I 
115TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 7028 
To establish pilot programs for, and require the development of policies 
with respect to, the use of body-worn cameras by officers and agents 
of U.S. Customs and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Cus-
toms Enforcement, and for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 2, 2018 
Mr. VELA introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee 
on Homeland Security, and in addition to the Committees on the Judici-
ary, and Ways and Means, for a period to be subsequently determined 
by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall 
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish pilot programs for, and require the development 
of policies with respect to, the use of body-worn cameras 
by officers and agents of U.S. Customs and Border Pro-
tection and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, 
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 ‘‘DHS Body-Worn Cam-
era Act of 2018’’. 
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SEC. 2. PILOT PROGRAMS ON USE OF BODY-WORN CAM-
ERAS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-
rity shall establish pilot programs at U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs 
Enforcement to test and evaluate the use of body-worn 
cameras by officers and agents of U.S. Customs and Bor-
der Protection and U.S. Immigration and Customs En-
forcement. 
(b) REQUIREMENTS FOR PILOT PROGRAM AT U.S. 
CUSTOMS AND BORDER PROTECTION.— 
(1) DURATION.—The pilot program required by 
subsection (a) to be carried out at U.S. Customs and 
Border Protection shall— 
(A) be implemented not later than 60 days 
after the date of the enactment of this Act; and 
(B) terminate on the date that is 11 
months after such date of enactment. 
(2) DEPLOYMENT.—The Secretary shall ensure 
that, under the pilot program described in para-
graph (1)— 
(A) not fewer than 500 body-worn cameras 
are deployed to officers and agents of U.S. Cus-
toms and Border Protection; 
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(B) not fewer than half of such cameras 
are deployed to agents of the Border Patrol; 
and 
(C) not fewer than half of such cameras 
are deployed along the Southwest Border. 
(c) REQUIREMENTS FOR PILOT PROGRAM AT U.S. 
IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCEMENT.— 
(1) DURATION.—The pilot program required by 
subsection (a) to be carried out at U.S. Immigration 
and Customs Enforcement shall— 
(A) be implemented not later than 180 
days after the date of the enactment of this 
Act; and 
(B) terminate on the date that is 18 
months after such date of enactment. 
(2) DEPLOYMENT.—The Secretary shall ensure 
that, under the pilot program described in para-
graph (1)— 
(A) not fewer than 500 body-worn cameras 
are deployed to officers and agents of U.S. Im-
migration and Customs Enforcement; and 
(B) not fewer than half of such cameras 
are deployed to agents of the Enforcement and 
Removal Operations division. 
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(16) An accounting of who accessed any body- 
worn camera recordings, disaggregated by classified 
position title and region. 
(17) An accounting and description of the total 
number of instances an activity that was required to 
be recorded by a body-worn camera was not re-
corded as described in section 3(b)(1)(E). 
(18) Any other matters relating to the pilot 
program that the Secretary considers appropriate. 
SEC. 3. DEVELOPMENT OF POLICIES WITH RESPECT TO 
BODY-WORN CAMERAS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-
rity shall develop draft policies with respect to the use of 
body-worn cameras by officers and agents of U.S. Cus-
toms and Border Protection and U.S. Immigration and 
Customs Enforcement. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—The draft policies developed under 
subsection (a) shall include the following: 
(1) With respect to when a body-worn camera 
is activated or deactivated in the course of duty, 
those policies shall— 
(A) specify under what circumstances a 
body-worn camera is required to be activated, 
including that such cameras shall be activated, 
at a minimum, at the inception of any calls for 
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service or law enforcement encounters, includ-
ing vehicle stops, pedestrian stops, foot pur-
suits, witness and victim interviews, in-custody 
transports, and uses of force, except that when 
an immediate threat to such an officer’s or 
agent’s life or safety makes activating the cam-
era impossible or dangerous, the officer or 
agent shall activate the camera at the first rea-
sonable opportunity to do so; 
(B) include policies with respect to the use 
of body-worn cameras in use-of-force incidents, 
such as a shooting involving such an officer or 
agent, or in critical incidents, including such an 
incident that results in an in-custody death; 
(C) specify at what point a body-worn 
camera is required to be deactivated, which may 
be no earlier than when an encounter described 
in subparagraph (A) has fully concluded; 
(D) ensure that such an officer or agent 
does not have the ability to edit or delete a re-
cording taken by a body-worn camera; and 
(E) specify that such an officer or agent 
who is wearing a body-worn camera shall pro-
vide an explanation if an activity that is re-
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quired to be recorded by a body-worn camera is 
not recorded. 
(2) With respect to storage and maintenance of 
recordings from body-worn cameras, those policies 
shall— 
(A) define the minimum and maximum 
lengths of time for which such recordings shall 
be retained; 
(B) provide for the secure storage, han-
dling, and destruction of such recordings; 
(C) prevent and address issues relating to 
tampering with, or deleting or copying, such re-
cordings; and 
(D) establish a system to store such re-
cordings collected in a manner that requires the 
logging of all viewing, modification, and dele-
tion of such recordings and prevents, to the 
greatest extent practicable, unauthorized access 
to and unauthorized disclosure of such record-
ings. 
