Police CAMERA Act of 2020

II 116TH CONGRESS 2D SESSION S. 4962 To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize a grant program to assist State and local law enforcement agencies in purchasing body-worn cameras and securely storing and maintaining recorded data for law enforcement officers. IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES DECEMBER 3, 2020 Mr. SCHATZ introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary A BILL To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to authorize a grant program to assist State and local law enforcement agencies in purchasing body-worn cameras and securely storing and maintaining recorded data for law enforcement officers. 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 ‘‘Police Creating Ac- 4 countability by Making Effective Recording Available Act 5 of 2020’’ or the ‘‘Police CAMERA Act of 2020’’. 6 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 4962 IS SEC. 2. MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM FOR LAW ENFORCE- 1 MENT BODY-WORN CAMERAS. 2 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 3 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is amended 4 by adding at the end the following: 5 ‘‘PART OO—MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM FOR 6 LAW ENFORCEMENT BODY-WORN CAMERAS 7 AND RECORDED DATA 8 ‘‘SEC. 3051. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 9 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau of 10 Justice Assistance (in this section referred to as the ‘Di- 11 rector’) may make grants to States, units of local govern- 12 ment, and Indian tribes to purchase or lease body-worn 13 cameras for use by State, local, and tribal law enforcement 14 officers (as defined in section 2503) and expenses related 15 to the implementation of a body-worn camera program in 16 order to— 17 ‘‘(1) deter excessive force, and unlawful stops, 18 searches, and arrests; 19 ‘‘(2) improve supervision, accountability, and 20 transparency of use of force by law enforcement offi- 21 cers; 22 ‘‘(3) assist in responding to complaints against 23 law enforcement officers; and 24 ‘‘(4) improve evidence collection, data collection, 25 and retention. 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 4962 IS ‘‘(b) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 1 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Grants awarded under this 2 part shall be 2 years in duration. 3 ‘‘(2) DISBURSEMENT OF GRANT AMOUNT.—In 4 disbursing a grant awarded to an entity under this 5 section— 6 ‘‘(A) upon awarding the grant to the enti- 7 ty, the Director shall disburse 50 percent of the 8 total grant amount to the entity; and 9 ‘‘(B) upon demonstration by the entity of 10 completion of the requirements in subsection 11 (d)(1), the Director shall disburse the remain- 12 ing 50 percent of the total grant amount to the 13 entity. 14 ‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under this 15 section shall be— 16 ‘‘(1) distributed directly to the State, unit of 17 local government, or Indian tribe; and 18 ‘‘(2) used solely for— 19 ‘‘(A) the purchase or lease of body-worn 20 cameras and voice recorders for law enforce- 21 ment officers authorized to work in the jurisdic- 22 tion of the grantee, including use while on pa- 23 trol or during a secondary employment; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 4962 IS ‘‘(B) any costs relating to the implementa- 1 tion of a body-worn camera program, including 2 law enforcement officer training or the storage, 3 maintenance, or security of recorded data col- 4 lected under a body-worn camera program; or 5 ‘‘(C) implementing policies or procedures 6 to comply with the requirements described in 7 subsection (d). 8 ‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.— 9 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall award a 10 grant under this section to a State, unit of local gov- 11 ernment, or Indian tribe requesting the grant that 12 commits to, not later than 30 days after the date on 13 which the grant is disbursed— 14 ‘‘(A) establishing and enforcing policies 15 and procedures in accordance with the require- 16 ments described in paragraph (2) before law en- 17 forcement officers use or operation of body- 18 worn cameras; 19 ‘‘(B) ensuring law enforcement officers fol- 20 low such policies and procedures through de- 21 fined accountability metrics and systems, in- 22 cluding supervisors’ routine audits of recorded 23 video and audio; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 5 •S 4962 IS ‘‘(C) adopting consistent and proportional 1 disciplinary actions when policy violations occur, 2 and maintain detailed personnel and discipli- 3 nary records that reflect all violations of the 4 policies and procedures described herein; 5 ‘‘(D) adopting recorded data collection and 6 retention protocols as described in paragraph 7 (3) before law enforcement officers use of body- 8 worn cameras; 9 ‘‘(E) making the policies and protocols de- 10 scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (D) available 11 to the public; 12 ‘‘(F) complying with the requirements for 13 use of recorded data under paragraph (5); 14 ‘‘(G) ensuring the grantee’s department 15 uses a fully functioning and up-to-date collec- 16 tion database, that adheres to the requirements 17 of this part; and 18 ‘‘(H) prohibiting the use or implementation 19 of facial recognition and biometric technology. 