I 

116TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7784 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the staffing, transparency, 

and accountability of the law enforcement operations of the Department 

of Veterans Affairs, and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JULY 24, 2020 

Miss RICE of New York (for herself and Mr. PAPPAS) introduced the following 

bill; which was referred to the Committee on Veterans’ Affairs 

A BILL 

To amend title 38, United States Code, to improve the 

staffing, transparency, and accountability of the law enforcement operations of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 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 ‘‘VA Police Improve5 ment and Accountability Act’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. IMPROVEMENTS TO TRANSPARENCY OF LAW EN2 FORCEMENT OPERATIONS OF DEPARTMENT 

3 OF VETERANS AFFAIRS. 

4 (a) CONTACT AND INFORMATION.—Section 902 of 

5 title 38, United States Code, is amended by adding at the 

6 end the following new subsection: 

7 ‘‘(e)(1) The Secretary shall ensure that each police 

8 force of a facility of the Department designates an em9 ployee of the Department to serve as a point of contact 

10 for other employees and for the public with respect to, at 

11 a minimum— 

12 ‘‘(A) statistical information regarding— 

13 ‘‘(i) arrests made by and tickets issued by 

14 Department police officers at such facility; 

15 ‘‘(ii) prosecutions, ticketing, and other ac16 tions relating to such arrests; and 

17 ‘‘(iii) the use of force and weapons dis18 charge; 

19 ‘‘(B) complaints and investigations regarding 

20 Department police officers at such facility; and 

21 ‘‘(C) providing information to an individual (or 

22 the representative, attorney, or authorized agent of 

23 the individual) regarding the arrest, ticketing, de24 tainment, use of force, or other police matters per25 taining to that individual, including any relevant 

26 court proceedings or other legal actions. 


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1 ‘‘(2) The Secretary shall make available on the public 

2 internet website of each facility covered by paragraph (1) 

3 the following information: 

4 ‘‘(A) The statistical information under subpara5 graph (A) of such paragraph. 

6 ‘‘(B) How to contact the point of contact. 

7 ‘‘(C) General information regarding how an in8 dividual (or the representative, attorney, or author9 ized agent of the individual) may receive information 

10 regarding the arrest, ticketing, detainment, use of 

11 force, or other police matters pertaining to that indi12 vidual by Department police officers at such facility 

13 (or by other Federal, State, or local law enforcement 

14 officers at the request of Department police offi15 cers), including with respect to any subsequent court 

16 proceedings.’’. 

17 (b) IMPROVED TRAINING.— 

18 (1) TRAINING.—The Secretary of Veterans Af19 fairs shall provide to Department police officers an20 nual training on— 

21 (A) recognizing, defining, understanding, 

22 and avoiding racial profiling and implicit bias 

23 and best practices regarding the duty to inter24 vene; and 


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1 (B) preventing suicide among the popu2 lation served by the police officers. 

3 (2) CURRICULUM.—In carrying out paragraph 

4 (1), the Secretary shall improve any similar training 

5 provided before the date of the enactment of this 

6 Act, including by ensuring that the curriculum for 

7 the training addresses, at a minimum, the following: 

8 (A) Effective behavioral science procedures 

9 for suicide prevention and risk mitigation. 

10 (B) Crisis intervention and de-escalation 

11 skills, including through the use of interactive 

12 training. 

13 (C) Information about mental health and 

14 substance abuse disorders. 

15 (D) Information about local law enforce16 ment crisis intervention teams and other re17 sources for veterans experiencing mental health 

18 crises available by the Department of Veterans 

19 Affairs, other elements of the Federal Govern20 ment, and the community in which the police 

21 officers serve. 

22 (3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall en23 sure that the annual training provided under para24 graph (1) to Department police officers at a medical 

25 facility of the Department is provided in consultaVerDate Sep 11 2014 18:53 Aug 15, 2020 Jkt 099200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7784.IH H7784

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1 tion with law enforcement accreditation organiza2 tions and the mental health experts at such facility. 

3 (4) PLAN ON COMMUNITY PARTNERSHIPS.— 

4 The Secretary shall ensure that each police force of 

5 a facility of the Department develops a plan to enter 

6 into partnerships with— 

7 (A) local community mental health organi8 zations and experts, local community veterans 

9 organizations, and local community criminal 

10 justice organizations and experts; and 

11 (B) local police departments, including by 

12 facilitating the sharing of training resources 

13 with crisis intervention teams of the local police 

14 departments. 

15 (5) REPORT.—Not later than one year after the 

16 date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

17 shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs 

18 of the House of Representatives and the Senate a 

19 report on the improved training under paragraph 

20 (1), including— 

21 (A) a description of the curriculum of such 

22 training; 

23 (B) with respect to the year preceding the 

24 date of the report— 


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1 (i) the number of facilities of the De2 partment that conducted such training; 

3 (ii) the number of Department police 

4 officers who received such training; and 

5 (iii) any barriers to ensuring that 

6 each Department police officer receives 

7 such training; 

8 (C) any recommendations to address the 

9 barriers identified under subparagraph (B)(iii); 

10 and 

11 (D) the number of facilities of the Depart12 ment that have established partnerships under 

13 paragraph (3). 

14 (c) USE OF BODY CAMERAS BY DEPARTMENT PO15 LICE OFFICERS.— 

16 (1) REQUIREMENT.— 

17 (A) IN GENERAL.—Department police offi18 cers shall wear a body camera that— 

19 (i) has a field of view at least as 

20 broad as the officer’s vision; and 

21 (ii) is worn in a manner that maxi22 mizes the camera’s ability to capture video 

23 footage of the officer’s activities. 