(3) With respect to privacy protections, those 
policies shall— 
(A) provide for necessary privacy protec-
tions for such officers and agents wearing body- 
worn cameras and members of the public with 
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whom such officers and agents interact, includ-
ing the use of pinpoint redaction technology to 
protect personal privacy in a manner that does 
not interfere with the ability to fully and accu-
rately ascertain the events that transpired; 
(B) require the consent of victims of and 
witnesses to a crime before recording interviews 
relating to the crime may be recorded; 
(C)(i) require that such an officer or agent 
who is wearing a body-worn camera notify an 
individual that is the subject of a recording that 
the individual is being recorded as close to the 
inception of the encounter as reasonably pos-
sible; and 
(ii) in the case of such an officer or agent 
at a permanent Border Patrol checkpoint, 
specify that the requirement under clause (i) 
can be achieved by posting prominent signage 
in English and Spanish indicating that individ-
uals at the permanent checkpoint may be re-
corded; 
(D) require that, before entering a resi-
dence without a warrant or in nonexigent cir-
cumstances, such an officer or agent obtain 
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consent from the occupant of the residence to 
continue the use of a body-worn camera; and 
(E) ensure that recordings unrelated to 
law enforcement purposes are minimized to the 
greatest extent practicable. 
(4) With respect to access to recordings from 
body-worn cameras, those policies shall— 
(A) ensure that any such officer or agent 
wearing a body-worn camera is prohibited from 
accessing a recording on the camera without an 
authorized purpose; 
(B) clearly describe the circumstances in 
which such officers and agents and their super-
visors may view recordings from body-worn 
cameras; 
(C) permit supervisors to view recordings 
from body-worn cameras only for training pur-
poses (and not for use in any disciplinary action 
against such an officer or agent) or when there 
is a complaint filed against such an officer or 
agent or a use-of-force incident; and 
(D) establish— 
(i) under what circumstances a re-
cording from a body-worn camera will be 
released to the subject of the recording or 
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to another law enforcement or intelligence 
agency or to the public; and 
(ii) protocols for such release. 
(5) Those policies shall establish under what 
circumstances recordings from body-worn cameras 
may be used to investigate potential misconduct of 
such officers or agents or for other law enforcement 
purposes. 
(6) Those policies shall establish disciplinary 
procedures for violations of body-worn camera poli-
cies by agency personnel, including officers, agents, 
and supervisors. 
(7) Those policies shall ensure that training is 
required and provided to all such officers and agents 
who use body-worn cameras, as well as any per-
sonnel involved in the management, storage, or use 
of body-worn camera data, and ensure that such 
training is provided before the use of any body worn 
camera by such an officer or agent or the involve-
ment of such agency personnel in the direct manage-
ment, storage, or use of body-worn camera data. 
SEC. 4. CONSULTATIONS; PUBLIC COMMENT. 
In developing the pilot program required by section 
2(a) and the draft policies required by section 3, the Sec-
retary of Homeland Security shall— 
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(1) consult with— 
(A) the Officer for Civil Rights and Civil 
Liberties of the Department of Homeland Secu-
rity; 
(B) the Chief Privacy Officer of the De-
partment of Homeland Security; 
(C) the Director of the Office of Privacy 
and Civil Liberties of the Department of Jus-
tice; and 
(D) any labor organizations representing 
employees of the Department of Homeland Se-
curity involved with the use of body-worn cam-
eras; 
(2) provide an opportunity for public comment; 
and 
(3) produce a report, which shall be posted on 
a publicly available Internet website of the Depart-
ment of Homeland Security, that— 
(A) summarizes the comments received 
under paragraph (2); and 
(B) describes the final policies developed 
under section 3 and the rationale for each such 
policy. 
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SEC. 5. IMPLEMENTATION PLAN. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary of Homeland Secu-
rity shall submit to Congress— 
(1) a plan to implement, on a permanent basis, 
the use of body-worn cameras by officers and agents 
of U.S. Customs and Border Protection; and 
(2) a plan to implement, on a permanent basis, 
the use of such cameras by officers and agents of 
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 
(b) ELEMENTS.—Each plan required by subsection 
(a) shall include the following: 
(1) A detailed description of the draft policies 
developed under section 3. 
(2) An identification of the following: 
(A) The number of body-worn cameras to 
be purchased and deployed. 
(B) Operational requirements for body- 
worn cameras, including systems and support 
staff. 
(C) The locations where body-worn cam-
eras will be used. 
(D) Costs associated with the use of body- 
worn cameras. 
(E) A description of the cost-benefit anal-
ysis used to determine the number, placement, 
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and location of body-worn cameras specified in 
the plan. 
(c) SUBMISSION.— 
(1) U.S. 
CUSTOMS
AND
BORDER
PROTEC-
TION.—The Secretary shall submit the plan required 
by subsection (a)(1) with respect to U.S. Customs 
and Border Protection not later than one year after 
the date of the enactment of this Act. 
(2) U.S. IMMIGRATION AND CUSTOMS ENFORCE-
MENT.—The Secretary shall submit the plan re-
quired by subsection (a)(2) with respect to U.S. Im-
migration and Customs Enforcement not later than 
21 months after the date of the enactment of this 
Act. 
SEC. 6. DEPLOYMENT OF BODY-WORN CAMERAS. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date on which an implementation plan is submitted under 
section 5, the Secretary of Homeland Security shall com-
mence implementation of the plan to ensure the use of 
body-worn cameras by officers and agents described in 
subsection (b) whose job duties involve or may reasonably 
be expected to involve law enforcement contacts with the 
public. 
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(b) OFFICERS AND AGENTS DESCRIBED.—Officers 
and agents described in this subsection are officers and 
agents of— 
(1) the Office of Field Operations, the U.S. 
Border Patrol, or Air and Marine Operations of 
U.S. Customs and Border Protection; or 
(2) Enforcement and Removal Operations or 
Homeland Security Investigations of U.S. Immigra-
tion and Customs Enforcement. 
Æ 
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