I 

115TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION H. R. 7156 

To require uniformed Federal police officers to wear body cameras and 

have dashboard cameras in marked vehicles. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

NOVEMBER 16, 2018 

Ms. NORTON (for herself and Mr. BEYER) introduced the following bill; which 

was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require uniformed Federal police officers to wear body 

cameras and have dashboard cameras in marked vehicles. 

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 ‘‘Federal Police Camera 

5 and Accountability Act of 2018’’. 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
2 

•HR 7156 IH

1 SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL UNIFORMED OFFI2 CERS REGARDING THE USE OF BODY CAM3 ERAS. 

4 (a) Uniformed officers with the authority to conduct 

5 searches and make arrests shall wear a body camera. Such 

6 body cameras shall— 

7 (1) have a field of view at least as broad as the 

8 officer’s vision; and 

9 (2) be worn in a manner that maximizes the 

10 camera’s ability to capture video footage of the offi11 cer’s activities. 

12 (b) Both the video and audio recording functions of 

13 the body camera shall be activated whenever a uniformed 

14 officer is responding to a call for service or at the initiation 

15 of any other law enforcement or investigative encounter 

16 between a uniformed officer and a member of the public, 

17 except that when an immediate threat to the officer’s life 

18 or safety makes activating the camera impossible or dan19 gerous, the officer shall activate the camera at the first 

20 reasonable opportunity to do so. The body camera shall 

21 not be deactivated until the encounter has fully concluded 

22 and the uniformed officer leaves the scene. 

23 (c) A uniformed officer who is wearing a body camera 

24 shall notify any subject of the recording that he or she 

25 is being recorded by a body camera as close to the incep26 tion of the encounter as is reasonably possible. 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
3 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (d) Notwithstanding the requirements of subsection 

2 (b), the following shall apply to the use of a body camera: 

3 (1) Prior to entering a private residence with4 out a warrant or in non-exigent circumstances, a 

5 uniformed officer shall ask the occupant if the occu6 pant wants the officer to discontinue use of the offi7 cer’s body camera. If the occupant responds affirma8 tively, the uniformed officer shall immediately dis9 continue use of the body camera. The officer shall 

10 record such communication using the officer’s body 

11 camera. 

12 (2) When interacting with an apparent crime 

13 victim, a uniformed officer shall, as soon as prac14 ticable, ask the apparent crime victim if the appar15 ent crime victim wants the officer to discontinue use 

16 of the officer’s body camera. If the apparent crime 

17 victim responds affirmatively, the uniformed officer 

18 shall immediately discontinue use of the body cam19 era. 

20 (3) When interacting with a person seeking to 

21 anonymously report a crime or assist in an ongoing 

22 law enforcement investigation, a uniformed officer 

23 shall, as soon as practicable, ask the person seeking 

24 to remain anonymous, if the person seeking to re25 main anonymous wants the officer to discontinue use 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
4 

•HR 7156 IH

1 of the officer’s body camera. If the person seeking 

2 to remain anonymous responds affirmatively, the 

3 uniformed officer shall immediately discontinue use 

4 of the body camera. 

5 (e) All law enforcement offers to discontinue the use 

6 of a body camera made pursuant to subsection (d), and 

7 the responses thereto, shall be recorded by the body cam8 era prior to discontinuing use of the body camera. 

9 (f) Body cameras shall not be used to gather intel10 ligence information based on First Amendment protected 

11 speech, associations, or religion, or to record activity that 

12 is unrelated to a response to a call for service or a law 

13 enforcement or investigative encounter between a law en14 forcement officer and a member of the public, and shall 

15 not be equipped with or subjected to any real time facial 

16 recognition technologies. 

17 (g) Uniformed officers shall not activate a body cam18 era while on the grounds of any public, private or paro19 chial elementary or secondary school, except when re20 sponding to an imminent threat to life or health. 

21 (h) Body camera video footage shall be retained by 

22 the law enforcement agency that employs the officer whose 

23 camera captured the footage, or an authorized agent 

24 thereof, for 6 months after the date it was recorded, after 

25 which time such footage shall be permanently deleted. 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
5 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (1) During the 6-month retention period, the 

2 following persons shall have the right to inspect the 

3 body camera footage: 

4 (A) Any person who is a subject of body 

5 camera video footage, and their designated legal 

6 counsel. 

7 (B) A parent of a minor subject of body 

8 camera video footage, and their designated legal 

9 counsel. 

10 (C) The spouse, next of kin or legally au11 thorized designee of a deceased subject of body 

12 camera video footage, and their designated legal 

13 counsel. 

