Federal

Federal Police Camera and Accountability Act

Source: Congress.gov · 5,285 words in original text

What This Bill Does

This bill requires federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras while performing their duties. It also requires federal law enforcement agencies to install video recording equipment in patrol vehicles. The bill sets rules for when cameras must record, who can view the footage, and how long agencies must keep the recordings. ##

Who It Affects

- Federal law enforcement officers - Federal law enforcement agencies - Members of the public who interact with federal law enforcement - Crime victims and witnesses who speak with federal officers - People arrested or detained by federal law enforcement - The general public requesting access to body camera footage ##

Key Provisions

- Federal law enforcement officers must wear body cameras with a field of view at least as broad as the officer's vision and positioned to capture the officer's activities (Sec. 2(b)) - Officers must activate both video and audio recording when responding to calls for service or conducting law enforcement stops, except when an immediate threat to the officer's life makes it impossible or dangerous (Sec. 2(c)) - Officers must notify people being recorded as close to the start of an interaction as reasonably possible (Sec. 2(d)) - Body camera footage must be retained for six months, then permanently deleted, with exceptions for footage involving use of force or complaints, which must be kept for at least three years (Sec. 2(i) and (j)) - Members of the public can inspect and potentially receive copies of footage according to federal records request procedures, with some exceptions for private residences and crime victims who request the camera be turned off (Sec. 2(l)) - Federal law enforcement agencies must install in-car video recording equipment in all patrol vehicles capable of recording for at least ten hours and capturing audio (Sec. 3(b)) - In-car recordings must be retained for at least 90 days (Sec. 3(c)) - Body cameras cannot use facial recognition or biometric surveillance technology (Sec. 2(g) and Sec. 4) ##

What Changes

If this bill becomes law, federal law enforcement officers will be required to wear functioning body cameras and activate them during law enforcement interactions with the public. Federal agencies will need to purchase and install video recording equipment in patrol vehicles. Agencies will establish procedures for storing footage for specified periods and making it available to the public upon request. Officers will face disciplinary action if they fail to record required interactions or intentionally interfere with cameras. The government cannot use body camera footage recorded in violation of this law as evidence against members of the public in court. ##

Important Definitions

The bill defines "minor" as anyone under 18 years old. The bill defines "subject of the video footage" as any identifiable federal law enforcement officer, suspect, victim, detainee, witness, injured party, or similar person who appears on a body camera recording, but not people who only briefly appear in the background. The bill defines "facial recognition or other biometric surveillance" as an automated or partially automated process that captures or analyzes physical characteristics like facial features or fingerprints to identify someone or create surveillance information about them. The bill defines "enforcement or investigative stop" as actions by federal officers related to their law enforcement duties, including traffic stops, pedestrian stops, abandoned vehicle contacts, motorist assists, commercial vehicle stops, roadside safety checks, requests for identification, or responses to emergency assistance calls. ##

