Suffolk lawmakers weigh bill requiring businesses to hand over video quickly

Suffolk lawmakers have put off a vote on a bill that would force covered businesses to preserve and turn over surveillance video within 24 hours after a felony on their property, a push revived by the Christmas Day 2025 stabbing that killed 23-year-old CVS employee Edeedson “Joshy” Ciné Jr. in Lindenhurst. The measure, sponsored by Legislator Jason Richberg of West Babylon, was on the Suffolk County Legislature’s May 12 agenda in Riverhead, and Newsday reported the chamber tabled the camera-access bill on May 13, leaving the fight unresolved for now.

For Suffolk business owners, the bill’s reach is broad. The county draft defines a “covered business” as a commercial establishment that employs at least 10 people, or is open to the public, has a security camera system and operates from a fixed location. If a felony occurs on the premises, the business would have to preserve relevant footage and provide it to the Suffolk County Police Department, the Sheriff’s Office or a town or village police department within 24 hours of the request. The proposal also sets civil fines of $1,000 for a first offense and $2,500 for later violations, creating a compliance deadline that could hit retailers, pharmacies, restaurants and other storefronts where investigators often need to know who entered, who left and what happened in the minutes around a violent crime.

The debate sharpened after Suffolk County police said CVS took about 18 hours to provide internal video from the Lindenhurst store on East Montauk Highway, while CVS said it turned over the footage after packaging it in the format detectives requested. The company denied delaying evidence, but police criticism, including public comments from Commissioner Kevin Catalina, turned the dispute into a wider argument over whether a business can slow-walk evidence in a homicide probe and whether the county should answer that with a mandatory turnover rule.

A separate bill in Albany, the Edeedson “Joshy” Ciné, Jr. Transparency Act, sponsored by state Sen. Monica R. Martinez and Assemblyman Kwani B. O’Pharrow, would go further. It would require businesses with relevant surveillance footage to immediately release it to law enforcement on a formal written request, without a warrant or subpoena, while giving businesses up to 24 hours to review the request with counsel and allowing them to seek a court order if release would violate legally protected rights. The state bill also carries penalties, including civil fines up to $100,000, showing the same tension Suffolk is wrestling with: faster access for detectives after a violent felony, or a wider police reach into private surveillance without a warrant.