14 (D) A uniformed officer whose body cam15 era recorded the video footage, and their des16 ignated legal counsel, subject to the limitations 

17 and restrictions in this Act. 

18 (E) The superior officer of a uniformed of19 ficer whose body camera recorded the video 

20 footage, subject to the limitations and restric21 tions in this Act. 

22 (F) Any defense counsel who claims, pur23 suant to a written affidavit, to have a reason24 able basis for believing a video may contain evi25 dence that exculpates a client. 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
6 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (2) The right to inspect subject to subsection 

2 (i)(1) shall not include the right to possess a copy 

3 of the body camera video footage, unless the release 

4 of the body camera footage is otherwise authorized 

5 by this Act or by another applicable law. 

6 (3) When a body camera fails to capture some 

7 or all of the audio or video of an incident due to 

8 malfunction, displacement of camera, or any other 

9 cause, any audio or video footage that is captured 

10 shall be treated the same as any other body camera 

11 audio or video footage under the law. 

12 (i) Notwithstanding the retention and deletion re13 quirements in subsection (h): 

14 (1) Video footage shall be automatically re15 tained for no less than 3 years if the video footage 

16 captures an interaction or event involving— 

17 (A) any use of force; or 

18 (B) an encounter about which a complaint 

19 has been registered by a subject of the video 

20 footage. 

21 (2) Body camera video footage shall also be re22 tained for no less than 3 years if a longer retention 

23 period is voluntarily requested by— 

24 (A) the uniformed officer whose body cam25 era recorded the video footage, if that officer 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
7 

•HR 7156 IH

1 reasonably asserts the video footage has evi2 dentiary or exculpatory value in an ongoing in3 vestigation; 

4 (B) any uniformed officer who is a subject 

5 of the video footage, if that officer reasonably 

6 asserts the video footage has evidentiary or ex7 culpatory value; 

8 (C) any superior officer of a uniformed of9 ficer whose body camera recorded the video 

10 footage or who is a subject of the video footage, 

11 if that superior officer reasonably asserts the 

12 video footage has evidentiary or exculpatory 

13 value; 

14 (D) any uniformed officer, if the video 

15 footage is being retained solely and exclusively 

16 for police training purposes; 

17 (E) any member of the public who is a 

18 subject of the video footage; 

19 (F) any parent or legal guardian of a 

20 minor who is a subject of the video footage; or 

21 (G) a deceased subject’s spouse, next of 

22 kin, or legally authorized designee. 

23 (j) To effectuate subsections (i)(2)(E), (i)(2)(F), and 

24 (i)(2)(G), any member of the public who is a subject of 

25 video footage, the parent or legal guardian of a minor who 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
8 

•HR 7156 IH

1 is a subject of the video footage, or a deceased subject’s 

2 next of kin or legally authorized designee, shall be per3 mitted to review the specific video footage in question in 

4 order to make a determination as to whether they will vol5 untarily request it be subjected to a 3-year retention pe6 riod. 

7 (k) All video footage of an interaction or event cap8 tured by a body camera, if that interaction or event is 

9 identified with reasonable specificity and requested by a 

10 member of the public, shall be provided to the person or 

11 entity making the request in accordance with the proce12 dures for requesting and providing government records set 

13 forth in the section 552a of title 5, United States Code. 

14 (1) Notwithstanding the public release require15 ments in this subsection, the following categories of 

16 video footage shall not be released to the public in 

17 the absence of express written permission from the 

18 non-law enforcement subjects of the video footage— 

19 (A) video footage not subject to a min20 imum 3-year retention period pursuant to sub21 section (i); and 

22 (B) video footage that is subject to a min23 imum 3-year retention period solely and exclu24 sively pursuant to subsection (i)(1)(B) or (i)(2). 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
9 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (2) Notwithstanding any time periods estab2 lished for acknowledging and responding to records 

3 requests in section 552a of title 5, United States 

4 Code, responses to requests for video footage that is 

5 subject to a minimum 3-year retention period pursu6 ant to subsection (i)(1)(A), where a subject of the 

7 video footage is recorded being killed, shot by a fire8 arm, or grievously injured, shall be prioritized and 

9 the requested video footage shall be provided as ex10 peditiously as possible, but in no circumstances later 

11 than 5 days following receipt of the request. 

