I 

117TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION H. R. 3026 

To require States receiving grants under the Byrne grant program and 

the COPS grant program to have in place laws requiring certain independent investigations of law enforcement officers’ use of deadly force, 

and for other purposes. 

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 

MAY 7, 2021 

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

on the Judiciary 

A BILL 

To require States receiving grants under the Byrne grant 

program and the COPS grant program to have in place 

laws requiring certain independent investigations of law 

enforcement officers’ use of deadly force, 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 ‘‘Use of Force Account5 ability Act of 2021’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF LAW ENFORCE2 MENT STATUTES CONDITION FOR RECEIPT 

3 OF COPS AND BYRNE GRANT FUNDING. 

4 Beginning in the first fiscal year that begins after 

5 the date that is 3 years after the date of enactment of 

6 this Act, in order to be eligible for a grant under the 

7 Byrne grant program or the COPS grant program, a State 

8 or Indian Tribe shall have in effect— 

9 (1) an independent investigation of law enforce10 ment statute; and 

11 (2) a law or policy that upon the completion of 

12 an independent investigation, the findings are re13 ferred— 

14 (A) to the internal affairs department of 

15 the employing law enforcement agency for re16 view and possible disciplinary action; or 

17 (B) in the case of a law enforcement agen18 cy that does not have an internal affairs depart19 ment, to the employing law enforcement agency 

20 for review and possible disciplinary action. 

21 SEC. 3. GRANT PROGRAM FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGA22 TION OF LAW ENFORCEMENT STATUTES. 

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—The Attorney General may award 

24 grants to eligible States and Indian Tribes to assist in im25 plementing an independent investigation of law enforce26 ment statute. 


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1 (b) ELIGIBILITY.—To be eligible for a grant under 

2 this subsection, a State or Indian Tribe shall have in effect 

3 an independent investigation of law enforcement statute. 

4 (c) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There 

5 are authorized to be appropriated to the Attorney General 

6 $750,000,000 for fiscal years 2022 through 2025 to carry 

7 out this subsection. 

8 SEC. 4. DEFINITIONS. 

9 In this Act: 

10 (1) BYRNE GRANT PROGRAM.—The term 

11 ‘‘Byrne grant program’’ means any grant program 

12 under subpart 1 of part E of title I of the Omnibus 

13 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 

14 U.S.C. 10151 et seq.), without regard to whether 

15 the funds are characterized as being made available 

16 under the Edward Byrne Memorial State and Local 

17 Law Enforcement Assistance Programs, the Local 

18 Government Law Enforcement Block Grants Pro19 gram, the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assist20 ance Grant Program, or otherwise. 

21 (2) COPS GRANT PROGRAM.—The term ‘‘COPS 

22 grant program’’ means the grant program author23 ized under section 1701 of title I of the Omnibus 

24 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 

25 U.S.C. 10381). 


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1 (3) INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION.—The term 

2 ‘‘independent investigation’’ means a criminal inves3 tigation or prosecution of a law enforcement officer’s 

4 use of deadly force, including one or more of the fol5 lowing: 

6 (A) Using an agency or civilian review 

7 board that investigates and independently re8 views all allegations of use of deadly force made 

9 against law enforcement officers in the jurisdic10 tion. 

11 (B) Assigning of the attorney general of 

12 the State in which the alleged use of deadly 

13 force was committed to conduct the criminal in14 vestigation and prosecution. 

15 (C) Adopting a procedure under which an 

16 independent prosecutor is assigned to inves17 tigate and prosecute the case, including a pro18 cedure under which an automatic referral is 

19 made to an independent prosecutor appointed 

20 and overseen by the attorney general of the 

21 State in which the alleged use of deadly force 

22 was committed. 

23 (D) Adopting a procedure under which an 

24 independent prosecutor is assigned to inves25 tigate and prosecute the case. 


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1 (E) Having law enforcement agencies 

2 agree to and implement memoranda of under3 standing with other law enforcement agencies 

4 under which the other law enforcement agen5 cies— 

6 (i) shall conduct the criminal inves7 tigation into the alleged use of deadly 

8 force; and 

9 (ii) upon conclusion of the criminal in10 vestigation, shall file a report with the at11 torney general of the State containing a 

12 determination regarding whether— 

13 (I) the use of deadly force was 

14 appropriate; and 

15 (II) any action should be taken 

16 by the attorney general of the State. 

17 (F) Any substantially similar procedure to 

18 ensure impartiality in the investigation or pros19 ecution. 

20 (4) INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION OF LAW EN21 FORCEMENT STATUTE.—The term ‘‘independent in22 vestigation of law enforcement statute’’ means a 

23 statute requiring an independent investigation in a 

24 criminal matter in which— 


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1 (A) one or more of the possible defendants 

2 is a law enforcement officer; 

3 (B) one or more of the alleged offenses in4 volves the law enforcement officer’s use of dead5 ly force in the course of carrying out that offi6 cer’s duty; and 

7 (C) the non-Federal law enforcement offi8 cer’s use of deadly force resulted in a death or 

9 injury. 

10 (5) INDEPENDENT PROSECUTOR.—The term 

11 ‘‘independent prosecutor’’ means, with respect to a 

12 criminal investigation or prosecution of a law en13 forcement officer’s use of deadly force, a prosecutor 

14 who— 

15 (A) does not oversee or regularly rely on 

16 the law enforcement agency by which the law 

17 enforcement officer under investigation is em18 ployed; and 

19 (B) would not be involved in the prosecu20 tion in the ordinary course of that prosecutor’s 

21 duties. 

22 (6) STATE.—The term ‘‘State’’ has the mean23 ing given such term in section 901 of the Omnibus 


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1 Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 (34 

2 U.S.C. 10251). 

Æ 


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