I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7252 

To provide for research to examine law enforcement policies and practices, 

including the causes, consequences, and mitigation of excessive use of 

force, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JUNE 18, 2020 

Ms. JOHNSON of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on Science, Space, and Technology, and in addition to the 

Committees on Homeland Security, and the Judiciary, for a period to be 

subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration 

of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 

A BILL 

To provide for research to examine law enforcement policies 

and practices, including the causes, consequences, and 

mitigation of excessive use of force, and for other purposes. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Promoting Fair and 

5 Effective Policing Through Research Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 

2 Congress finds the following: 

3 (1) Despite the pivotal role police officers play 

4 in preventing and controlling crime, there are sig5 nificant gaps in research on the fairness and efficacy 

6 of policing policies and practices, including those re7 lated to use of force. 

8 (2) The lack of accurate and comprehensive 

9 data on police use of force is often cited as one of 

10 the most significant barriers to identifying and un11 derstanding patterns of police use of excessive force 

12 against civilians. 

13 (3) The best available evidence reveals in14 creased likelihood of police use of force against peo15 ple of color, people with disabilities, LGBT people, 

16 people with mental health conditions, people with 

17 low incomes, and those at the intersections of these 

18 groups. 

19 (4) Biases in advanced policing technologies, in20 cluding biometric identification systems, have the po21 tential to exacerbate such disparities. 

22 (5) Along with better data, more social and be23 havioral research is needed to improve our under24 standing of the potential factors that influence ex25 cessive use of force as well as the related psychoVerDate Sep 11 2014 04:33 Jul 11, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7252.IH H7252

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1 logical and social effects of such incidents on individ2 uals and communities. 

3 SEC. 3. DEFINITIONS. 

4 In this Act: 

5 (1) COMMUNITY-BASED ORGANIZATION.—The 

6 term ‘‘community-based organization’’ means a 

7 grassroots organization that monitors the issue of 

8 police misconduct and that has a national presence 

9 and membership, such as the National Association 

10 for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), 

11 the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the 

12 National Council of La Raza, the National Urban 

13 League, the National Congress of American Indians, 

14 and the National Asian Pacific Legal Consortium 

15 (NAPALC). 

16 (2) INSTITUTION OF HIGHER EDUCATION.—The 

17 term ‘‘institution of higher education’’ has the 

18 meaning given the term in section 101 of the Higher 

19 Education Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. 1001). 

20 (3) LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCY.—The term 

21 ‘‘law enforcement agency’’ means any Federal, 

22 State, or local public agency engaged in the preven23 tion, detection, or investigation of violations of crimi24 nal, immigration, or customs law. 


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1 (4) NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION.—The term 

2 ‘‘non-profit organization’’ means an organization de3 scribed in section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue 

4 Code of 1986 and exempt from tax under section 

5 501(a) of such code. 

6 (5) PROFESSIONAL LAW ENFORCEMENT ASSO7 CIATION.—The term ‘‘professional law enforcement 

8 association’’ means a law enforcement membership 

9 association that works for the needs of Federal, 

10 State, local, or Indian tribal law enforcement agen11 cies and with the civilian community on matters of 

12 common interest, such as the Hispanic Police Com13 mand Officers Association (HAPCOA), the National 

14 Asian Pacific Officers Association (NAPOA), the 

15 National Black Police Association (NBPA), the Na16 tional Organization of Black Law Enforcement Ex17 ecutives (NOBLE), Women in Law Enforcement, 

18 the Native American Law Enforcement Association 

19 (NALEA), the International Association of Chiefs of 

20 Police (IACP), the National Sheriffs’ Association 

21 (NFA), the Fraternal Order of Police (FOP), and 

22 the National Association of School Resource Offi23 cers. 

