I 

113TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 5865 

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

maintenance of body-worn cameras for law enforcement officers. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

DECEMBER 11, 2014 

Mr. CLEAVER 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. 

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 Authorization 

5 and Maintenance Act of 2014’’ or as the ‘‘CAM Act of 

6 2014’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO USE BODY-WORN CAMERA SYS2 TEMS. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Beginning on the date that is 180 

4 days after the date of enactment, if, in a fiscal year, a 

5 State or unit of local government that receives any grant 

6 from the Attorney General does not require law enforce7 ment officers of that State or unit of local government 

8 to use body-worn cameras, that State or unit of local gov9 ernment may not receive any grant from the Attorney 

10 General in the following fiscal year. 

11 (b) HARDSHIP WAIVER.—The Attorney General may 

12 waive the application of subsection (a) to any State or unit 

13 of local government that applies for such a waiver if, in 

14 the determination of the Attorney General, compliance 

15 with the requirement of subsection (a) would pose a finan16 cial hardship on the State or unit of local government. 

17 (c) DEFINITIONS.—Terms used in this section have 

18 the meaning given such terms in section 901 of title I of 

19 the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 

20 (42 U.S.C. 3791). 

21 SEC. 3. BODY-WORN CAMERA GRANTS. 

22 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

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

24 by adding at the end the following: 


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1 ‘‘PART MM—BODY-WORN CAMERA GRANTS 

2 ‘‘SEC. 3031. IN GENERAL. 

3 ‘‘From amounts made available to carry out this part, 

4 the Director of the Bureau of Justice Assistance may 

5 make grants to States, units of local government, and In6 dian tribes for the acquisition, operation, and maintenance 

7 of body-worn cameras for law enforcement officers. 

8 ‘‘SEC. 3032. USES OF FUNDS. 

9 ‘‘Grants awarded under this section shall be— 

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

11 local government, or Indian tribe; and 

12 ‘‘(2) used for the program described under sec13 tion 3034. 

14 ‘‘SEC. 3033. PROGRAM DESCRIBED. 

15 ‘‘The program described in this section is any pro16 gram implemented by a grantee requiring the use of body17 worn cameras by law enforcement officers in that jurisdic18 tion, consistent with the following requirements: 

19 ‘‘(1) Any law enforcement officer who has reg20 ular contact with the general public shall be required 

21 to wear and, as appropriate, activate a body-worn 

22 camera. 

23 ‘‘(2) An officer who is not otherwise assigned 

24 body-worn cameras may be required to wear one in 

25 certain circumstances, including the following: 


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1 ‘‘(A) After receiving a specified number of 

2 complaints or disciplinary actions. 

3 ‘‘(B) When participating in a certain type 

4 of activity, such as SWAT operations. 

5 ‘‘(3) Body cameras should be worn on the offi6 cer’s chest or at eye level. 

7 ‘‘(4) An officer who activates the body-worn 

8 camera while on duty should be required to note the 

9 existence of the recording in the official incident re10 port. 

11 ‘‘(5) An officer who wears body-worn cameras 

12 should be required to articulate their reasoning, on 

13 camera or in writing, if that officer fails to record 

14 an activity that is required by department policy to 

15 be recorded. 

16 ‘‘(6) An officer is required to activate his or her 

17 body-worn camera when responding to all calls for 

18 service and during all law enforcement-related en19 counters and activities that occur while the officer is 

20 on duty traffic stops, arrests, searches, interroga21 tions, investigations, and pursuits. 

22 ‘‘(7) Officers should also be required to activate 

23 the camera during the course of any encounter with 

24 the public that becomes adversarial after the initial 

25 contact. 


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1 ‘‘(8) An officer shall inform any person who is 

2 being recorded by a body-worn camera when the per3 son is being recorded unless doing so would be un4 safe, impractical, or impossible. 

5 ‘‘(9) Once activated, the body-worn camera 

6 shall remain in recording mode until the conclusion 

7 of an incident or encounter, the officer has left the 

8 scene, or a supervisor has authorized (on camera) 

9 that a recording may cease. 

10 ‘‘(10) Policies shall designate the officer as the 

11 person responsible for downloading recorded data 

12 from his or her body-worn camera. However, in cer13 tain clearly identified circumstances (including offi14 cer-involved shootings, in-custody deaths, or other 

15 incidents involving the officer that result in a per16 son’s bodily harm or death), the officer’s supervisor 

17 should immediately take physical custody of the 

18 camera and should be responsible for downloading 

19 the data. 