Effective Date

Not specified in bill text

I 118TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 843 To require Federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, and for other purposes. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FEBRUARY 6, 2023 Ms. NORTON (for herself and Mr. BEYER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require Federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, and for other purposes. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa- 1 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Police Camera 4 and Accountability Act’’. 5 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 6 OFFICERS REGARDING THE USE OF BODY 7 CAMERAS. 8 (a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 9 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 843 IH (1) MINOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means any in- 1 dividual under 18 years of age. 2 (2) SUBJECT OF THE VIDEO FOOTAGE.—The 3 term ‘‘subject of the video footage’’— 4 (A) means any identifiable Federal law en- 5 forcement officer or any identifiable suspect, 6 victim, detainee, conversant, injured party, or 7 other similarly situated person who appears on 8 the body camera recording; and 9 (B) does not include people who only inci- 10 dentally appear on the recording. 11 (3) VIDEO FOOTAGE.—The term ‘‘video foot- 12 age’’ means any images or audio recorded by a body 13 camera. 14 (4) FACIAL RECOGNITION OR OTHER BIOMET- 15 RIC SURVEILLANCE.—The term ‘‘facial recognition 16 or other biometric surveillance’’ means an automated 17 or semiautomated process that captures or analyzes 18 biometric data of an individual to identify or assist 19 in identifying an individual or an automated or 20 semiautomated process that generates, or assists in 21 generating, surveillance information about an indi- 22 vidual based on biometric data. 23 (b) REQUIREMENT TO WEAR BODY CAMERA.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 843 IH (1) IN GENERAL.—Federal law enforcement of- 1 ficers shall wear a body camera. 2 (2) REQUIREMENT FOR BODY CAMERA.—A 3 body camera required under paragraph (1) shall— 4 (A) have a field of view at least as broad 5 as the officer’s vision; and 6 (B) be worn in a manner that maximizes 7 the camera’s ability to capture video footage of 8 the officer’s activities. 9 (c) REQUIREMENT TO ACTIVATE.— 10 (1) IN GENERAL.—Both the video and audio re- 11 cording functions of the body camera shall be acti- 12 vated whenever a Federal law enforcement officer is 13 responding to a call for service or at the initiation 14 of any other law enforcement or investigative stop 15 (as such term is defined in section 3) between a 16 Federal law enforcement officer and a member of 17 the public, except that when an immediate threat to 18 the officer’s life or safety makes activating the cam- 19 era impossible or dangerous, the officer shall acti- 20 vate the camera at the first reasonable opportunity 21 to do so. 22 (2) ALLOWABLE DEACTIVATION.—The body 23 camera shall not be deactivated until the stop has 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 843 IH fully concluded and the Federal law enforcement of- 1 ficer leaves the scene. 2 (d) NOTIFICATION OF SUBJECT OF RECORDING.—A 3 Federal law enforcement officer who is wearing a body 4 camera shall notify any subject of the recording that he 5 or she is being recorded by a body camera as close to the 6 inception of the stop as is reasonably possible. 7 (e) REQUIREMENTS.—Notwithstanding subsection 8 (c), the following shall apply to the use of a body camera: 9 (1) Prior to entering a private residence with- 10 out a warrant or in non-exigent circumstances, a 11 Federal law enforcement officer shall ask the occu- 12 pant if the occupant wants the officer to discontinue 13 use of the officer’s body camera. If the occupant re- 14 sponds affirmatively, the Federal law enforcement 15 officer shall immediately discontinue use of the body 16 camera. 17 (2) When interacting with an apparent crime 18 victim, a Federal law enforcement officer shall, as 19 soon as practicable, ask the apparent crime victim if 20 the apparent crime victim wants the officer to dis- 21 continue use of the officer’s body camera. If the ap- 22 parent crime victim responds affirmatively, the Fed- 23 eral law enforcement officer shall immediately dis- 24 continue use of the body camera. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 843 IH (3) When interacting with a person seeking to 1 anonymously report a crime or assist in an ongoing 2 law enforcement investigation, a Federal law en- 3 forcement officer shall, as soon as practicable, ask 4 the person seeking to remain anonymous, if the per- 5 son seeking to remain anonymous wants the officer 6 to discontinue use of the officer’s body camera. If 7 the person seeking to remain anonymous responds 8 affirmatively, the Federal law enforcement officer 9 shall immediately discontinue use of the body cam- 10 era. 11 (f) RECORDING OF OFFERS TO DISCONTINUE USE 12 OF BODY CAMERA.—Each offer of a Federal law enforce- 13 ment officer to discontinue the use of a body camera made 14 pursuant to subsection (e), and the responses thereto, 15 shall be recorded by the body camera prior to dis- 16 continuing use of the body camera. 17 (g) LIMITATIONS ON USE OF BODY CAMERA.—Body 18 cameras shall not be used to gather intelligence informa- 19 tion based on First Amendment protected speech, associa- 20 tions, or religion, or to record activity that is unrelated 21 to a response to a call for service or a law enforcement 22 or investigative stop between a law enforcement officer 23 and a member of the public, and shall not be equipped 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 843 IH with or employ any facial recognition or other biometric 1 surveillance technologies. 2 (h) EXCEPTIONS.—Federal law enforcement offi- 3 cers— 4 (1) shall not be required to use body cameras 5 during investigative or enforcement stops with the 6 public in the case that— 7 (A) recording would risk the safety of a 8 confidential informant, citizen informant, or un- 9 dercover officer; 10 (B) recording would pose a serious risk to 11 national security; or 12 (C) the officer is a military police officer, 13 a member of the United States Army Criminal 14 Investigation Command, or a protective detail 15 assigned to a Federal or foreign official while 16 performing his or her duties; and 17 (2) shall not activate a body camera while on 18 the grounds of any public, private, or parochial ele- 19 mentary or secondary school, except when respond- 20 ing to an imminent threat to life or health. 21 (i) RETENTION OF FOOTAGE.— 22 (1) IN GENERAL.—Body camera video footage 23 shall be retained by the law enforcement agency that 24 employs the officer whose camera captured the foot- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 843 IH age, or an authorized agent thereof, for 6 months 1 after the date it was recorded, after which time such 2 footage shall be permanently deleted. 