II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 1938 

To provide for grants for States that require fair and impartial police training 

for law enforcement officers of that State and to incentivize States 

to enact laws requiring the independent investigation and prosecution 

of the use of deadly force by law enforcement officers, and for other 

purposes. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

JUNE 20, 2019 

Ms. DUCKWORTH (for herself, Mrs. GILLIBRAND, Mr. SANDERS, Ms. HIRONO, 

Ms. HARRIS, and Mr. MARKEY) introduced the following bill; which was 

read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To provide for grants for States that require fair and impartial police training for law enforcement officers of that 

State and to incentivize States to enact laws requiring 

the independent investigation and prosecution of the use 

of deadly force by 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 ‘‘Police Training and 

5 Independent Review Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. GRANTS FOR TRAINING AND INDEPENDENT INVES2 TIGATION AND PROSECUTION. 

3 Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 

4 Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is amended 

5 by adding at the end the following: 

6 ‘‘PART OO—GRANTS FOR TRAINING AND INDE7 PENDENT INVESTIGATION AND PROSECU8 TION 

9 ‘‘SEC. 3051. GRANT AUTHORITY. 

10 ‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may make 

11 a grant to a State for purposes of implementing the train12 ing requirements described in section 3052(a) and an 

13 independent prosecution of law enforcement statute as de14 scribed in section 3053. 

15 ‘‘(b) TERM.—The term of a grant under subsection 

16 (a) shall be 1 fiscal year. 

17 ‘‘SEC. 3052. TRAINING ON FAIR AND IMPARTIAL POLICING. 

18 ‘‘(a) TRAINING REQUIREMENT.—The requirements 

19 of this subsection are as follows: 

20 ‘‘(1) A State shall require that all individuals 

21 enrolled in an academy of a law enforcement agency 

22 of the State and all law enforcement officers of the 

23 State complete a training session on fair and impar24 tial policing each year, which includes— 

25 ‘‘(A) anti-bias training on implicit and ex26 plicit bias on the basis of race, religion, ethVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1938.IS S1938

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1 nicity, national origin, gender, sexual orienta2 tion, gender identity, and disability; 

3 ‘‘(B) training regarding— 

4 ‘‘(i) cultural diversity; 

5 ‘‘(ii) police interaction with individuals 

6 with mental illness or behavioral, mental, 

7 or physical disabilities; 

8 ‘‘(iii) crisis intervention; and 

9 ‘‘(iv) de-escalation tactics; 

10 ‘‘(C) scenario-based training; and 

11 ‘‘(D) a requirement that officers dem12 onstrate proficiency in the subjects of the train13 ing through scenario-based tests. 

14 ‘‘(2) Each law enforcement officer and each in15 dividual enrolled in an academy of a law enforce16 ment agency of a State shall complete— 

17 ‘‘(A) initial training described in para18 graph (1) of not less than 8 hours; and 

19 ‘‘(B) not less than 4 hours of training de20 scribed in paragraph (1) every year thereafter. 

21 ‘‘(3) A State shall certify to the Attorney Gen22 eral of the United States that such training sessions 

23 have been completed. 

24 ‘‘(b) COMPLIANCE AND INELIGIBILITY.— 


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1 ‘‘(1) COMPLIANCE DATE.—To be eligible for a 

2 grant under this part, a State shall, subject to para3 graphs (2) and (3), be in compliance with the train4 ing requirements under subsection (a) not later than 

5 240 days after the date of enactment of this part, 

6 except that the Attorney General may grant an addi7 tional 120 days to a State that is making good faith 

8 efforts to comply with such subsection. 

9 ‘‘(2) COMPLIANCE BEFORE START OF FISCAL

10 YEAR.—A State that fails to achieve compliance with 

11 the training requirements under subsection (a) in 

12 accordance with paragraph (1) of this subsection 

13 shall be eligible for a grant under this part for a fis14 cal year if, on the last day of the previous fiscal 

15 year, the State is in compliance with such require16 ments. 