24 SEC. 4. AGENCY ACTIVITIES. 

25 (a) NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION.— 


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1 (1) RESEARCH.—The Director of the National 

2 Science Foundation shall award grants, on a com3 petitive basis, to institutions of higher education or 

4 nonprofit organizations (or consortia of such institu5 tions or organizations)— 

6 (A) to support social and behavioral re7 search on— 

8 (i) policies and practices of law en9 forcement agencies and related outcomes, 

10 including the use of data and technology 

11 by law enforcement agencies; 

12 (ii) the causes and consequences of 

13 police violence; 

14 (iii) interventions designed to mitigate 

15 police use of excessive force, including de16 escalation training and advanced policing 

17 technologies; 

18 (iv) organizational configurations and 

19 personnel practices in law enforcement 

20 agencies, such as recruitment, training, 

21 oversight, performance standards, decision22 making, methods of supervising officers, 

23 resource allocation, and the role of police 

24 leadership; and 


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1 (v) the role of cooperation among law 

2 enforcement agencies and the communities 

3 served by such agencies in reducing crime 

4 and ensuring community safety; and 

5 (B) to educate and train the next genera6 tion of researchers in areas of social and behav7 ioral sciences research relevant to policing poli8 cies and practices in democratic societies. 

9 (2) RESEARCHER-LAW ENFORCEMENT PART10 NERSHIPS.— 

11 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the 

12 National Science Foundation shall carry out a 

13 program to award grants, on a competitive 

14 basis, to institutions of higher education or 

15 nonprofit organizations (or consortia of such in16 stitutions or organizations) to improve the fair17 ness and efficacy of policing policies and prac18 tices, including by reducing the incidence and 

19 mitigating the negative consequences of exces20 sive and lethal use of force by law enforcement. 

21 (B) PARTNERSHIPS.—In order to be eligi22 ble to receive a grant under this subsection, an 

23 institution of higher education or nonprofit or24 ganization (or consortia of such institutions or 


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1 organizations) shall enter into a partnership 

2 with— 

3 (i) one or more law enforcement agen4 cy; 

5 (ii) one or more community-based or6 ganization; or 

7 (iii) one or more professional law en8 forcement association. 

9 (C) ANNUAL MEETING.—The Director of 

10 the National Science Foundation, in consulta11 tion with the Attorney General of the United 

12 States, shall convene an annual meeting of the 

13 partnerships participating under this section to 

14 foster greater national collaboration. 

15 (3) NATIONAL ACADEMIES STUDY.—Not later 

16 than 45 days after the date of enactment of this 

17 Act, the Director shall enter into an agreement with 

18 the Academies to conduct a study— 

19 (A) to review the research literature and 

20 identify research gaps related to policing poli21 cies and practices, including research into the 

22 causes, consequences, and mitigation of police 

23 violence; 

24 (B) to present a compendium of promising 

25 policing policies and practices, including those 


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1 shown to reduce the incidence and mitigate the 

2 negative consequences of police violence; 

3 (C) identify barriers to widespread and 

4 sustained implementation of such policies and 

5 practices; and 

6 (D) to make recommendations to the 

7 Foundation, the Department of Justice, law en8 forcement agencies, and other relevant stake9 holders on measures to address such barriers. 

10 (b) NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF STANDARDS AND

11 TECHNOLOGY.— 

12 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Commerce, 

13 acting through the Director of the National Institute 

14 of Standards and Technology, shall establish a pro15 gram to support measurement research to inform 

16 the development of best practices, benchmarks, 

17 methodologies, procedures, and voluntary consensus 

18 standards for biometric identification systems and 

19 other advanced policing tools to assess and improve 

20 fairness in such systems. In carrying out such pro21 gram, the Director shall— 

22 (A) conduct research to support efforts to 

23 improve biometric identification systems, includ24 ing in areas related to conformity assessment, 


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1 image interoperability, and capture device cer2 tification; 

3 (B) establish common definitions and char4 acterizations for biometric identification sys5 tems, including fairness, bias, validation, trans6 parency, safety, privacy, security, robustness, 

7 and other properties; 

8 (C) produce data sets that are curated, 

9 standardized, representative, secure, and pri10 vacy protected for biometric identification tech11 nology research, development, and use; 

