Federal Police Camera and Accountability Act of 2019

I 116TH CONGRESS 1ST SESSION H. R. 3364 To require uniformed Federal police officers to wear body cameras and have dashboard cameras in marked vehicles. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES JUNE 19, 2019 Ms. NORTON (for herself and Mr. BEYER) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To require uniformed Federal police officers to wear body cameras and have dashboard cameras in marked vehicles. 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 of 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 2 •HR 3364 IH SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL UNIFORMED OFFI- 1 CERS REGARDING THE USE OF BODY CAM- 2 ERAS. 3 (a) Uniformed officers with the authority to conduct 4 searches and make arrests shall wear a body camera. Such 5 body cameras shall— 6 (1) have a field of view at least as broad as the 7 officer’s vision; and 8 (2) be worn in a manner that maximizes the 9 camera’s ability to capture video footage of the offi- 10 cer’s activities. 11 (b) Both the video and audio recording functions of 12 the body camera shall be activated whenever a uniformed 13 officer is responding to a call for service or at the initiation 14 of any other law enforcement or investigative encounter 15 between a uniformed officer and a member of the public, 16 except that when an immediate threat to the officer’s life 17 or safety makes activating the camera impossible or dan- 18 gerous, the officer shall activate the camera at the first 19 reasonable opportunity to do so. The body camera shall 20 not be deactivated until the encounter has fully concluded 21 and the uniformed officer leaves the scene. 22 (c) A uniformed officer who is wearing a body camera 23 shall notify any subject of the recording that he or she 24 is being recorded by a body camera as close to the incep- 25 tion of the encounter as is reasonably possible. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 3 •HR 3364 IH (d) Notwithstanding the requirements of subsection 1 (b), the following shall apply to the use of a body camera: 2 (1) Prior to entering a private residence with- 3 out a warrant or in non-exigent circumstances, a 4 uniformed officer shall ask the occupant if the occu- 5 pant wants the officer to discontinue use of the offi- 6 cer’s body camera. If the occupant responds affirma- 7 tively, the uniformed officer shall immediately dis- 8 continue use of the body camera. The officer shall 9 record such communication using the officer’s body 10 camera. 11 (2) When interacting with an apparent crime 12 victim, a uniformed officer shall, as soon as prac- 13 ticable, ask the apparent crime victim if the appar- 14 ent crime victim wants the officer to discontinue use 15 of the officer’s body camera. If the apparent crime 16 victim responds affirmatively, the uniformed officer 17 shall immediately discontinue use of the body cam- 18 era. 19 (3) When interacting with a person seeking to 20 anonymously report a crime or assist in an ongoing 21 law enforcement investigation, a uniformed officer 22 shall, as soon as practicable, ask the person seeking 23 to remain anonymous, if the person seeking to re- 24 main anonymous wants the officer to discontinue use 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 4 •HR 3364 IH of the officer’s body camera. If the person seeking 1 to remain anonymous responds affirmatively, the 2 uniformed officer shall immediately discontinue use 3 of the body camera. 4 (e) All law enforcement offers to discontinue the use 5 of a body camera made pursuant to subsection (d), and 6 the responses thereto, shall be recorded by the body cam- 7 era prior to discontinuing use of the body camera. 8 (f) Body cameras shall not be used to gather intel- 9 ligence information based on First Amendment protected 10 speech, associations, or religion, or to record activity that 11 is unrelated to a response to a call for service or a law 12 enforcement or investigative encounter between a law en- 13 forcement officer and a member of the public, and shall 14 not be equipped with or subjected to any real time facial 15 recognition technologies. 16 (g) Officers shall not be required to use body cameras 17 during investigative or enforcement encounters with the 18 public in the case that— 19 (1) recording would risk the safety of a con- 20 fidential informant, citizen informant, or undercover 21 officer; 22 (2) recording would pose a serious risk to na- 23 tional security; or 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 5 •HR 3364 IH (3) the officer is a military police officer, a 1 member of the United States Army Criminal Inves- 2 tigation Command, or a protective detail assigned to 3 a Federal or foreign official while performing his or 4 her duties. 