I 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. R. 6382 
To deny Federal assistance to any State or local law enforcement agencies 
whose officers use excessive force or violence leading to the death of 
innocent or unarmed citizens, or who fail to establish, enforce, and 
follow transparent and accountable procedures that fully protect the 
lives and health of citizens during surveillance, interrogation, arrest or 
imprisonment from torture, excessive physical or psychological abuse 
and death, and to require a system of transparent legal and public 
review of such allegations and cases that can result in the sanction, 
punishment, and removal of officers who perpetrate such abuses or their 
superiors. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
DECEMBER 6, 2006 
Ms. MCKINNEY introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
Committee on the Judiciary 
A BILL 
To deny Federal assistance to any State or local law enforce-
ment agencies whose officers use excessive force or vio-
lence leading to the death of innocent or unarmed citi-
zens, or who fail to establish, enforce, and follow trans-
parent and accountable procedures that fully protect the 
lives and health of citizens during surveillance, interroga-
tion, arrest or imprisonment from torture, excessive 
physical or psychological abuse and death, and to require 
a system of transparent legal and public review of such 
allegations and cases that can result in the sanction, 
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punishment, and removal of officers who perpetrate such 
abuses or their superiors. 
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 ‘‘Law Enforcement 
Abuse Transparency and Accountability Act of 2006’’. 
SEC. 2. FINDINGS. 
Congress finds the following: 
(1) American law enforcement has a funda-
mental duty to provide compassion, aid, and protec-
tion and safety to the people it serves. 
(2) A primary function of law enforcement is to 
preserve life, regardless of the race, ethnicity, reli-
gion, social or economic standing, sexual preference, 
or country of origin of the individuals involved. 
(3) Over many years, thousands of cases of 
State and local law enforcement agency violations of 
suspects, detainees, and prisoners went inadequately 
addressed across the United States, especially in Af-
rican-American communities and other communities 
of color or poverty. 
(4) In recent years, procedures, training, and 
public oversight have failed to significantly curb or 
eliminate abuses and murders of innocent suspects 
and citizens at the hands of officers of the law, to 
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fully investigate claims of excessive use of force, or 
to adequately reprimand, punish, or remove such of-
fenders or their superiors. 
(5) A special prosecutor in Chicago has been in-
vestigating a police abuse ring that operated over 
three decades with impunity, responsible for tor-
turing over 200 African-American males in their 
custody at the Area 2 and Area 3 police head-
quarters. 
(6) Since the 1997 New York Police Depart-
ment torture of Abner Louima, and the fatal shoot-
ing of Amadou Bailo Diallo in 1999, public and 
media attention concerning abuse of power and the 
unjustified and improper use of force by law enforce-
ment in communities of color has continuously in-
creased, as have the number of outraged community 
responses and the demands for external oversight of 
police practices. 
(7) More recently, police in Chicago on Novem-
ber 25, 2006, police officers in New York City shot 
50 times and killed an unarmed man, Sean Bell. 
The next day, a community rally protested the police 
action and called for the removal of Police Commis-
sioner Raymond Kelly. 
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(8) Fatal shootings and abuse of suspects and 
prisoners have come to light again recently in other 
cities, including Atlanta, Georgia, and DeKalb Coun-
ty, Georgia. 
(9) Every major State and local city law en-
forcement agency receives and depends on some level 
of Federal funding, training, grants, or assistance, 
paid for primarily from the tax revenues of the citi-
zens being abused. 
(10) The common and continuing unaccount-
able behavior and silence of members of law enforce-
ment agencies regarding these abuses are a disgrace 
to the efforts of law enforcement agencies through-
out the United States and should not be tolerated. 
(11) The lack of transparency, oversight, com-
munity involvement, independent review and inves-
tigation, and consequences to the law enforcement 
violators makes continuing abuse more likely, and 
must be reversed by denying Federal funding to any 
law enforcement agency that fails to establish a min-
imum of professional training and procedures of en-
gagement; that tolerates abuses or fatal use of ex-
cessive force; that fails to operate under rules of 
transparency and community oversight, investiga-
tion, and review; that fails to discipline, remove, or 
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otherwise hold accountable any perpetrators acting 
under the color of law enforcement; or that refuses 
to fairly hear each case or allegation of possible 
abuse or excessive use of force by law enforcement 
officers, reviewed by an established and independent 
forum. 
SEC. 3. SENSE OF CONGRESS. 
It is the sense of Congress that the dishonorable ac-
tions referred to in section 2 should be independently in-
vestigated, recorded, and condemned. 
SEC. 4. INELIGIBILITY FOR FEDERAL ASSISTANCE. 
(a) IN GENERAL.—During the 1-year period begin-
ning on the date of enactment of this Act, or until trans-
parency and accountability are fully restored, law enforce-
ment agencies that do not have established procedures for 
independent oversight and review, or do not hold violations 
by police of excessive use of force, torture, or man-
slaughter accountable, shall be ineligible to participate in 
any Federal program, whether by funding, assistance, con-
tract, grant, personnel support, or otherwise. 
(b) LICENSES.—During the 1-year period beginning 
on the date of enactment of this Act, any Federal license 
issued to any such law enforcement agencies shall be sus-
pended, or until transparency and accountability are fully 
restored. 
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