I 

114TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 306 

To require the Attorney General to issue rules pertaining to the collection 

and compilation of data on the use of deadly force by law enforcement 

officers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 13, 2015 

Mr. COHEN introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require the Attorney General to issue rules pertaining 

to the collection and compilation of data on the use 

of deadly force by law enforcement officers. 

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 ‘‘National Statistics on 

5 Deadly Force Transparency Act of 2015’’. 

6 SEC. 2. ATTORNEY GENERAL TO ISSUE REGULATIONS. 

7 (a) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 6 months after 

8 the date of enactment of this Act, the Attorney General, 

9 in consultation with stakeholders, including Federal, 


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1 State, and local law enforcement agencies and community, 

2 professional, research, and civil rights organizations, shall 

3 issue regulations for the collection and compilation of data 

4 pertaining to the use of deadly force by Federal, State, 

5 or local law enforcement officers. 

6 (b) REQUIREMENTS.—The regulations issued under 

7 subsection (a) shall— 

8 (1) require the collection of data on all in9 stances wherein deadly force was used by a Federal, 

10 State, or local law enforcement officer; 

11 (2) require that the data collected shall— 

12 (A) include identifying characteristics of 

13 the person who was the target of the use of 

14 deadly force and the officer who used deadly 

15 force, including— 

16 (i) race or ethnicity; 

17 (ii) gender; 

18 (iii) approximate age; and 

19 (iv) the actual or perceived religious 

20 affiliation; 

21 (B) include the date, time, and location of 

22 such use of deadly force; 

23 (C) include the alleged criminal activity of 

24 the person who was the target of the use of 

25 deadly force; 


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1 (D) include the nature of the deadly force 

2 used, including the use of a firearm; 

3 (E) include an explanation, if any, from 

4 the relevant law enforcement agency on why 

5 deadly force was used; 

6 (F) include a copy of any use of deadly 

7 force guidelines in effect at the relevant law en8 forcement agency at the time deadly force was 

9 used; 

10 (G) include a description of any non-lethal 

11 efforts employed to apprehend or subdue the 

12 person who was the target of the use of deadly 

13 force before deadly force was used; and 

14 (H) not include personally identifiable in15 formation described in section 4; 

16 (3) provide that a standardized form shall be 

17 made available to law enforcement agencies for the 

18 submission of data collected pursuant to this Act to 

19 the Department of Justice; 

20 (4) require that law enforcement agencies com21 pile data using the standardized form made available 

22 under paragraph (3), and submit the form to the 

23 Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statistics 

24 and any other component of the Department of JusVerDate Sep 11 2014 05:58 Jan 21, 2015 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H306.IH H306

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1 tice that the Attorney General determines appro2 priate; and 

3 (5) require that law enforcement agencies shall 

4 maintain all data collected under this Act for not 

5 less than 4 years. 

6 SEC. 3. DUTIES OF THE BUREAU OF JUSTICE STATISTICS. 

7 The Department of Justice Bureau of Justice Statis8 tics shall provide to Congress and make available to the 

9 public the data collected pursuant to this Act, excluding 

10 any personally identifiable information described in section 

11 4. 

12 SEC. 4. LIMITATIONS ON PUBLICATION OF DATA. 

13 The name or identifying information of a law enforce14 ment officer, person who was the target of the use of dead15 ly force, or any other individual involved in any activity 

16 for which data is collected and compiled under this Act 

17 shall not be— 

18 (1) released to the public; 

19 (2) disclosed to any person, except for— 

20 (A) such disclosures as are necessary to 

21 comply with this Act; 

22 (B) disclosures of information regarding a 

23 particular person to that person; or 

24 (C) disclosures pursuant to litigation; or 


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1 (3) subject to disclosure under section 552 of 

2 title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the 

3 Freedom of Information Act), except for disclosures 

4 of information regarding a particular person to that 

5 person. 

6 SEC. 5. BYRNE JAG GRANT REDUCED FOR FAILURE TO RE7 PORT. 

8 In the case of a State or unit of local government 

9 that received a grant award under subpart 1 of part E 

10 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 

11 Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3750 et seq.), if that State or 

12 unit of local government fails substantially to comply with 

13 the requirement under section 2 for a fiscal year, the At14 torney General shall reduce the amount that would other15 wise be awarded to that State or unit of local government 

16 under such grant program in the following fiscal year by 

17 10 percent. 

Æ 


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