot be improved.

Fun, but sarcastic idea: YouTube is filled with First Amendment Auditors. @AuditTheAudit has 818,495,408 views... let's let departments upload and have would be FA auditor viewers review, and if needed, tag videos for Internal Audit review. The People were going to give their time away anyhow, might as well save some fellow tax payers money... Wait, I take this back. I can see the officers now starting the body cam footage to talk about Better Help and Express VPN... never mind!

NYPD Patrol Guide 212-123: 16. Access the video management system on the Department Intranet or Department smartphone to classify videos based upon the nature of the event. a. Select one category for BWC video retention from the dropdown list in the following priority order: (1) Arrest, (2) Homicide, (3) Summons, (4) Investigative Encounter, and (5) Uncategorized. b. Document the nature of event from dropdown list (e.g., EDP, DV incident, home visit, etc.), (1) If the nature of the event cannot be selected from the dropdown list, enter a description of the event and include the associated ICAD number. c. If related to an arrest, enter the complete arrest number, beginning with the borough letter designation in the appropriate field, and/or d. If related to a Terry Stop/Level 3 Encounter not involving an arrest, enter the Stop Report number in the appropriate field. 17. Categorize all BWC videos by the end of next scheduled tour

Source: Linked PDF Page 5 https://www.nyc.gov/assets/nypd/downloads/pdf/public_informa...