12 (D) provide outreach, coordination, and 

13 technical support to relevant industry and non14 industry stakeholders and standards develop15 ment organizations to assist such entities in the 

16 development of best practices and voluntary 

17 standards; and 

18 (E) develop such standard reference mate19 rial as the Director of the National Institute of 

20 Standards and Technology determines is appro21 priate to further the development of such stand22 ards. 

23 (2) BIOMETRICS VENDOR TEST PROGRAM.— 

24 (A) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary, acting 

25 through the Director of the National Institute 


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1 of Standards and Technology, shall carry out a 

2 test program to provide biometrics vendors the 

3 opportunity to test biometric identification tech4 nologies. 

5 (B) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out the pro6 gram under subparagraph (A), the Director 

7 shall— 

8 (i) conduct research and testing to im9 prove and benchmark the accuracy, effi10 cacy, and fairness of biometric identifica11 tion systems, including research and test12 ing on demographic variations, capture de13 vices, presentation attack detection, tem14 plate protection, de-identification, and 

15 comparison of algorithm and human facial 

16 recognition capability; 

17 (ii) produce public-facing reports of 

18 the findings from such testing for a gen19 eral audience; 

20 (iii) in coordination with the Depart21 ment of Homeland Security, provide guid22 ance to law enforcement agencies to sup23 port decision-making with respect to acqui24 sition and implementation of biometric 


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1 identification systems and related tech2 nologies; and 

3 (iv) conduct such other activities as 

4 the Director of the National Institute of 

5 Standards and Technology determines ap6 propriate. 

7 (C) FUNDING.—To carry out this sub8 section, the Director of the National Institute 

9 of Standards and Technology may enter into 

10 contracts, including cooperative research and 

11 development arrangements, grants, cooperative 

12 agreements, and other transactions as the Di13 rector determines appropriate. 

14 (D) PARTNERSHIPS WITH OTHER FED15 ERAL AGENCIES.—In addition to such sums as 

16 may be authorized to be appropriated or other17 wise made available to carry out this section, 

18 the Director my accept funds from other de19 partments and agencies of the Federal Govern20 ment, and from the State and local govern21 ments, to carry out the program under this sub22 section. 

23 (c) DEPARTMENT OF HOMELAND SECURITY.— 

24 (1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland 

25 Security, acting through the Under Secretary for 


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1 Science and Technology, in consultation with the 

2 Federal Law Enforcement Training Centers, shall 

3 establish a program with the purpose of reducing ex4 cessive use of force and lethal use of force by law 

5 enforcement. 

6 (2) ACTIVITIES.—In carrying out such pro7 gram, the Secretary shall— 

8 (A) support research and data analysis to 

9 improve training, policies, and practices to sup10 port development of guidelines and best prac11 tices for recruitment and training of law en12 forcement officials to reduce excessive use of 

13 force and mitigate racial bias in policing; 

14 (B) develop, test, and evaluate innovative 

15 tools or technologies to assist in risk assessment 

16 and provide law enforcement agencies with 

17 tools, restraints, and maneuvers that are non18 lethal or less harmful than tools, restraints, and 

19 maneuvers used by such agencies; 

20 (C) provide the scientific basis for a na21 tional standard for police use of force contin22 uums; and 

23 (D) conduct outreach to Federal, State, 

24 local, and tribal law enforcement agencies, aca25 demia, researchers, practitioners, and trainers 


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1 to share information and disseminate guidelines 

2 and best practices. 

3 SEC. 5. AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS. 

4 There are authorized to be appropriated for each of 

5 fiscal years 2021 through 2026 to carry out the activities 

6 in this Act— 

7 (1) $10,000,000 to the Director of the National 

8 Science Foundation; 

9 (2) $2,000,000 to the Director of the National 

10 Institute of Standards and Technology; and 

11 (3) $2,000,000 to the Secretary of Homeland 

12 Security. 

Æ 


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