# 119-hr-1188: Police CAMERA Act of 2025

119-hr-1188, Police CAMERA Act of 2025, is a 119th Congress bill sponsored by Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9] (D-TN); status introduced (as of 2026-04-21).

- Canonical: https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1188
- As of: 2026-04-21
- Plain-text twin of the page above; the HTML and this file carry the same facts.

## Facts
- Bill: 119-hr-1188
- Congress: 119
- Title: Police CAMERA Act of 2025
- Status: introduced
- Introduced: 2025-02-11
- Sponsor: Rep. Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9] (D-TN)
- Cosponsors: 0
- Policy area: Crime and Law Enforcement
- Touches household money: no
- Last recorded action: 2026-04-21

## Summary

**Federal matching grants for body-worn cameras** would create a Justice Department program to help states, local governments, and Indian tribes buy or lease body-worn cameras and cover data security, storage, and training. It ties grant awards to rules on privacy, data handling, and reporting. - Law enforcement agencies: Could receive two-year grants to purchase or lease body-worn cameras and to fund training, data storage, maintenance, and program implementation. The federal share is capped at 75 percent and the Director may waive matching requirements for fiscal hardship. - Communities, victims, and courts: Grantees must develop policies with community input, publish protocols, allow people to file complaints, limit facial recognition use to serious cases with judicial authorization, and report use-of-force and complaint data disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, and age. - Federal oversight and evaluation: The Director would create a national reporting system and a Body-Worn Camera Training Toolkit, require audits and annual progress reports, and commission a study with recommendations to Congress. The measure allocates $30 million from FY2026–FY2028 for the program. *Would increase federal spending by about $30 million from 2026–2028 to fund grants and program oversight.*

## Provisions PRIA read

- Grants to buy police body cameras: benefit, medium. If enacted, the federal government would offer two-year grants to States, local governments, and Tribes to buy or lease body-worn cameras for on‑patrol officers. Half the money would be paid at award, and half after the agency shows it met required steps. The grants could also pay for training and…
- Privacy and rules for body‑cam footage: benefit, medium. If enacted, agencies that take these grants would have to write and publish camera policies with community input before using cameras. Policies would cover when to record, victim or witness consent for interviews, and limits on facial recognition with court approval only for serious threats or crim…
- Study on how body cams work: benefit, low. If enacted, within two years after all grants are awarded, the Director would study how body‑worn cameras affect force, complaints, safety, evidence, privacy, and facial recognition limits. The Director would send Congress a report with any policy recommendations within 180 days after the study end…
- Training and toolkit for camera programs: benefit, low. If enacted, the Director would create and maintain a toolkit to help police and partners run body‑camera programs. It would include training, model policies, templates, best practices, and research gathered from experts nationwide. Agencies could use it to start or improve their programs.

## Related bills

- 119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025
- 119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act
- 119-hr-7481: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026
- 119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act
- 119-hr-4714: End Polluter Welfare Act of 2025
- 119-hr-3971: Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act

## Sources
- [119-hr-1188 on Congress.gov](https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1188)

## Related
- [119-hr-3151: SHIPS for America Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3151)
- [119-hr-7977: Energy Bills Relief Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7977)
- [119-hr-7481: Department of Homeland Security Appropriations Act, 2026](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7481)
- [119-hr-7973: Momnibus Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-7973)
- [119-hr-4714: End Polluter Welfare Act of 2025](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-4714)
- [119-hr-3971: Domestic Workers Bill of Rights Act](https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-3971)
- [All bills in Congress](https://policyrisk.com/legislation)

Source: PRIA, https://policyrisk.com/legislation/119-hr-1188 (as of 2026-04-21).