5 (h) Uniformed officers shall not activate a body cam- 6 era while on the grounds of any public, private or paro- 7 chial elementary or secondary school, except when re- 8 sponding to an imminent threat to life or health. 9 (i) Body camera video footage shall be retained by 10 the law enforcement agency that employs the officer whose 11 camera captured the footage, or an authorized agent 12 thereof, for 6 months after the date it was recorded, after 13 which time such footage shall be permanently deleted. 14 (1) During the 6-month retention period, the 15 following persons shall have the right to inspect the 16 body camera footage: 17 (A) Any person who is a subject of body 18 camera video footage, and their designated legal 19 counsel. 20 (B) A parent of a minor subject of body 21 camera video footage, and their designated legal 22 counsel. 23 (C) The spouse, next of kin, or legally au- 24 thorized designee of a deceased subject of body 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 6 •HR 3364 IH camera video footage, and their designated legal 1 counsel. 2 (D) A uniformed officer whose body cam- 3 era recorded the video footage, and their des- 4 ignated legal counsel, subject to the limitations 5 and restrictions in this Act. 6 (E) The superior officer of a uniformed of- 7 ficer whose body camera recorded the video 8 footage, subject to the limitations and restric- 9 tions in this Act. 10 (F) Any defense counsel who claims, pur- 11 suant to a written affidavit, to have a reason- 12 able basis for believing a video may contain evi- 13 dence that exculpates a client. 14 (2) The right to inspect subject to subsection 15 (j)(1) shall not include the right to possess a copy 16 of the body camera video footage, unless the release 17 of the body camera footage is otherwise authorized 18 by this Act or by another applicable law. 19 (3) When a body camera fails to capture some 20 or all of the audio or video of an incident due to 21 malfunction, displacement of camera, or any other 22 cause, any audio or video footage that is captured 23 shall be treated the same as any other body camera 24 audio or video footage under the law. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 7 •HR 3364 IH (j) Notwithstanding the retention and deletion re- 1 quirements in subsection (i): 2 (1) Video footage shall be automatically re- 3 tained for no less than 3 years if the video footage 4 captures an interaction or event involving— 5 (A) any use of force; or 6 (B) an encounter about which a complaint 7 has been registered by a subject of the video 8 footage. 9 (2) Body camera video footage shall also be re- 10 tained for no less than 3 years if a longer retention 11 period is voluntarily requested by— 12 (A) the uniformed officer whose body cam- 13 era recorded the video footage, if that officer 14 reasonably asserts the video footage has evi- 15 dentiary or exculpatory value in an ongoing in- 16 vestigation; 17 (B) any uniformed officer who is a subject 18 of the video footage, if that officer reasonably 19 asserts the video footage has evidentiary or ex- 20 culpatory value; 21 (C) any superior officer of a uniformed of- 22 ficer whose body camera recorded the video 23 footage or who is a subject of the video footage, 24 if that superior officer reasonably asserts the 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 8 •HR 3364 IH video footage has evidentiary or exculpatory 1 value; 2 (D) any uniformed officer, if the video 3 footage is being retained solely and exclusively 4 for police training purposes; 5 (E) any member of the public who is a 6 subject of the video footage; 7 (F) any parent or legal guardian of a 8 minor who is a subject of the video footage; or 9 (G) a deceased subject’s spouse, next of 10 kin, or legally authorized designee. 