Body-worn cameras

(a) Provision of body-Worn cameras The Secretary of Homeland Security shall ensure that each immigration enforcement officer or agent who interacts with members of the public is equipped with a body-worn camera. All such cameras shall be worn in a location and manner that maximizes the camera’s ability to capture video footage of the officer’s activities. (b) Required activation Except as provided under subsections (c) and (d), an immigration enforcement officer or agent shall wear and activate a body-worn camera, and a dash camera if the officer’s vehicle is equipped with such a camera, while— (1) responding to a call for an enforcement action; (2) entering any premises for the purpose of enforcing the law or investigating possible violations of law; or (3) engaging in any interaction with a member of the public initiated by an officer or agent, whether consensual or nonconsensual, for the purpose of enforcing the law or investigating possible violations of law. (c) Exceptions; privacy notifications (1) En route A body-worn camera need not be activated while an officer or agent is traveling to a call for an enforcement action, but shall be activated shortly before the officer or agent arrives at the scene. (2) Undercover An officer or agent working in an undercover assignment is not required to wear a body-worn camera. (3) Notification An officer or agent wearing a body-worn camera shall notify all subjects of the recording that they are being recorded as close to the commencement of the encounter as is reasonably possible. (d) Permissible deactivation; civilian request (1) Deactivation An immigration enforcement officer or agent may deactivate a body-worn camera— (A) while working on an unrelated assignment or during a prolonged break in an incident; or (B) during administrative, tactical, or management discussions when members of the public are not present. (2) Civilian request Before entering a private residence without a warrant, or when interacting with an apparent crime victim or anonymous source, an officer shall ask if the individual wants the camera to be deactivated. If the individual responds affirmatively, the officer shall deactivate the camera. The offer to deactivate and the response from the victim or source shall be recorded by the camera before such deactivation. (e) Failure To activate or tampering (1) In general If an officer or agent fails to activate a body-worn camera in accordance with the requirements under this section or tampers with camera footage when activation is required— (A) there shall be a permissive inference, in any investigation or legal proceeding (excluding criminal proceedings against the officer or agent), that the missing footage would have reflected misconduct; (B) any statements or conduct that was not recorded by other means shall be subject to a rebuttable presumption of inadmissibility; and (C) a rebuttable evidentiary presumption shall be adopted in favor of criminal defendants or civil plaintiffs who reasonably assert that exculpatory evidence was destroyed or not captured. (2) Proof compliance was impossible The disciplinary action requirement and rebuttable presumptions described in subparagraphs (B) and (C) of paragraph (1) may be overcome by contrary evidence or proof of exigent circumstances that made compliance impossible. (f) Discipline; certification consequences In addition to any criminal liability— (1) if an adjudicative body or final agency determination finds that an officer or agent intentionally failed to activate or tampered with a camera (except as permitted under this section), the employing agency shall impose discipline upon the officer or agent, up to and including termination, consistent with applicable law; (2) unless otherwise permitted under this section, if the conduct of the officer or agent was undertaken with the intent to conceal unlawful or inappropriate actions or obstruct justice, the officer’s or agent’s certification or authority to perform enforcement duties shall be suspended for not less than 1 year, subject to reinstatement only upon exoneration; and (3) if such conduct occurred in an incident resulting in the death or serious bodily injury of a civilian, the officer’s or agent’s certification or authority to perform enforcement duties shall be permanently revoked, subject to reinstatement only upon exoneration. (g) Integrity of reports No officer or agent may review or receive an accounting of any body-worn camera footage related to a use of force or misconduct complaint before completing all required initial reports, statements, and interviews regarding the recorded event. (h) Retention of recordings The Secretary of Homeland Security shall establish a retention schedule for body-worn camera recordings that requires— (1) standard footage to be retained for a period of not less than 6 months; and (2) footage involving the use of force or a complaint to be retained for a period of not less than 3 years. (i) Public release; privacy protections (1) Misconduct Not later than 21 days after receiving a complaint alleging misconduct by an immigration enforcement officer or agent, the Department of Homeland Security shall release all unedited audio and video recordings of the incident to the public, subject to privacy protections and delayed release provisions under subsection (j). (2) Death or serious injury Not later than 5 days after an immigration enforcement incident resulting in death or serious injury, the Department of Homeland Security shall release all unedited audio and video recordings of the incident to the public, subject to privacy protections and delayed release provisions under subsection (j). (3) Prohibition on secondary use during retention period During any retention period established under this subsection, body-worn camera footage shall be stored in an isolated system that is not accessible to, and may not be queried by, any immigration enforcement targeting system, fusion center, or interagency intelligence platform. Access to retained footage shall be limited to personnel directly involved in accountability review or legal proceedings arising from the recorded interaction. (j) Privacy protections and delayed release (1) Death Recordings depicting death shall be made available to a victim’s immediate family or lawful representative before being publicly released. (2) Privacy interests (A) In general Recordings implicating substantial privacy interests may be blurred to protect such interests without removing any portion of the recording. (B) Limited release If blurring a recording is insufficient— (i) the recording shall be released to affected individuals or their lawful representatives; and (ii) the Department of Homeland Security shall notify affected persons of their right to waive the restrictions under this subsection. (3) Investigations A recording of alleged misconduct may be temporarily withheld if the release of such recording would substantially interfere with an ongoing investigation. Such recording shall be publicly released not later than 45 days after the allegation of misconduct, accompanied by a written justification for the delay.