17 ‘‘(3) INELIGIBILITY.—A State that was eligible 

18 for a grant under this part and that, as of the last 

19 day of a fiscal year, is not in compliance with the 

20 training requirements under subsection (a) shall not 

21 be eligible for a grant under this part during the 

22 next fiscal year. 

23 ‘‘(c) VERIFICATION.—The attorney general of a State 

24 receiving a grant under this part shall verify that the 

25 training of individuals enrolled in an academy of a law 


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1 enforcement agency of the State and all law enforcement 

2 officers of the State meets the requirements under sub3 section (a). 

4 ‘‘(d) AUDIT REQUIREMENTS.—For each fiscal year 

5 for which grants are made under this part, the Inspector 

6 General of the Department of Justice shall conduct audits 

7 of an appropriate number, as determined by the Inspector 

8 General, of States receiving such a grant to ensure compli9 ance with the training requirements under subsection (a). 

10 ‘‘SEC. 3053. INDEPENDENT REVIEW OF LAW ENFORCEMENT 

11 USE OF DEADLY FORCE. 

12 ‘‘To be eligible for a grant under this part for a fiscal 

13 year, a State shall, as of the last day of the prior fiscal 

14 year, have enacted and have in effect an independent pros15 ecution of law enforcement statute. 

16 ‘‘SEC. 3054. DEFINITIONS. 

17 ‘‘In this part: 

18 ‘‘(1) The term ‘independent prosecution of law 

19 enforcement statute’ means a statute requiring an 

20 independent prosecution in a criminal matter in 

21 which— 

22 ‘‘(A) one or more of the possible defend23 ants is a law enforcement officer; 

24 ‘‘(B) one or more of the alleged offenses 

25 involves the law enforcement officer’s use of 


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1 deadly force in the course of carrying out that 

2 officer’s duty; and 

3 ‘‘(C) the law enforcement officer’s use of 

4 deadly force resulted in a death or injury. 

5 ‘‘(2) The term ‘deadly force’ means that force 

6 which a reasonable person would consider likely to 

7 cause death or serious bodily harm. 

8 ‘‘(3) The term ‘independent prosecution’, with 

9 respect to a criminal investigation or prosecution of 

10 a law enforcement officer’s use of deadly force, in11 cludes using one or more of the following: 

12 ‘‘(A) Using an agency or civilian review 

13 board that investigates and independently re14 views all officer use of force allegations. 

15 ‘‘(B) Assigning the attorney general of the 

16 State in which the alleged crime was committed 

17 to conduct the criminal investigation and pros18 ecution. 

19 ‘‘(C) Adopting a procedure under which an 

20 automatic referral is made to a special pros21 ecutor appointed and overseen by the attorney 

22 general of the State in which the alleged crime 

23 was committed. 

24 ‘‘(D) Having law enforcement agencies 

25 agree to and implement memoranda of underVerDate Sep 11 2014 02:44 Jun 22, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S1938.IS S1938

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1 standing with other law enforcement agencies 

2 under which the other law enforcement agen3 cies— 

4 ‘‘(i) shall conduct the criminal inves5 tigation; and 

6 ‘‘(ii) upon conclusion of the criminal 

7 investigation, shall file a report with the 

8 attorney general of the State containing a 

9 determination regarding whether— 

10 ‘‘(I) the use of deadly force was 

11 appropriate; and 

12 ‘‘(II) any action should be taken 

13 by the attorney general of the State. 

14 ‘‘(E) Using an independent prosecutor. 

15 ‘‘(4) The term ‘independent prosecutor’ means, 

16 with respect to a criminal investigation or prosecu17 tion of a law enforcement officer’s use of deadly 

18 force, a prosecutor who— 

19 ‘‘(A) does not live or work in the same 

20 county as the county in which the alleged crime 

21 was committed; and 

22 ‘‘(B) would not be involved in the prosecu23 tion in the ordinary course of that prosecutor’s 

24 duties.’’. 

Æ 


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