20 ‘‘(2) REQUIRED POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.— 21 An entity receiving a grant under this section 22 shall— 23 ‘‘(A) solicit, document, and incorporate 24 input from impacted persons, communities, or 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 6 •S 4962 IS organizations, including representatives of local 1 civil rights organizations and victims of police 2 use of force or unlawful stops, searches, and ar- 3 rests and publish for public view policies and 4 protocols for— 5 ‘‘(i) the safe and effective use of body- 6 worn cameras, including the activation and 7 termination of recordings, including the ac- 8 tivation of a body-worn camera when a law 9 enforcement officer removes the weapon of 10 the officer from the holster; 11 ‘‘(ii) the secure storage, handling, re- 12 tention, and destruction of recorded data 13 collected by body-worn cameras; 14 ‘‘(iii) the use of recorded data in mak- 15 ing incident reports, including a prohibi- 16 tion on the viewing of recorded data during 17 the course of an investigation and prior to 18 filing reports, making statements, or par- 19 ticipating in interviews, by all the officers 20 and supervisors present during the inci- 21 dent; 22 ‘‘(iv) protecting the privacy rights of 23 any individual who may be recorded by a 24 body-worn camera; 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 7 •S 4962 IS ‘‘(v) prohibiting a law enforcement of- 1 ficer from viewing the recorded footage be- 2 fore making an initial written report or 3 statement, if that officer is under inves- 4 tigation; 5 ‘‘(vi) the release of any recorded data 6 collected by a body-worn camera in accord- 7 ance with the open records laws, if any, of 8 the State; and 9 ‘‘(vii) making recorded data available 10 to prosecutors, defense attorneys, other of- 11 ficers of the court, recorded subjects, and 12 the public in accordance with paragraph 13 (5); and 14 ‘‘(B) conduct evaluations of the security of 15 the storage and handling of the body-worn cam- 16 era data not less frequently than once every 6 17 months. 18 ‘‘(3) RECORDED DATA COLLECTION AND RE- 19 TENTION PROTOCOL.—The recorded data collection 20 and retention protocol described in this paragraph is 21 a protocol that— 22 ‘‘(A) requires— 23 ‘‘(i) a law enforcement officer who is 24 wearing a body-mounted camera, at the be- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00007 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 8 •S 4962 IS ginning of an activity, to provide an expla- 1 nation if an activity that is required to be 2 recorded by the body-mounted camera is 3 not recorded by activating the body cam- 4 era’s visual and audio, and state on cam- 5 era that the officer will not record the fol- 6 lowing activity, and the officer’s justifica- 7 tion, before terminating the recording; 8 ‘‘(ii) periodic auditing of recorded 9 data by supervisors to ensure compliance 10 with policy; 11 ‘‘(iii) a law enforcement officer who is 12 wearing a body-mounted camera to obtain 13 verbal consent, captured, and recorded on 14 the body camera, from a crime victim or 15 witness before interviewing the victim or 16 witness; 17 ‘‘(iv) the system used to store re- 18 corded data collected by body-worn cam- 19 eras shall automatically log all viewing, 20 modification, or deletion of stored recorded 21 data and shall prevent the unauthorized 22 access or disclosure of stored recorded 23 data; 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00008 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 9 •S 4962 IS ‘‘(v) any law enforcement officer be 1 prohibited from accessing the stored data 2 without explicit authorization from a com- 3 manding officer, and only when the officer 4 has an authorized purpose to view or listen 5 to such footage; 6 ‘‘(vi) during an incident investigation, 7 a law enforcement officer shall— 8 ‘‘(I) be required to provide an 9 initial written statement, that may not 10 be later edited in any form, before re- 11 viewing any recorded data involving— 12 ‘‘(aa) an