I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION H. R. 3944 
To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets Act of 1968 to 
authorize a grant program to assist State and local law enforcement 
agencies in purchasing body-worn cameras and securely storing and 
maintaining recorded data for law enforcement officers. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
OCTOBER 4, 2017 
Mr. COHEN (for himself, Mr. GRIJALVA, Mr. CUMMINGS, Mr. ELLISON, Mr. 
HIGGINS of New York, Mrs. LAWRENCE, Ms. MCCOLLUM, Mr. MEEKS, 
Ms. MOORE, Ms. NORTON, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Ms. SLAUGHTER, Mr. 
SMITH of Washington, Mr. HASTINGS, and Mr. POLIS) introduced the 
following bill; which was referred to the Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To amend the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe Streets 
Act of 1968 to authorize a grant program to assist 
State and local law enforcement agencies in purchasing 
body-worn cameras and securely storing and maintaining 
recorded data for law enforcement officers. 
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 ‘‘Police Creating Ac-
countability by Making Effective Recording Available Act 
of 2017’’ or the ‘‘Police CAMERA Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM FOR LAW ENFORCE-
MENT BODY-WORN CAMERAS. 
Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (34 U.S.C. 10101 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘PART MM—MATCHING GRANT PROGRAM FOR 
LAW ENFORCEMENT BODY-WORN CAMERAS 
AND RECORDED DATA 
‘‘SEC. 3031. GRANT PROGRAM AUTHORIZED. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director of the Bureau of 
Justice Assistance (in this section referred to as the ‘Di-
rector’) may make grants to States, units of local govern-
ment, and Indian tribes to purchase or lease body-worn 
cameras for use by State, local, and tribal law enforcement 
officers (as defined in section 2503) and expenses related 
to the implementation of a body-worn camera program in 
order to deter excessive force, improve accountability and 
transparency of use of force by law enforcement officers, 
assist in responding to complaints against law enforce-
ment officers, and improve evidence collection. 
‘‘(b) DURATION OF GRANTS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Grants awarded under this 
part shall be 2 years in duration. 
‘‘(2) DISBURSEMENT OF GRANT AMOUNT.—In 
disbursing a grant awarded to an entity under this 
section— 
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‘‘(A) upon awarding the grant to the enti-
ty, the Director shall disburse 50 percent of the 
total grant amount to the entity; and 
‘‘(B) upon demonstration by the entity of 
completion of the requirements in subsection 
(d)(1), the Director shall disburse the remain-
ing 50 percent of the total grant amount to the 
entity. 
‘‘(c) USE OF FUNDS.—Grants awarded under this 
section shall be— 
‘‘(1) distributed directly to the State, unit of 
local government, or Indian tribe; and 
‘‘(2) used for— 
‘‘(A) the purchase or lease of body-worn 
cameras for law enforcement officers on patrol 
in the jurisdiction of the grantee; 
‘‘(B) any costs relating to the implementa-
tion of a body-worn camera program, including 
law enforcement officer training or the storage, 
maintenance, or security of recorded data col-
lected under a body-worn camera program; or 
‘‘(C) implementing policies or procedures 
to comply with the requirements described in 
subsection (d). 
‘‘(d) REQUIREMENTS.— 
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‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall award a 
grant under this section to a State, unit of local gov-
ernment, or Indian tribe requesting the grant that 
commits to— 
‘‘(A) establishing policies and procedures 
in accordance with the requirements described 
in paragraph (2) before law enforcement offi-
cers use of body-worn cameras; 
‘‘(B) adopting recorded data collection and 
retention protocols as described in paragraph 
(3) before law enforcement officers use of body- 
worn cameras; 
‘‘(C) making the policies and protocols de-
scribed in subparagraphs (A) and (B) available 
to the public; and 
‘‘(D) complying with the requirements for 
use of recorded data under paragraph (5). 