12 (3) Whenever doing so is necessary to protect 

13 personal privacy, the right to a fair trial, the iden14 tity of a confidential source or crime victim, or the 

15 life or physical safety of any person appearing in 

16 video footage, redaction technology may be used to 

17 obscure the face and other personally identifying 

18 characteristics of that person, including the tone of 

19 the person’s voice, provided the redaction does not 

20 interfere with a viewer’s ability to fully, completely, 

21 and accurately comprehend the events captured on 

22 the video footage. The following apply to such 

23 redactions: 

24 (A) When redaction is performed on video 

25 footage pursuant to this paragraph, an unedVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Nov 27, 2018 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00009 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7156.IH H7156

tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
10 

•HR 7156 IH

1 ited, original version of the video footage shall 

2 be retained pursuant to the requirements of 

3 subsections (h) and (i). 

4 (B) Except pursuant to the rules for the 

5 redaction of video footage set forth in this sub6 section or where it is otherwise expressly au7 thorized by this Act, no other editing or alter8 ation of video footage, including a reduction of 

9 the video footage’s resolution, shall be per10 mitted. 

11 (4) The provisions governing the production of 

12 body camera video footage to the public in this Act 

13 shall take precedence over all other State and local 

14 laws, rules, and regulations to the contrary. 

15 (l) Body camera video footage may not be withheld 

16 from the public on the basis that it is an investigatory 

17 record or was compiled for law enforcement purposes 

18 where any person under investigation or whose conduct 

19 is under review is a police officer or other law enforcement 

20 employee and the video footage relates to that person’s 

21 on-the-job conduct. 

22 (m) Any video footage retained beyond 6 months sole23 ly and exclusively pursuant to subsection (i)(2)(D) shall 

24 not be admissible as evidence in any criminal or civil legal 

25 or administrative proceeding. 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
11 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (n) No government agency or official, or law enforce2 ment agency, officer, or official may publicly disclose, re3 lease, or share body camera video footage unless— 

4 (1) doing so is expressly authorized pursuant to 

5 this Act or another applicable law; or 

6 (2) the video footage is subject to public release 

7 pursuant to subsection (k), and not exempted from 

8 public release pursuant to subsection (k)(1). 

9 (o) No uniformed officer shall review or receive an 

10 accounting of any body camera video footage that is sub11 ject to a minimum 3-year retention period pursuant to 

12 subsection (i)(1) prior to completing any required initial 

13 reports, statements, and interviews regarding the recorded 

14 event, unless doing so is necessary, while in the field, to 

15 address an immediate threat to life or safety. 

16 (p) Video footage may not be— 

17 (1) in the case of footage that is not subject to 

18 a minimum 3-year retention period, viewed by any 

19 superior officer of a uniformed officer whose body 

20 camera recorded the footage absent a specific allega21 tion of misconduct; or 

22 (2) subjected to facial recognition or any other 

23 form of automated analysis or analytics of any kind, 

24 unless— 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
12 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (A) a judicial warrant providing authoriza2 tion is obtained; 

3 (B) the judicial warrant specifies the pre4 cise video recording to which the authorization 

5 applies; and 

6 (C) the authorizing court finds there is 

7 probable cause to believe that the requested use 

8 of facial recognition is relevant to an ongoing 

9 criminal investigation. 

10 (q) Video footage shall not be divulged or used by 

11 any law enforcement agency for any commercial or other 

12 non-law enforcement purpose. 

13 (r) Where a law enforcement agency authorizes a 

14 third party to act as its agent in maintaining body camera 

15 footage, the agent shall not be permitted to independently 

16 access, view, or alter any video footage, except to delete 

17 videos as required by law or agency retention policies. 

18 (s) If any uniformed officer, employee, or agent fails 

19 to adhere to the recording or retention requirements con20 tained in this Act, intentionally interfere with a body cam21 era’s ability to accurately capture video footage, or other22 wise manipulate the video footage captured by a body cam23 era during or after its operation— 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
13 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (1) appropriate disciplinary action shall be 

2 taken against the individual officer, employee or 

3 agent; 

4 (2) a rebuttable evidentiary presumption shall 

5 be adopted in favor of criminal defendants who rea6 sonably assert that exculpatory evidence was de7 stroyed or not captured; and 

8 (3) a rebuttable evidentiary presumption shall 

9 be adopted on behalf of civil plaintiffs suing the gov10 ernment, a law enforcement agency and/or uni11 formed officers for damages based on police mis12 conduct who reasonably assert that evidence sup13 porting their claim was destroyed or not captured. 

14 (t) The disciplinary action requirement and rebutta15 ble presumptions in subsection (s) may be overcome by 

16 contrary evidence or proof of exigent circumstances that 

17 made compliance impossible. 