24 (B) ACTIVATION.—Both the video and 

25 audio recording functions of the body camera 


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1 shall be activated whenever a Department police 

2 officer is responding to a call for service or at 

3 the initiation of any other law enforcement or 

4 investigative stop between a Department police 

5 officer and a member of the public, except that 

6 when an immediate threat to the officer’s life or 

7 safety makes activating the camera impossible 

8 or dangerous, or in instances relating to health 

9 care privacy pursuant to paragraph (2)(C)(iv), 

10 the officer shall activate the camera at the first 

11 reasonable opportunity to do so. 

12 (C) EXCEPTION.—The body camera shall 

13 not be deactivated until the stop has fully con14 cluded and the Department police officer leaves 

15 the scene. 

16 (D) LAW ENFORCEMENT OR INVESTIGA17 TIVE STOP DEFINED.—In this paragraph, the 

18 term ‘‘law enforcement or investigative stop’’ 

19 means an action by a Department police officer 

20 in relation to enforcement and investigation du21 ties, including traffic stops, pedestrian stops, 

22 abandoned vehicle contacts, requests for identi23 fication, or responses to requests for emergency 

24 assistance. 


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1 (2) GUIDANCE.—The Secretary shall issue, and 

2 make publicly available, guidance on the use of body 

3 cameras by Department police officers. The Sec4 retary shall ensure that such guidance— 

5 (A) requires that Department police offi6 cers wear and use body cameras pursuant to 

7 paragraph (1); 

8 (B) is consistent with upholding the civil 

9 rights and the privacy of patients of medical fa10 cilities of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 

11 the public, and employees of the Department; 

12 and 

13 (C) describes the policies and procedures of 

14 the Department with respect to such use of 

15 body cameras, including with respect to— 

16 (i) the safe and effective use of body 

17 cameras and the resulting imagery, includ18 ing operational issues such as when a body 

19 camera is activated and deactivated; 

20 (ii) the secure storage, handling, and 

21 destruction of recorded data collected by a 

22 body camera; 

23 (iii) the retention of recorded data col24 lected by a body camera; 


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1 (iv) protecting the privacy rights of an 

2 individual who may be recorded by a body 

3 camera, including with respect to instances 

4 of an individual being treated in a medical 

5 facility of the Department or in other in6 stances requiring health care privacy; 

7 (v) release of, and access to, any re8 corded data collected by a body camera, in 

9 accordance with relevant open-records laws 

10 of the State in which the body camera is 

11 used; and 

12 (vi) making recorded data collected by 

13 a body camera available to prosecutors, de14 fense attorneys, and other officers of a 

15 court. 

16 (3) CONSULTATION.—The Secretary shall issue 

17 the guidance under paragraph (2) in consultation 

18 with veterans service organizations, civil rights orga19 nizations, law enforcement organizations, law en20 forcement accreditation organizations, privacy rights 

21 organizations, and other relevant organizations or 

22 experts. 

23 (4) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after 

24 the date of the enactment of this Act, the Secretary 

25 shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs 


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1 of the House of Representatives and the Senate a 

2 report containing the following: 

3 (A) A review of past and current use of 

4 body cameras by Department police officers. 

5 (B) A description of the implementation of 

6 this subsection. 

7 (C) The guidance issued under paragraph 

8 (2). 

9 (D) A review of the use of security cam10 eras at facilities of the Department, including 

11 an analysis of— 

12 (i) the number of such cameras that 

13 are operational and the number that are 

14 not operational; 

15 (ii) the number of employees and con16 tractors of the Department who operate 

17 and maintain the security of such cameras; 

18 and 

19 (iii) the number of such employees 

20 and contractors that is necessary to ensure 

21 that such cameras are properly operated 

22 and maintained to ensure that such facili23 ties are observed. 

24 (d) REPORT ON STAFFING, TRAINING, AND DATA

25 SYSTEMS.—Not later than 180 days after the date of the 


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1 enactment of this Act, the Secretary of Veterans Affairs 

2 shall submit to the Committees on Veterans’ Affairs of 

3 the House of Representatives and the Senate a report that 

4 includes the following: 

5 (1) An assessment of the hiring needs of the 

6 police force of the Department of Veterans Affairs, 

7 including— 

8 (A) identification of— 

9 (i) the number of Department police 

10 officers as of the date of the report; 

11 (ii) the number of Department police 

12 officers that the Secretary determines nec13 essary to meet the needs of the Depart14 ment; and 

15 (iii) the amount of turnover among 

16 Department police officers; 

17 (B) an analysis of the staffing require18 ments to appropriately provide the improved 

19 training under subsection (b); 

20 (C) a discussion of how the compensation 

21 for Department police officers affects such 

22 needs and turnover; and 

23 (D) a comparison of such compensation 

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1 lice units, such as police units at medical facili2 ties and other police units in the region. 

3 (2) A discussion with respect to developing a 

4 plan for improving police data systems and Depart5 ment-wide systems for tracking and analyzing inci6 dents, arrests, ticketing, prosecutions, and occur7 rences of the use of force. 

8 (e) DEPARTMENT POLICE OFFICER DEFINED.—In 

9 this section, the term ‘‘Department police officer’’ means 

10 an employee of the Department of Veterans Affairs de11 scribed in section 902(a) of title 38, United States Code. 

Æ 


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