YourVoice.Now Summary
Transparency & AccountabilityCivil LibertiesCriminal Justice & Due ProcessFederal officers would wear body cameras during stops, and video of police force would be kept 3 years and open to public request.
Transparency & Accountability
Every federal law enforcement officer would wear a camera that records sound and video during calls and stops. The camera must stay on until the stop ends and the officer leaves.
Requests for video where someone was killed, shot, or badly hurt go to the front of the line. If approved, the video must be released within 5 days.
Agencies could not refuse to release video on the grounds that it is part of an investigation when the person being reviewed is an officer acting on duty.
Each federal agency would put cameras in all patrol cars that record stops, emergency-light runs, and rides with people under arrest. Recordings could not be erased for at least 90 days.
Any federal agency policy on body cameras, their use, or their footage would have to be posted publicly on that agency's website.
Civil Liberties
Before entering a home without a warrant, an officer must ask if the person living there wants the camera off. Crime victims and people reporting a crime anonymously must also be asked.
No camera covered by the bill could use face recognition or other body-scanning ID tools. Agencies also could not ask another agency to run those tools on the footage for them.
Body cameras could not be used to collect intelligence based on speech, groups you belong to, or religion. They also could not record activity unrelated to a call or stop.
During the 6-month storage period, people on camera, parents of minors, and families of people who died could view the footage. So could a defense lawyer who swears it may help a client.
Criminal Justice & Due Process
If officers fail to record, fail to keep footage, or tamper with it, courts would presume the missing video favored the defendant. People suing over officer misconduct get the same presumption, unless compliance was impossible.
Video recorded in a way that breaks this law or another law could not be used as evidence against a member of the public, in criminal or civil cases.
When footage shows force, or a stop someone complained about, officers could not watch it before finishing their first reports and interviews. The exception is an immediate threat in the field.
More about this bill
Federal law enforcement officers would have to wear body cameras when they stop or question you. The camera would record sound and video from the start of a stop until the officer leaves. Officers would have to tell you that you are being recorded. Federal patrol cars would also need dash cameras. Those would record traffic stops and rides with people under arrest, and the video would be kept at least 90 days. You could ask an officer to turn the camera off in some cases. That includes before an officer enters your home without a warrant, or when you are a crime victim or an anonymous tipster. Cameras could not use face recognition. They could not be used to gather intelligence on your speech, beliefs, or religion. Most footage would be deleted after 6 months. Footage of any use of force, or of a stop someone complained about, would be kept at least 3 years. People on camera, their families, and defense lawyers could view it. The public could request footage of any use of force. Other footage would need written consent from the people on it. If someone was killed, shot, or badly hurt, approved requests would be filled within 5 days. Officers who skip recording or tamper with footage would face discipline. Courts would also assume the missing footage would have helped the defendant or the person suing. Military police and protective details would be exempt. Cameras would stay off at schools unless there is a threat to life or health. The Attorney General would write the rules within 6 months after the bill becomes law.
Congressional Summary
Federal Police Camera and Accountability Act This bill establishes requirements for federal law enforcement officers to wear body cameras and for federal law enforcement agencies to install video cameras in patrol cars.
Details
- Congress
- 119th
- Chamber
- House
- Status
- summarized
- Action
- Introduced in House
- Action Date
- 2025-08-29
- Date Added
- 2026-09-29
- Source
- Congress.gov →
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