I 

115TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 124 

To establish a grant program providing for the acquisition, operation, and 

maintenance of body-worn cameras for law enforcement officers, and 

for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

JANUARY 3, 2017 

Mr. AL GREEN of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to 

the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 

Armed Services, 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 establish a grant program providing for the acquisition, 

operation, and maintenance of body-worn cameras for 

law enforcement officers, 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 ‘‘Camera Accountability 

5 Maintenance and Transparency in Policing Act of 2017’’ 

6 or the ‘‘CAM TIP Act of 2017’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. BODY-WORN CAMERA GRANTS. 

2 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

3 Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended 

4 by adding at the end the following: 

5 ‘‘PART MM—BODY-WORN CAMERA GRANTS 

6 ‘‘SEC. 3031. IN GENERAL. 

7 ‘‘From amounts made available to the Bureau of Jus8 tice Assistance, the Director of the Bureau of Justice As9 sistance may make grants to States, units of local govern10 ment, and Indian tribes for the acquisition, operation, and 

11 maintenance of body-worn cameras for law enforcement 

12 officers. In making such grants, the Director shall assess 

13 the program proposed by the applicant for the elements 

14 described in section 3033. 

15 ‘‘SEC. 3032. USES OF FUNDS. 

16 ‘‘Grants awarded under this part shall be— 

17 ‘‘(1) distributed directly to the State, unit of 

18 local government, or Indian tribe; and 

19 ‘‘(2) used for the program described under sec20 tion 3033. 

21 ‘‘SEC. 3033. PROGRAM DESCRIBED. 

22 ‘‘The program described in this section is any pro23 gram implemented by a grantee requiring the use of body24 worn cameras by law enforcement officers in that jurisdic25 tion, which— 


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1 ‘‘(1) establishes policies and procedures for 

2 when law enforcement officers should wear, activate, 

3 and deactivate body-worn cameras; 

4 ‘‘(2) ensures the protection of the civil liberties 

5 of members of general public relating to the use of 

6 body-worn cameras by law enforcement officers; 

7 ‘‘(3) establishes policies limiting the use of re8 cordings of body-worn cameras to monitor the con9 duct of law enforcement officers outside of their 

10 interactions, in an official capacity, with members of 

11 the general public; 

12 ‘‘(4) establishes or proposes to develop stand13 ards relating to the effective placement, on a law en14 forcement officer’s body, of a body-worn camera; 

15 ‘‘(5) describes the best practices for receiving 

16 an accurate narrative from the recordings of body17 worn cameras; 

18 ‘‘(6) establishes policies for the collection and 

19 storage of the recordings of body-worn cameras; 

20 ‘‘(7) establishes policies relating to the avail21 ability of recordings of body-worn cameras— 

22 ‘‘(A) to the general public; 

23 ‘‘(B) to victims of crimes; and 

24 ‘‘(C) for internal use by the law enforce25 ment agency; and 


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1 ‘‘(8) has in place guidelines and training 

2 courses for law enforcement officers relating to the 

3 proper management and use of body-worn cameras. 

4 ‘‘SEC. 3034. MATCHING REQUIREMENTS. 

5 ‘‘(a) FEDERAL SHARE.—The portion of the costs of 

6 a program provided by a grant under this part may not 

7 exceed 50 percent. Any funds appropriated by Congress 

8 for the activities of any agency of an Indian tribal govern9 ment or the Bureau of Indian Affairs performing law en10 forcement functions on any Indian lands may be used to 

11 provide the non-Federal share of a matching requirement 

12 funded under this subsection. 

13 ‘‘(b) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non-Federal share 

14 of payments made under this part may be made in cash 

15 or in-kind fairly evaluated, including planned equipment 

16 or services. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 3035. FUNDING. 

18 ‘‘Grants under this part may be made using the funds 

19 that are available under section 506(a)(1).’’. 

20 SEC. 3. STUDY ON THE COST OF THE PURCHASE AND USE 

21 OF BODY-WORN CAMERAS BY LAW ENFORCE22 MENT AGENCIES. 

23 (a) STUDY.—The Attorney General shall conduct a 

24 study on the cost to State and local law enforcement agenVerDate Sep 11 2014 03:50 Jan 07, 2017 Jkt 069200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H124.IH H124

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1 cies of purchasing and using body-worn cameras or other 

2 similar cameras, including gun-mounted cameras. 

3 (b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 

4 of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 

5 submit to Congress a report that contains the results of 

6 the study conducted under subsection (a). 

7 SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE ON COMMUNITY 

8 POLICING AND BODY CAMERA ACCOUNT9 ABILITY. 

10 There shall be established in the Department of Jus11 tice a task force to do the following: 

12 (1) The task force shall be created to provide 

13 recommendations on community policing, including 

14 best practices for creating accountability and trans15 parency. 

16 (2) Not later than one year after the date of 

17 the enactment of this Act, the task force shall pro18 vide a report to the Congress, which shall include 

19 the recommendations under paragraph (1). 

20 (3) Membership shall include representatives of 

21 civil rights organizations, Federal, State, and local 

22 law enforcement personnel, and community policing 

23 experts. 

24 (4) The task force shall develop proper body25 worn camera training protocol. 


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1 (5) The task force shall study the impact that 

2 citizen review boards could have on investigating 

3 cases of alleged police misconduct. 

4 (6) Not later than 1 year after implementation 

5 of the body camera requirement policy under section 

6 3033 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 

7 1968, the task force shall conduct a survey to deter8 mine best practices and effectiveness of the policy 

9 with findings to be reported back to the Congress. 

10 SEC. 5. GAO REPORT ON PENTAGON’S 1033 PROGRAM. 

11 Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 

12 of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 

13 shall submit to the Congress a report on the Department 

14 of Defense Excess Personal Property Program established 

15 pursuant to section 1033 of the National Defense Author16 ization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 (Public Law 104–201), 

17 that includes information on— 

18 (1) which jurisdictions equipment is sent to; 

19 (2) the value of equipment sent to each jurisdic20 tion; 

21 (3) the level of training provided to officers; 

22 and 

23 (4) how the equipment is used in the jurisdic24 tion. 

Æ 


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