18 (u) In the case that a law enforcement officer 

19 equipped with a body camera is involved in, a witness to, 

20 or within viewable sight range of either the use of force 

21 by another law enforcement officer that results in a death, 

22 the use of force by another law enforcement officer, during 

23 which the discharge of a firearm results in an injury, or 

24 the conduct of another law enforcement officer that be25 comes the subject of a criminal investigation— 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
14 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (1) the law enforcement agency that employs 

2 the law enforcement officer, or the agency or depart3 ment conducting the related criminal investigation, 

4 as appropriate, shall promptly take possession of the 

5 body camera, and shall maintain such camera, and 

6 any data on such camera, in accordance with the ap7 plicable rules governing the preservation of evidence; 

8 (2) a copy of the data on such body camera 

9 shall be made in accordance with prevailing forensic 

10 standards for data collection and reproduction; and 

11 (3) such copied data shall be made available to 

12 the public in accordance with subsection (l). 

13 (v) Any body camera video footage recorded in con14 travention of this Act or any other applicable law may not 

15 be offered as evidence by any government entity, agency, 

16 department, prosecutorial office, or any other subdivision 

17 thereof in any criminal or civil action or proceeding 

18 against any member of the public. 

19 (w) Any law enforcement policy or other guidance re20 garding body cameras, their use, or the video footage 

21 therefrom that is adopted by a Federal agency or depart22 ment, shall be made publicly available on that agency’s 

23 website. 

24 (x) Nothing in this Act shall be read to contravene 

25 any laws governing the maintenance, production, and deVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Nov 27, 2018 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00014 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7156.IH H7156

tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
15 

•HR 7156 IH

1 struction of evidence in criminal investigations and pros2 ecutions. 

3 (y) As used in this Act: 

4 (1) The term ‘‘uniformed officer’’ shall mean 

5 any person authorized by law to conduct searches 

6 and effectuate arrests and who is employed by the 

7 Federal Government. 

8 (2) The term ‘‘minor’’ means any person under 

9 18 years of age. 

10 (3) The term ‘‘subject of the video footage’’ 

11 shall mean any identifiable uniformed officer or any 

12 identifiable suspect, victim, detainee, conversant, in13 jured party, or other similarly situated person who 

14 appears on the body camera recording, and shall not 

15 include people who only incidentally appear on the 

16 recording. 

17 (4) The term ‘‘use of force’’ shall mean any ac18 tion by a uniformed officer that— 

19 (A) results in death, injury, complaint of 

20 injury, or complaint of pain that persists be21 yond the use of a physical control hold; 

22 (B) involves the use of a weapon, including 

23 a personal body weapon, chemical agent, impact 

24 weapon, extended range impact weapon, sonic 

25 weapon, sensory weapon, conducted energy deVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Nov 27, 2018 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00015 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7156.IH H7156

tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
16 

•HR 7156 IH

1 vice, or firearm, against a member of the pub2 lic; or 

3 (C) involves any intentional pointing of a 

4 firearm at a member of the public. 

5 (5) The term ‘‘video footage’’ shall mean any 

6 images or audio recorded by a body camera. 

7 SEC. 3. PATROL VEHICLES WITH IN-CAR VIDEO RECORDING 

8 CAMERAS. 

9 (a) As used in this section: 

10 (1) The term ‘‘audio recording’’ means the re11 corded conversation between an officer and a second 

12 party. 

13 (2) The term ‘‘emergency lights’’ means oscil14 lating, rotating, or flashing lights on patrol vehicles. 

15 (3) The term ‘‘in-car video camera’’ means a 

16 video camera located in a patrol vehicle. 

17 (4) The term ‘‘in-car video camera recording 

18 equipment’’ means a video camera recording system 

19 located in a patrol vehicle consisting of a camera as20 sembly, recording mechanism, and an in-car video 

21 recording medium. 

22 (5) The term ‘‘enforcement stop’’ means an ac23 tion by an officer in relation to enforcement and in24 vestigation duties, including traffic stops, pedestrian 

25 stops, abandoned vehicle contacts, motorist assists, 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
17 

•HR 7156 IH

1 commercial motor vehicle stops, roadside safety 

2 checks, requests for identification, or responses to 

3 requests for emergency assistance. 

4 (6) The term ‘‘recording’’ means the process of 

5 capturing data or information stored on a recording 

6 medium as required under this section. 

7 (7) The term ‘‘recording medium’’ means any 

8 recording medium for the retention and playback of 

9 recorded audio and video including VHS, DVD, hard 

10 drive, solid state, digital, or flash memory tech11 nology. 

12 (8) The term ‘‘wireless microphone’’ means a 

13 device worn by the officer or any other equipment 

14 used to record conversations between the officer and 

15 a second party and transmitted to the recording 

16 equipment. 