11 (k) To effectuate subsections (j)(2)(E), (j)(2)(F), and 12 (j)(2)(G), any member of the public who is a subject of 13 video footage, the parent or legal guardian of a minor who 14 is a subject of the video footage, or a deceased subject’s 15 next of kin or legally authorized designee, shall be per- 16 mitted to review the specific video footage in question in 17 order to make a determination as to whether they will vol- 18 untarily request it be subjected to a 3-year retention pe- 19 riod. 20 (l) All video footage of an interaction or event cap- 21 tured by a body camera, if that interaction or event is 22 identified with reasonable specificity and requested by a 23 member of the public, shall be provided to the person or 24 entity making the request in accordance with the proce- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 9 •HR 3364 IH dures for requesting and providing government records set 1 forth in the section 552a of title 5, United States Code. 2 (1) Notwithstanding the public release require- 3 ments in this subsection, the following categories of 4 video footage shall not be released to the public in 5 the absence of express written permission from the 6 non-law enforcement subjects of the video footage— 7 (A) video footage not subject to a min- 8 imum 3-year retention period pursuant to sub- 9 section (j); and 10 (B) video footage that is subject to a min- 11 imum 3-year retention period solely and exclu- 12 sively pursuant to subsection (j)(1)(B) or (j)(2). 13 (2) Notwithstanding any time periods estab- 14 lished for acknowledging and responding to records 15 requests in section 552a of title 5, United States 16 Code, responses to requests for video footage that is 17 subject to a minimum 3-year retention period pursu- 18 ant to subsection (j)(1)(A), where a subject of the 19 video footage is recorded being killed, shot by a fire- 20 arm, or grievously injured, shall be prioritized and 21 the requested video footage shall be provided as ex- 22 peditiously as possible, but in no circumstances later 23 than 5 days following receipt of the request. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 10 •HR 3364 IH (3) Whenever doing so is necessary to protect 1 personal privacy, the right to a fair trial, the iden- 2 tity of a confidential source or crime victim, or the 3 life or physical safety of any person appearing in 4 video footage, redaction technology may be used to 5 obscure the face and other personally identifying 6 characteristics of that person, including the tone of 7 the person’s voice, provided the redaction does not 8 interfere with a viewer’s ability to fully, completely, 9 and accurately comprehend the events captured on 10 the video footage. The following apply to such 11 redactions: 12 (A) When redaction is performed on video 13 footage pursuant to this paragraph, an uned- 14 ited, original version of the video footage shall 15 be retained pursuant to the requirements of 16 subsections (i) and (j). 17 (B) Except pursuant to the rules for the 18 redaction of video footage set forth in this sub- 19 section or where it is otherwise expressly au- 20 thorized by this Act, no other editing or alter- 21 ation of video footage, including a reduction of 22 the video footage’s resolution, shall be per- 23 mitted. 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 11 •HR 3364 IH (4) The provisions governing the production of 1 body camera video footage to the public in this Act 2 shall take precedence over all other State and local 3 laws, rules, and regulations to the contrary. 4 (m) Body camera video footage may not be withheld 5 from the public on the basis that it is an investigatory 6 record or was compiled for law enforcement purposes 7 where any person under investigation or whose conduct 8 is under review is a police officer or other law enforcement 9 employee and the video footage relates to that person’s 10 on-the-job conduct. 11 (n) Any video footage retained beyond 6 months sole- 12 ly and exclusively pursuant to subsection (j)(2)(D) shall 13 not be admissible as evidence in any criminal or civil legal 14 or administrative proceeding. 15 (o) No government agency or official, or law enforce- 16 ment agency, officer, or official may publicly disclose, re- 17 lease, or share body camera video footage unless— 18 (1) doing so is expressly authorized pursuant to 19 this Act or another applicable law; or 20 (2) the video footage is subject to public release 21 pursuant to subsection (l), and not exempted from 22 public release pursuant to subsection (l)(1). 23 (p) No uniformed officer shall review or receive an 24 accounting of any body camera video footage that is sub- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 00:07 Jun 25, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H3364.IH H3364 lotter on DSK3G9T082PROD with BILLS 12 •HR 3364 IH ject to a minimum 3-year retention period pursuant to 1 subsection (j)(1) prior to completing any required initial 2 reports, statements, and interviews regarding the recorded 3 event, unless doing [Text truncated for display. 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