I 
115TH CONGRESS 
1ST SESSION 
H. R. 124 
To establish a grant program providing for the acquisition, operation, and 
maintenance of body-worn cameras for law enforcement officers, and 
for other purposes. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
JANUARY 3, 2017 
Mr. AL GREEN of Texas introduced the following bill; which was referred to 
the Committee on the Judiciary, and in addition to the Committee on 
Armed Services, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speak-
er, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the ju-
risdiction of the committee concerned 
A BILL 
To establish a grant program providing for the acquisition, 
operation, and maintenance of body-worn cameras for 
law enforcement officers, 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 ‘‘Camera Accountability 
Maintenance and Transparency in Policing Act of 2017’’ 
or the ‘‘CAM TIP Act of 2017’’. 
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SEC. 2. BODY-WORN CAMERA GRANTS. 
Title I of the Omnibus Crime Control and Safe 
Streets Act of 1968 (42 U.S.C. 3711 et seq.) is amended 
by adding at the end the following: 
‘‘PART MM—BODY-WORN CAMERA GRANTS 
‘‘SEC. 3031. IN GENERAL. 
‘‘From amounts made available to the Bureau of Jus-
tice Assistance, the Director of the Bureau of Justice As-
sistance may make grants to States, units of local govern-
ment, and Indian tribes for the acquisition, operation, and 
maintenance of body-worn cameras for law enforcement 
officers. In making such grants, the Director shall assess 
the program proposed by the applicant for the elements 
described in section 3033. 
‘‘SEC. 3032. USES OF FUNDS. 
‘‘Grants awarded under this part shall be— 
‘‘(1) distributed directly to the State, unit of 
local government, or Indian tribe; and 
‘‘(2) used for the program described under sec-
tion 3033. 
‘‘SEC. 3033. PROGRAM DESCRIBED. 
‘‘The program described in this section is any pro-
gram implemented by a grantee requiring the use of body- 
worn cameras by law enforcement officers in that jurisdic-
tion, which— 
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‘‘(1) establishes policies and procedures for 
when law enforcement officers should wear, activate, 
and deactivate body-worn cameras; 
‘‘(2) ensures the protection of the civil liberties 
of members of general public relating to the use of 
body-worn cameras by law enforcement officers; 
‘‘(3) establishes policies limiting the use of re-
cordings of body-worn cameras to monitor the con-
duct of law enforcement officers outside of their 
interactions, in an official capacity, with members of 
the general public; 
‘‘(4) establishes or proposes to develop stand-
ards relating to the effective placement, on a law en-
forcement officer’s body, of a body-worn camera; 
‘‘(5) describes the best practices for receiving 
an accurate narrative from the recordings of body- 
worn cameras; 
‘‘(6) establishes policies for the collection and 
storage of the recordings of body-worn cameras; 
‘‘(7) establishes policies relating to the avail-
ability of recordings of body-worn cameras— 
‘‘(A) to the general public; 
‘‘(B) to victims of crimes; and 
‘‘(C) for internal use by the law enforce-
ment agency; and 
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‘‘(8) has in place guidelines and training 
courses for law enforcement officers relating to the 
proper management and use of body-worn cameras. 
‘‘SEC. 3034. MATCHING REQUIREMENTS. 
‘‘(a) FEDERAL SHARE.—The portion of the costs of 
a program provided by a grant under this part may not 
exceed 50 percent. Any funds appropriated by Congress 
for the activities of any agency of an Indian tribal govern-
ment or the Bureau of Indian Affairs performing law en-
forcement functions on any Indian lands may be used to 
provide the non-Federal share of a matching requirement 
funded under this subsection. 
‘‘(b) NON-FEDERAL SHARE.—The non-Federal share 
of payments made under this part may be made in cash 
or in-kind fairly evaluated, including planned equipment 
or services. 
‘‘SEC. 3035. FUNDING. 
‘‘Grants under this part may be made using the funds 
that are available under section 506(a)(1).’’. 
SEC. 3. STUDY ON THE COST OF THE PURCHASE AND USE 
OF BODY-WORN CAMERAS BY LAW ENFORCE-
MENT AGENCIES. 
(a) STUDY.—The Attorney General shall conduct a 
study on the cost to State and local law enforcement agen-
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cies of purchasing and using body-worn cameras or other 
similar cameras, including gun-mounted cameras. 
(b) REPORT.—Not later than 180 days after the date 
of the enactment of this Act, the Attorney General shall 
submit to Congress a report that contains the results of 
the study conducted under subsection (a). 
SEC. 4. ESTABLISHMENT OF TASK FORCE ON COMMUNITY 
POLICING AND BODY CAMERA ACCOUNT-
ABILITY. 
There shall be established in the Department of Jus-
tice a task force to do the following: 
(1) The task force shall be created to provide 
recommendations on community policing, including 
best practices for creating accountability and trans-
parency. 
(2) Not later than one year after the date of 
the enactment of this Act, the task force shall pro-
vide a report to the Congress, which shall include 
the recommendations under paragraph (1). 
(3) Membership shall include representatives of 
civil rights organizations, Federal, State, and local 
law enforcement personnel, and community policing 
experts. 
(4) The task force shall develop proper body- 
worn camera training protocol. 
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(5) The task force shall study the impact that 
citizen review boards could have on investigating 
cases of alleged police misconduct. 
(6) Not later than 1 year after implementation 
of the body camera requirement policy under section 
3033 of title I of the Omnibus Crime Control Act of 
1968, the task force shall conduct a survey to deter-
mine best practices and effectiveness of the policy 
with findings to be reported back to the Congress. 
SEC. 5. GAO REPORT ON PENTAGON’S 1033 PROGRAM. 
Not later than 90 days after the date of enactment 
of this Act, the Comptroller General of the United States 
shall submit to the Congress a report on the Department 
of Defense Excess Personal Property Program established 
pursuant to section 1033 of the National Defense Author-
ization Act for Fiscal Year 1997 (Public Law 104–201), 
that includes information on— 
(1) which jurisdictions equipment is sent to; 
(2) the value of equipment sent to each jurisdic-
tion; 
(3) the level of training provided to officers; 
and 
(4) how the equipment is used in the jurisdic-
tion. 
Æ 
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