‘‘(2) REQUIRED POLICIES AND PROCEDURES.— 
An entity receiving a grant under this section 
shall— 
‘‘(A) develop with community input and 
publish for public view policies and protocols 
for— 
‘‘(i) the safe and effective use of body- 
worn cameras; 
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‘‘(ii) the secure storage, handling, and 
destruction of recorded data collected by 
body-worn cameras; 
‘‘(iii) protecting the privacy rights of 
any individual who may be recorded by a 
body-worn camera; 
‘‘(iv) the release of any recorded data 
collected by a body-worn camera in accord-
ance with the open records laws, if any, of 
the State; and 
‘‘(v) making recorded data available 
to prosecutors, defense attorneys, and 
other officers of the court in accordance 
with paragraph (5); and 
‘‘(B) conduct periodic evaluations of the 
security of the storage and handling of the 
body-worn camera data. 
‘‘(3) RECORDED
DATA
COLLECTION
AND
RE-
TENTION PROTOCOL.—The recorded data collection 
and retention protocol described in this paragraph is 
a protocol that— 
‘‘(A) requires— 
‘‘(i) a law enforcement officer who is 
wearing a body-mounted camera to provide 
an explanation if an activity that is re-
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quired to be recorded by the body-mounted 
camera is not recorded; 
‘‘(ii) a law enforcement officer who is 
wearing a body-mounted camera to obtain 
consent to be recorded from a crime victim 
or witness before interviewing the victim or 
witness; 
‘‘(iii) the collection of recorded data 
unrelated to a legitimate law enforcement 
purpose be minimized to the greatest ex-
tent practicable; 
‘‘(iv) the system used to store re-
corded data collected by body-worn cam-
eras shall log all viewing, modification, or 
deletion of stored recorded data and shall 
prevent, to the greatest extent practicable, 
the unauthorized access or disclosure of 
stored recorded data; 
‘‘(v) any law enforcement officer be 
prohibited from accessing the stored data 
without an authorized purpose; and 
‘‘(vi) the law enforcement agency to 
collect and report statistical data on— 
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‘‘(I) incidences of use of force, 
disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gen-
der, and age of the victim; 
‘‘(II) the number of complaints 
filed against law enforcement officers; 
‘‘(III) the disposition of com-
plaints filed against law enforcement 
officers; 
‘‘(IV) the number of times cam-
era footage is used for evidence collec-
tion in investigations of crimes; and 
‘‘(V) any other additional statis-
tical data that the Director deter-
mines should be collected and re-
ported; 
‘‘(B) allows an individual to file a com-
plaint with a law enforcement agency relating 
to the improper use of body-worn cameras; and 
‘‘(C) complies with any other requirements 
established by the Director. 
‘‘(4) REPORTING.—Statistical data required to 
be collected under paragraph (3)(A)(vi) shall be re-
ported to the Director, who shall— 
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‘‘(A) establish a standardized reporting 
system for statistical data collected under this 
program; and 
‘‘(B) establish a national database of sta-
tistical data recorded under this program. 
‘‘(5) USE OR TRANSFER OF RECORDED DATA.— 
‘‘(A) IN
GENERAL.—Recorded data col-
lected by an entity receiving a grant under this 
section from a body-mounted camera shall be 
used only in internal and external investigations 
of misconduct by a law enforcement agency or 
officer, if there is reasonable suspicion that a 
recording contains evidence of a crime, or for 
limited training purposes. The Director shall es-
tablish rules to ensure that the recorded data is 
used only for the purposes described in this 
subparagraph. 
‘‘(B) PROHIBITION
ON
TRANSFER.—Ex-
cept as provided in subparagraph (C), an entity 
receiving a grant under this section may not 
transfer any recorded data collected by the enti-
ty from a body-mounted camera to another law 
enforcement or intelligence agency. 
‘‘(C) EXCEPTIONS.— 
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‘‘(i) CRIMINAL
INVESTIGATION.—An 
entity receiving a grant under this section 
may transfer recorded data collected by the 
entity from a body-mounted camera to an-
other law enforcement agency or intel-
ligence agency for use in a criminal inves-
tigation if the requesting law enforcement 
or intelligence agency has reasonable sus-
picion that the requested data contains evi-
dence relating to the crime being inves-
tigated. 
