I 
119TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 5070 
To require Federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
AUGUST 29, 2025 
Ms. NORTON (for herself and Mr. BEYER) introduced the following bill; which 
was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To require Federal law enforcement officers to wear body 
cameras, and for other purposes. 
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Federal Police Camera 
and Accountability Act’’. 
SEC. 2. REQUIREMENTS FOR FEDERAL LAW ENFORCEMENT 
OFFICERS REGARDING THE USE OF BODY 
CAMERAS. 
(a) DEFINITIONS.—In this section: 
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(1) MINOR.—The term ‘‘minor’’ means any in-
dividual under 18 years of age. 
(2) SUBJECT OF THE VIDEO FOOTAGE.—The 
term ‘‘subject of the video footage’’— 
(A) means any identifiable Federal law en-
forcement officer or any identifiable suspect, 
victim, detainee, conversant, injured party, or 
other similarly situated person who appears on 
the body camera recording; and 
(B) does not include people who only inci-
dentally appear on the recording. 
(3) VIDEO FOOTAGE.—The term ‘‘video foot-
age’’ means any images or audio recorded by a body 
camera. 
(4) FACIAL RECOGNITION OR OTHER BIOMET-
RIC SURVEILLANCE.—The term ‘‘facial recognition 
or other biometric surveillance’’ means an automated 
or semiautomated process that captures or analyzes 
biometric data of an individual to identify or assist 
in identifying an individual or an automated or 
semiautomated process that generates, or assists in 
generating, surveillance information about an indi-
vidual based on biometric data. 
(b) REQUIREMENT TO WEAR BODY CAMERA.— 
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(1) IN GENERAL.—Federal law enforcement of-
ficers shall wear a body camera. 
(2) REQUIREMENT
FOR
BODY
CAMERA.—A 
body camera required under paragraph (1) shall— 
(A) have a field of view at least as broad 
as the officer’s vision; and 
(B) be worn in a manner that maximizes 
the camera’s ability to capture video footage of 
the officer’s activities. 
(c) REQUIREMENT TO ACTIVATE.— 
(1) IN GENERAL.—Both the video and audio re-
cording functions of the body camera shall be acti-
vated whenever a Federal law enforcement officer is 
responding to a call for service or at the initiation 
of any other law enforcement or investigative stop 
(as such term is defined in section 3) between a 
Federal law enforcement officer and a member of 
the public, except that when an immediate threat to 
the officer’s life or safety makes activating the cam-
era impossible or dangerous, the officer shall acti-
vate the camera at the first reasonable opportunity 
to do so. 
(2) ALLOWABLE
DEACTIVATION.—The body 
camera shall not be deactivated until the stop has 
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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; and 
(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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