3 (2) RIGHT TO INSPECT.—During the 6-month 4 retention period described in paragraph (1), the fol- 5 lowing persons shall have the right to inspect the 6 body camera footage: 7 (A) Any person who is a subject of body 8 camera video footage, and their designated legal 9 counsel. 10 (B) A parent or legal guardian of a minor 11 subject of body camera video footage, and their 12 designated legal counsel. 13 (C) The spouse, next of kin, or legally au- 14 thorized designee of a deceased subject of body 15 camera video footage, and their designated legal 16 counsel. 17 (D) A Federal law enforcement officer 18 whose body camera recorded the video footage, 19 and their designated legal counsel, subject to 20 the limitations and restrictions in this part. 21 (E) The superior officer of a Federal law 22 enforcement officer whose body camera re- 23 corded the video footage, subject to the limita- 24 tions and restrictions in this part. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 843 IH (F) Any defense counsel who claims, pur- 1 suant to a written affidavit, to have a reason- 2 able basis for believing a video may contain evi- 3 dence that exculpates a client. 4 (3) LIMITATION.—The right to inspect subject 5 to subsection (j)(1) shall not include the right to 6 possess a copy of the body camera video footage, un- 7 less the release of the body camera footage is other- 8 wise authorized by this part or by another applicable 9 law. When a body camera fails to capture some or 10 all of the audio or video of an incident due to mal- 11 function, displacement of camera, or any other 12 cause, any audio or video footage that is captured 13 shall be treated the same as any other body camera 14 audio or video footage under this Act. 15 (j) ADDITIONAL RETENTION REQUIREMENTS.—Not- 16 withstanding the retention and deletion requirements in 17 subsection (i), the following shall apply to body camera 18 video footage under this Act: 19 (1) Body camera video footage shall be auto- 20 matically retained for not less than 3 years if the 21 video footage captures an interaction or event involv- 22 ing— 23 (A) any use of force; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 843 IH (B) a stop about which a complaint has 1 been registered by a subject of the video foot- 2 age. 3 (2) Body camera video footage shall be retained 4 for not less than 3 years if a longer retention period 5 is voluntarily requested by— 6 (A) the Federal law enforcement officer 7 whose body camera recorded the video footage, 8 if that officer reasonably asserts the video foot- 9 age has evidentiary or exculpatory value in an 10 ongoing investigation; 11 (B) any Federal law enforcement officer 12 who is a subject of the video footage, if that of- 13 ficer reasonably asserts the video footage has 14 evidentiary or exculpatory value; 15 (C) any superior officer of a Federal law 16 enforcement officer whose body camera re- 17 corded the video footage or who is a subject of 18 the video footage, if that superior officer rea- 19 sonably asserts the video footage has evi- 20 dentiary or exculpatory value; 21 (D) any Federal law enforcement officer, if 22 the video footage is being retained solely and 23 exclusively for police training purposes; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 843 IH (E) any member of the public who is a 1 subject of the video footage; 2 (F) any parent or legal guardian of a 3 minor who is a subject of the video footage; or 4 (G) a deceased subject’s spouse, next of 5 kin, or legally authorized designee. 6 (k) PUBLIC REVIEW.—For purposes of subpara- 7 graphs (E), (F), and (G) of subsection (j)(2), any member 8 of the public who is a subject of video footage, the parent 9 or legal guardian of a minor who is a subject of the video 10 footage, or a deceased subject’s next of kin or legally au- 11 thorized designee, shall be permitted to review the specific 12 video footage in question in order to make a determination 13 as to whether they will voluntarily request it be subjected 14 to a minimum 3-year retention period. 15 (l) DISCLOSURE.— 16 (1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para- 17 graph (2), all video footage of an interaction or 18 event captured by a body camera, if that interaction 19 or event is identified with reasonable specificity and 20 requested by a member of the public, shall be pro- 21 vided to the person or entity making the request in 22 accordance with the procedures for requesting and 23 providing government records set forth in the section 24 552a of title 5, United States Code. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 843 IH (2) EXCEPTIONS.—The following categories of 1 video footage shall not be released to the public in 2 the absence of express written permission from the 3 non-law enforcement subjects of the video footage: 4 (A) Video footage not subject to a min- 5 imum 3-year retention period pursuant to sub- 6 section (j). 7 (B) Video footage that is subject to a min- 8 imum 3-year retention period solely and exclu- 9 sively pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) or (2) of 10 subsection (j). 11 (3) PRIORITY OF REQUESTS.—Notwithstanding 12 any time periods established for acknowledging and 13 responding to records requests in section 552a of 14 title 5, United States Code, responses to requests for 15 video footage that is subject to a minimum 3-year 16 retention period pursuant to subsection (j)(1)(A), 17 where a subject of the video footage is recorded 18 being killed, shot by a firearm, or grievously injured, 19 shall be prioritized and, if approved, the requested 20 video footage shall be provided as expeditiously as 21 possible, but in no circumstances later than 5 days 22 following receipt of the request. 23 (4) USE OF REDACTION TECHNOLOGY.— 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:21 Mar 01, 2023 Jkt 039200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H843.IH H843 kjohnson on DSK79L0C42PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 843 IH (A) IN GENERAL.—Whenever doing so is 1 necessary to protect personal privacy, the right 2 to a fair trial, the identity of a confidential 3 source or crime victim, or the life or physical 4 safety of any person appearing in video footage, 5 redaction technology may be used to obscure 6 the face and other personally identifying char- 7 acteristics of that person, including the tone of 8 the person’s voice, provided the redaction does 9 not interfere with a viewer’s ability to fully, 10 completely, and accurately comprehend the 11 events captured on the video footage. 12 (B) REQUIREMENTS.—The following re- 13 quirements shall apply to redactions under sub- 14 paragraph (A): 15 (i) When redaction is performed on 16 video footage pursua [Text truncated for display. Full text available on Congress.gov.]

Important: This plain English summary was generated by AI and is provided for informational purposes only. It is not legal advice. Always consult the official bill text on Congress.gov or a qualified attorney for legal matters.