‘‘(ii) CIVIL RIGHTS CLAIMS.—An enti-
ty receiving a grant under this section may 
transfer recorded data collected by the law 
enforcement agency from a body-mounted 
camera to another law enforcement agency 
for use in an investigation of any right, 
privilege, or immunity secured or protected 
by the Constitution or laws of the United 
States. 
‘‘(e) MATCHING FUNDS.— 
‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in para-
graph (3), the Federal share of the cost of a pro-
gram carried out using a grant under this part may 
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not exceed 75 percent of the total cost of the pro-
gram. 
‘‘(2) INDIAN ASSISTANCE.—Any funds appro-
priated by Congress for the activities of any agency 
of an Indian tribal government or the Bureau of In-
dian Affairs performing law enforcement functions 
on any Indian lands may be used to provide the non- 
Federal share of the matching requirement described 
in paragraph (1). 
‘‘(3) WAIVER.—The Director may waive, in 
whole or in part, the matching requirement de-
scribed in paragraph (1) in the case of fiscal hard-
ship, as determined by the Director. 
‘‘(f) ALLOCATION OF FUNDS.—For fiscal years 2018 
and 2019, of the amounts appropriated to the Bureau of 
Justice Assistance, $30,000,000 shall be used to carry out 
this part. 
‘‘(g) AUDIT AND ASSESSMENT.— 
‘‘(1) IN
GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years 
after the date of enactment of this part, the Director 
of the Office of Audit, Assessment, and Management 
shall perform an assessment of the grant program 
and the policies and protocols of the grantees. 
‘‘(2) REPORTS.—Not later than September 1 of 
each year, beginning 2 years after the date of enact-
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ment of this part, each recipient of a grant under 
this part shall submit to the Director of the Office 
of Audit, Assessment, and Management a report 
that— 
‘‘(A) describes the progress of the body- 
worn camera program; and 
‘‘(B) contains recommendations on ways in 
which the Federal Government, States, and 
units of local government can further support 
the implementation of the program. 
‘‘(3) REVIEW.—The Director of the Office of 
Audit, Assessment, and Management shall evaluate 
the policies and protocols of the grantees and take 
such steps as the Director of the Office of Audit, As-
sessment, and Management determines necessary to 
ensure compliance with the program. 
‘‘SEC. 3032. BODY-WORN CAMERA TRAINING TOOLKIT. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—The Director shall establish and 
maintain a toolkit for law enforcement agencies, academia, 
and other relevant entities to provide training and tech-
nical assistance, including best practices for implementa-
tion, model policies and procedures, and research mate-
rials. 
‘‘(b) MECHANISM.—In establishing the toolkit re-
quired to under subsection (a), the Director may consoli-
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date research, practices, templates, and tools that been de-
veloped by expert and law enforcement agencies across the 
country. 
‘‘SEC. 3033. APPLICATIONS. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—To request a grant under this 
part, the chief executive of a State, unit of local govern-
ment, or Indian tribe shall submit an application to the 
Director in a form and containing information as the Di-
rector may reasonably require. 
‘‘(b) REGULATIONS.—Not later than 90 days after 
the date of the enactment of this part, the Director shall 
promulgate regulations to implement this part, including 
the information that shall be included and the require-
ments that the States, units of local government, and In-
dian tribes must meet in submitting the applications re-
quired under this section. 
‘‘SEC. 3034. STUDY. 
‘‘(a) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 2 years after the 
date on which all grants are awarded under this part, the 
Director shall conduct a study on— 
‘‘(1) the efficacy of body-worn cameras in deter-
ring excessive force by law enforcement officers; 
‘‘(2) the impact of body-worn cameras on the 
accountability and transparency of the use of force 
by law enforcement officers; 
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‘‘(13) any other factors that the Director deter-
mines are relevant in evaluating the efficacy of body- 
worn cameras. 
‘‘(b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the 
date on which the study required under subsection (a) is 
completed, the Director shall submit to Congress a report 
on the study, which shall include any policy recommenda-
tions that the Director considers appropriate.’’. 
Æ 
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