with or employ any facial recognition or other biometric 
surveillance technologies. 
(h) EXCEPTIONS.—Federal law enforcement offi-
cers— 
(1) shall not be required to use body cameras 
during investigative or enforcement stops with the 
public in the case that— 
(A) recording would risk the safety of a 
confidential informant, citizen informant, or un-
dercover officer; 
(B) recording would pose a serious risk to 
national security; or 
(C) the officer is a military police officer, 
a member of the United States Army Criminal 
Investigation Command, or a protective detail 
assigned to a Federal or foreign official while 
performing his or her duties; and 
(2) shall not activate a body camera while on 
the grounds of any public, private, or parochial ele-
mentary or secondary school, except when respond-
ing to an imminent threat to life or health. 
(i) RETENTION OF FOOTAGE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Body camera video footage 
shall be retained by the law enforcement agency that 
employs the officer whose camera captured the foot-
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age, or an authorized agent thereof, for 6 months 
after the date it was recorded, after which time such 
footage shall be permanently deleted. 
(2) RIGHT TO INSPECT.—During the 6-month 
retention period described in paragraph (1), the fol-
lowing persons shall have the right to inspect the 
body camera footage: 
(A) Any person who is a subject of body 
camera video footage, and their designated legal 
counsel. 
(B) A parent or legal guardian of a minor 
subject of body camera video footage, and their 
designated legal counsel. 
(C) The spouse, next of kin, or legally au-
thorized designee of a deceased subject of body 
camera video footage, and their designated legal 
counsel. 
(D) A Federal law enforcement officer 
whose body camera recorded the video footage, 
and their designated legal counsel, subject to 
the limitations and restrictions in this part. 
(E) The superior officer of a Federal law 
enforcement officer whose body camera re-
corded the video footage, subject to the limita-
tions and restrictions in this part. 
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(F) Any defense counsel who claims, pur-
suant to a written affidavit, to have a reason-
able basis for believing a video may contain evi-
dence that exculpates a client. 
(3) LIMITATION.—The right to inspect subject 
to subsection (j)(1) shall not include the right to 
possess a copy of the body camera video footage, un-
less the release of the body camera footage is other-
wise authorized by this part or by another applicable 
law. When a body camera fails to capture some or 
all of the audio or video of an incident due to mal-
function, displacement of camera, or any other 
cause, any audio or video footage that is captured 
shall be treated the same as any other body camera 
audio or video footage under this Act. 
(j) ADDITIONAL RETENTION REQUIREMENTS.—Not-
withstanding the retention and deletion requirements in 
subsection (i), the following shall apply to body camera 
video footage under this Act: 
(1) Body camera video footage shall be auto-
matically retained for not less than 3 years if the 
video footage captures an interaction or event involv-
ing— 
(A) any use of force; or 
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(B) a stop about which a complaint has 
been registered by a subject of the video foot-
age. 
(2) Body camera video footage shall be retained 
for not less than 3 years if a longer retention period 
is voluntarily requested by— 
(A) the Federal law enforcement officer 
whose body camera recorded the video footage, 
if that officer reasonably asserts the video foot-
age has evidentiary or exculpatory value in an 
ongoing investigation; 
(B) any Federal law enforcement officer 
who is a subject of the video footage, if that of-
ficer reasonably asserts the video footage has 
evidentiary or exculpatory value; 
(C) any superior officer of a Federal law 
enforcement officer whose body camera re-
corded the video footage or who is a subject of 
the video footage, if that superior officer rea-
sonably asserts the video footage has evi-
dentiary or exculpatory value; 
(D) any Federal law enforcement officer, if 
the video footage is being retained solely and 
exclusively for police training purposes; 
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(E) any member of the public who is a 
subject of the video footage; 
(F) any parent or legal guardian of a 
minor who is a subject of the video footage; or 
(G) a deceased subject’s spouse, next of 
kin, or legally authorized designee. 
(k) PUBLIC REVIEW.—For purposes of subpara-
graphs (E), (F), and (G) of subsection (j)(2), any member 
of the public who is a subject of video footage, the parent 
or legal guardian of a minor who is a subject of the video 
footage, or a deceased subject’s next of kin or legally au-
thorized designee, shall be permitted to review the specific 
video footage in question in order to make a determination 
as to whether they will voluntarily request it be subjected 
to a minimum 3-year retention period. 
(l) DISCLOSURE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (2), all video footage of an interaction or 
event captured by a body camera, if that interaction 
or event is identified with reasonable specificity and 
requested by a member of the public, shall be pro-
vided to the person or entity making the request in 
accordance with the procedures for requesting and 
providing government records set forth in the section 
552a of title 5, United States Code. 
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(2) EXCEPTIONS.—The following categories of 
video footage shall not be released to the public in 
the absence of express written permission from the 
non-law enforcement subjects of the video footage: 
(A) Video footage not subject to a min-
imum 3-year retention period pursuant to sub-
section (j). 
(B) Video footage that is subject to a min-
imum 3-year retention period solely and exclu-
sively pursuant to paragraph (1)(B) or (2) of 
subsection (j). 
(3) PRIORITY OF REQUESTS.—Notwithstanding 
any time periods established for acknowledging and 
responding to records requests in section 552a of 
title 5, United States Code, responses to requests for 
video footage that is subject to a minimum 3-year 
retention period pursuant to subsection (j)(1)(A), 
where a subject of the video footage is recorded 
being killed, shot by a firearm, or grievously injured, 
shall be prioritized and, if approved, the requested 
video footage shall be provided as expeditiously as 
possible, but in no circumstances later than 5 days 
following receipt of the request. 