20 ‘‘(11) If the camera system does not have a sys21 tem to track who accesses the recorded data, when, 

22 and for what purpose, grantees shall create an audit 

23 system that monitors who accesses recorded data, 

24 when, and for what purpose. Grantees may conduct 

25 forensic reviews to determine whether recorded data 


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1 has been tampered with. Data shall be downloaded 

2 from the body-worn camera by the end of each shift 

3 in which the camera was used. Officers shall prop4 erly categorize and tag body-worn camera videos at 

5 the time they are downloaded. Videos shall be classi6 fied according to the type of event or incident cap7 tured in the footage. 

8 ‘‘(12) When setting time frames for retention of 

9 data, grantees shall consider the following: 

10 ‘‘(A) State laws governing evidence reten11 tion. 

12 ‘‘(B) Departmental policies governing re13 tention of other types of electronic records. 

14 ‘‘(C) The openness of the State’s public 

15 disclosure laws. 

16 ‘‘(D) The need to preserve footage to pro17 mote transparency. 

18 ‘‘(E) The length of time typically needed to 

19 receive and investigate citizen complaints. 

20 ‘‘(F) The agency’s capacity for data stor21 age. 

22 ‘‘(13) Data must be managed by a third party. 

23 To protect the security and integrity of data man24 aged by a third party, a grantee shall use a rep25 utable, experienced vendor, enter into a legal conVerDate Sep 11 2014 21:16 Dec 15, 2014 Jkt 049200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H5865.IH H5865

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1 tract with the vendor that protects the agency’s 

2 data, ensure the system includes a built-in audit 

3 trail and reliable backup methods, and consult with 

4 legal advisors. 

5 ‘‘(14) An officer shall be permitted to review 

6 video footage of an incident in which they were in7 volved, prior to making a statement about the inci8 dent. 

9 ‘‘(15) A grantee’s internal audit unit, rather 

10 than the officer’s direct chain of command, should 

11 periodically conduct a random review of body-worn 

12 camera footage to monitor compliance with the pro13 gram and assess overall officer performance. 

14 ‘‘(16) Grantee policies pertaining to body-worn 

15 cameras shall include specific measures for pre16 venting unauthorized access or release of recorded 

17 data. 

18 ‘‘(17) Grantees shall have clear and consistent 

19 protocols for releasing recorded data externally to 

20 the public and the news media (or public disclosure 

21 policies). Each such policy must be in compliance 

22 with any applicable State or Federal public disclo23 sure laws. 


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1 ‘‘(18) Body-worn camera training shall be re2 quired for all grantee personnel who may use or oth3 erwise be involved with body-worn cameras. 

4 ‘‘(19) The grantee shall collect statistical data 

5 concerning body-worn camera usage, including when 

6 video footage is used in criminal prosecutions and 

7 internal affairs matters as well as when excessive 

8 force has been used. 

9 ‘‘(20) The grantee shall conduct periodic re10 views of policies and protocols of the grantee per11 taining to body-worn cameras. 

12 ‘‘SEC. 3034. ALLOCATION OF FUNDS. 

13 ‘‘Funds available under this part shall be awarded to 

14 each qualifying unit of local government with fewer than 

15 100,000 residents. Any remaining funds available under 

16 this part shall be awarded to other qualifying applicants 

17 on a pro rata basis. 

18 ‘‘SEC. 3035. MATCHING REQUIREMENTS. 

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

20 a program provided by a grant under subsection (a) may 

21 not exceed 50 percent. Any funds appropriated by Con22 gress for the activities of any agency of an Indian tribal 

23 government or the Bureau of Indian Affairs performing 

24 law enforcement functions on any Indian lands may be 


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1 used to provide the non-Federal share of a matching re2 quirement funded under this subsection. 

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

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

5 or in-kind fairly evaluated, including planned equipment 

6 or services.’’. 

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 from communities where law enforce15 ment and neighborhoods work well together to create 

16 accountability and transparency. 

17 (2) This task force shall provide a report to the 

18 Congress by April 2015 the recommendations above. 

19 (3) Membership shall include representatives of 

20 civil rights organizations, Federal, State, and local 

21 law enforcement personnel, and community policing 

22 experts. 

23 (4) The task force shall develop proper body24 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 Public Law 104–201, the 

16 ‘‘National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 

17 1997’’ 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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