officer-involved 13 shooting; 14 ‘‘(bb) an in-custody death; 15 ‘‘(cc) a criminal matter; 16 ‘‘(dd) a critical incident; or 17 ‘‘(ee) any other investigation 18 conducted pursuant to an inter- 19 nal or civilian allegation of mis- 20 conduct; and 21 ‘‘(II) have an opportunity to re- 22 view recorded data depicting the inci- 23 dent with a representative or attorney, 24 only after being subject to an inter- 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 10 •S 4962 IS view, and providing the initial written 1 statement described in subclause (I); 2 and 3 ‘‘(vii) the law enforcement agency to 4 collect and report annual statistical data 5 on— 6 ‘‘(I) all incidences of use of force, 7 including an officer’s display or dis- 8 charge of a firearm, disaggregated by 9 race, ethnicity, gender, and age of the 10 victim, type of force used, and any re- 11 sulting charges; 12 ‘‘(II) the number of all com- 13 plaints filed against law enforcement 14 officers, disaggregated by the type of 15 action complained of and the race, 16 ethnicity, gender, and age of the com- 17 plainant; 18 ‘‘(III) the disposition of all com- 19 plaints filed against law enforcement 20 officers, including any discipline im- 21 posed; 22 ‘‘(IV) the number of times cam- 23 era footage is used for evidence collec- 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00010 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 11 •S 4962 IS tion in investigations of crimes, disag- 1 gregated by the type of crime; and 2 ‘‘(V) any other additional statis- 3 tical data that the Director deter- 4 mines should be collected and re- 5 ported; 6 ‘‘(B) allows an individual, including anony- 7 mously or on behalf of a third party, to file a 8 complaint, both online, via telephone, or in-per- 9 son, with a law enforcement agency relating to 10 the improper use of body-worn cameras, receive 11 a complaint tracking number, and have all evi- 12 dence relating to the complaint reviewed and 13 properly investigated before the grantee makes 14 a disposition on the complaint; and 15 ‘‘(C) complies with any other requirements 16 established by the Director. 17 ‘‘(4) REPORTING.—Statistical data required to 18 be collected under paragraph (3)(A)(vi) shall be re- 19 ported annually to the Director, who shall— 20 ‘‘(A) establish a standardized reporting 21 system for statistical data collected under this 22 program; 23 ‘‘(B) establish a national database of sta- 24 tistical data recorded under this program; and 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 03:06 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00011 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 12 •S 4962 IS ‘‘(C) ensure that statistical data is made 1 publicly available, not later than 15 days of re- 2 ceipt of the report, in accessible and alternative 3 formats, including on the website of the grantee 4 and in print form at various locations. 5 ‘‘(5) USE OR TRANSFER OF RECORDED DATA.— 6 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—Recorded data col- 7 lected by an entity receiving a grant under this 8 section for a body-mounted camera may be used 9 in internal and external investigations of mis- 10 conduct by a law enforcement agency or officer, 11 general supervision, integrity audits, and train- 12 ing purposes. The Director shall establish rules 13 to ensure that the recorded data is used only 14 for the purposes described in this subpara- 15 graph. 16 ‘‘(B) PROHIBITION ON TRANSFER.—Ex- 17 cept as provided in subparagraph (E), an entity 18 receiving a grant under this section may not 19 transfer any recorded data collected by the enti- 20 ty from a body-mounted camera to another law 21 enforcement or intelligence agency. 22 ‘‘(C) PUBLIC ACCESS.—An entity receiving 23 a grant under this section shall implement a 24 VerDate Sep 11 2014 21:43 Dec 12, 2020 Jkt 019200 PO 00000 Frm 00012 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S4962.IS S4962 pbinns on DSKJLVW7X2PROD with BILLS 13 •S 4962 IS process that at a minimum allows the public to 1 obtain recorded data collected by the entity. 2 ‘‘(D) RECORDED SUBJECT ACCESS.—An 3 entity receiving a grant under this section shall 4 implement an expedited process that allows a 5 recorded subject to obtain recorded data col- 6 lected by the entity from an incident involving 7 the recorded subject. 8 ‘‘(E) EXCEPTIONS.— 9 ‘‘(i) CRIMINAL INVESTIGATION.—An 10 entity receiving a grant under this section 11 may transfer recorded data collected by the 12 entity from a body-mounted camera to an- 13 other law enforcement agency or intel- 14 ligence agency for use in a criminal inves- 15 tigation if the requesting law [Text truncated for display. 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