(4) USE OF REDACTION TECHNOLOGY.— 
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(A) IN GENERAL.—Whenever doing so is 
necessary to protect personal privacy, the right 
to a fair trial, the identity of a confidential 
source or crime victim, or the life or physical 
safety of any person appearing in video footage, 
redaction technology may be used to obscure 
the face and other personally identifying char-
acteristics of that person, including the tone of 
the person’s voice, provided the redaction does 
not interfere with a viewer’s ability to fully, 
completely, and accurately comprehend the 
events captured on the video footage. 
(B) REQUIREMENTS.—The following re-
quirements shall apply to redactions under sub-
paragraph (A): 
(i) When redaction is performed on 
video footage pursuant to this paragraph, 
an unedited, original version of the video 
footage shall be retained pursuant to the 
requirements of subsections (i) and (j). 
(ii) Except pursuant to the rules for 
the redaction of video footage set forth in 
this subsection or where it is otherwise ex-
pressly authorized by this Act, no other ed-
iting or alteration of video footage, includ-
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ing a reduction of the video footage’s reso-
lution, shall be permitted. 
(m) PROHIBITED WITHHOLDING
OF FOOTAGE.— 
Body camera video footage may not be withheld from the 
public on the basis that it is an investigatory record or 
was compiled for law enforcement purposes where any per-
son under investigation or whose conduct is under review 
is a police officer or other law enforcement employee and 
the video footage relates to that person’s conduct in their 
official capacity. 
(n) ADMISSIBILITY.—Any video footage retained be-
yond 6 months solely and exclusively pursuant to sub-
section (j)(2)(D) shall not be admissible as evidence in any 
criminal or civil legal or administrative proceeding. 
(o) CONFIDENTIALITY.—No government agency or 
official, or law enforcement agency, officer, or official may 
publicly disclose, release, or share body camera video foot-
age unless— 
(1) doing so is expressly authorized pursuant to 
this Act or another applicable law; or 
(2) the video footage is subject to public release 
pursuant to subsection (l), and not exempted from 
public release pursuant to subsection (l)(1). 
(p) LIMITATION ON FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 
OFFICER VIEWING
OF BODY CAMERA FOOTAGE.—No 
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Federal law enforcement officer shall review or receive an 
accounting of any body camera video footage that is sub-
ject to a minimum 3-year retention period pursuant to 
subsection (j)(1) prior to completing any required initial 
reports, statements, and interviews regarding the recorded 
event, unless doing so is necessary, while in the field, to 
address an immediate threat to life or safety. 
(q) ADDITIONAL LIMITATIONS.—Video footage may 
not be— 
(1) in the case of footage that is not subject to 
a minimum 3-year retention period, viewed by any 
superior officer of a Federal law enforcement officer 
whose body camera recorded the footage absent a 
specific allegation of misconduct; or 
(2) divulged or used by any law enforcement 
agency for any commercial or other non-law enforce-
ment purpose. 
(r) THIRD-PARTY MAINTENANCE
OF FOOTAGE.— 
Where a law enforcement agency authorizes a third party 
to act as its agent in maintaining body camera footage, 
the agent shall not be permitted to independently access, 
view, or alter any video footage, except to delete videos 
as required by law or agency retention policies. 
(s) ENFORCEMENT.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—If any Federal law enforce-
ment officer, or any employee or agent of a Federal 
law enforcement agency fails to adhere to the re-
cording or retention requirements contained in this 
Act, intentionally interferes with a body camera’s 
ability to accurately capture video footage, or other-
wise manipulates the video footage captured by a 
body camera during or after its operation— 
(A) appropriate disciplinary action shall be 
taken against the individual officer, employee, 
or agent; 
(B) a rebuttable evidentiary presumption 
shall be adopted in favor of a criminal defend-
ant who reasonably asserts that exculpatory evi-
dence was destroyed or not captured; and 
(C) a rebuttable evidentiary presumption 
shall be adopted on behalf of a civil plaintiff 
suing the Government, a Federal law enforce-
ment agency, or a Federal law enforcement offi-
cer for damages based on misconduct who rea-
sonably asserts that evidence supporting their 
claim was destroyed or not captured. 
(2) PROOF
COMPLIANCE
WAS
IMPOSSIBLE.— 
The disciplinary action requirement and rebuttable 
presumptions described in paragraph (1) may be 
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overcome by contrary evidence or proof of exigent 
circumstances that made compliance impossible. 
(t) USE OF FORCE INVESTIGATIONS.—In the case 
that a Federal law enforcement officer equipped with a 
body camera is involved in, a witness to, or within viewable 
sight range of either the use of force by another law en-
forcement officer that results in a death, the use of force 
by another law enforcement officer, during which the dis-
charge of a firearm results in an injury, or the conduct 
of another law enforcement officer that becomes the sub-
ject of a criminal investigation— 
(1) the law enforcement agency that employs 
the law enforcement officer, or the agency or depart-
ment conducting the related criminal investigation, 
as appropriate, shall promptly take possession of the 
body camera, and shall maintain such camera, and 
any data on such camera, in accordance with the ap-
plicable rules governing the preservation of evidence; 
(2) a copy of the data on such body camera 
shall be made in accordance with prevailing forensic 
standards for data collection and reproduction; and 
(3) such copied data shall be made available to 
the public in accordance with subsection (l). 
(u) LIMITATION
ON USE
OF FOOTAGE
AS EVI-
DENCE.—Any body camera video footage recorded by a 
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