17 (b) Each Federal law enforcement agency shall install 

18 in-car video camera recording equipment in all patrol vehi19 cles with a recording medium capable of recording for a 

20 period of 10 hours or more and capable of making audio 

21 recordings with the assistance of a wireless microphone. 

22 (c) In-car video camera recording equipment with a 

23 recording medium incapable of recording for a period of 

24 10 hours or more shall record activities outside a patrol 

25 vehicle whenever (i) an officer assigned a patrol vehicle 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
18 

•HR 7156 IH

1 is conducting an enforcement stop; (ii) patrol vehicle emer2 gency lights are activated or would otherwise be activated 

3 if not for the need to conceal the presence of law enforce4 ment; or (iii) an officer reasonably believes recording may 

5 assist with prosecution, enhance safety, or for any other 

6 lawful purpose. In-car video camera recording equipment 

7 with a recording medium incapable of recording for a pe8 riod of 10 hours or more shall record activities inside the 

9 vehicle when transporting an arrestee or when an officer 

10 reasonably believes recording may assist with prosecution, 

11 enhance safety, or for any other lawful purpose. 

12 (1) Recording for an enforcement stop shall 

13 begin when the officer determines an enforcement 

14 stop is necessary and shall continue until the en15 forcement action has been completed and the subject 

16 of the enforcement stop or the officer has left the 

17 scene. 

18 (2) Recording shall begin when patrol vehicle 

19 emergency lights are activated or when they would 

20 otherwise be activated if not for the need to conceal 

21 the presence of law enforcement, and shall continue 

22 until the reason for the activation ceases to exist, re23 gardless of whether the emergency lights are no 

24 longer activated. 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
19 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (3) An officer may begin recording if the officer 

2 reasonably believes recording may assist with pros3 ecution, enhance safety, or for any other lawful pur4 pose; and shall continue until the reason for record5 ing ceases to exist. 

6 (d) In-car video camera recording equipment with a 

7 recording medium capable of recording for a period of 10 

8 hours or more shall record activities whenever a patrol ve9 hicle is assigned to patrol duty. 

10 (e) Any enforcement stop shall be video and audio 

11 recorded. Audio recording shall terminate upon release of 

12 the violator and prior to initiating a separate criminal in13 vestigation. 

14 (f) Recordings made on in-car video camera recording 

15 medium shall be retained for a storage period of at least 

16 90 days. Under no circumstances shall any recording 

17 made on in-car video camera recording medium be altered 

18 or erased prior to the expiration of the designated storage 

19 period. Upon completion of the storage period, the record20 ing medium may be erased and reissued for operational 

21 use unless otherwise ordered or if designated for evi22 dentiary or training purposes. 

23 (g) Audio or video recordings made pursuant to this 

24 section shall be available under the applicable provisions 

25 of section 552a of title 5, United States Code. Only reVerDate Sep 11 2014 20:04 Nov 27, 2018 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00019 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\H7156.IH H7156

tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
20 

•HR 7156 IH

1 corded portions of the audio recording or video recording 

2 medium applicable to the request will be available for in3 spection or copying. 

4 (h) The agency shall ensure proper care and mainte5 nance of in-car video camera recording equipment and re6 cording medium. An officer operating a patrol vehicle 

7 must immediately document and notify the appropriate 

8 person of any technical difficulties, failures, or problems 

9 with the in-car video camera recording equipment or re10 cording medium. Upon receiving notice, every reasonable 

11 effort shall be made to correct and repair any of the in12 car video camera recording equipment or recording me13 dium and determine if it is in the public interest to permit 

14 the use of the patrol vehicle. 

15 SEC. 4. FACIAL RECOGNITION TECHNOLOGY. 

16 No camera or recording device authorized or required 

17 to be used under this Act may employ facial recognition 

18 technology. 

19 SEC. 5. GAO STUDY. 

20 Not later than 1 year after the date of enactment 

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

22 shall conduct a study on Federal police officers’ training, 

23 vehicle pursuits, use of force, and interaction with citizens, 

24 and submit a report on such study to— 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS
21 

•HR 7156 IH

1 (1) the Committees on the Judiciary of the 

2 House of Representatives and of the Senate; 

3 (2) the Committee on Oversight and Govern4 ment Reform of the House of Representatives; and 

5 (3) the Committee on Homeland Security and 

6 Governmental Affairs of the Senate. 

7 SEC. 6. RULE OF CONSTRUCTION. 

8 Nothing in this Act shall be construed to impose any 

9 requirement on a uniformed officer outside of the course 

10 of carrying out that officer’s duty. 

Æ 


tkelley on DSKBCP9HB2PROD with BILLS