Police CAMERA Act of 2025

Key Points

• The bill creates a federal grant program to help state, local, and tribal law enforcement agencies buy or lease body-worn cameras. The federal government covers up to 75% of costs, with a waiver available for agencies facing financial hardship.
• The program would receive $30 million per year for fiscal years 2026 through 2028, totaling $90 million over three years, funded through the Bureau of Justice Assistance.
• Police departments receiving grants must develop privacy policies with community input, set rules for secure data storage, and create protocols for when cameras should be on. Officers must explain any gap in recording required activities and get consent before recording crime victims or witnesses.
• The bill places strict limits on facial recognition technology used with camera footage. Officers would generally need a judge's approval, and use would be restricted to imminent threats or serious crimes, with double verification of any faces identified.
• Departments must collect and report data on use of force broken down by race, ethnicity, gender, and age, as well as complaints filed against officers and how those complaints are resolved. This data feeds into a new national database.
• Camera footage can only be used for misconduct investigations, cases where there is reasonable suspicion of a crime, or limited training purposes. Sharing footage with other agencies is banned unless it is for a criminal investigation or a civil rights case.