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119-hr-1240119th Congress

National Statistics on Deadly Force Transparency Act of 2025

Sponsored By: Representative Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9]

Introduced

Summary

This bill would require a national data collection on deadly force incidents by federal, state, and local law enforcement. It links standardized reporting and privacy safeguards to a grant penalty for noncompliance.

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  • Law enforcement agencies would complete and submit a standardized form to the Department of Justice for every use of deadly force. Required items include demographics of the person targeted and the officer, date and location, alleged criminal activity, nature of force (including firearms), an agency explanation, any use-of-force guidelines in effect, and nonlethal steps tried before deadly force. Agencies must keep the data for at least 4 years.
  • Names or identifying information for officers, targets, or other individuals may not be released to the public. Freedom of Information Act releases are limited except to the particular person involved or for litigation.
  • The Bureau of Justice Statistics would compile the collected data and provide it to Congress and make it available to the public, while excluding protected personally identifiable information.
  • States and units of local government that receive Byrne JAG grants would face a 10 percent reduction in the following fiscal-year award if they substantially fail to comply for a fiscal year.

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Bill Overview

Analyzed Economic Effects

3 provisions identified: 1 benefits, 1 costs, 1 mixed.

Nationwide tracking and public reporting of police deadly force

Within 6 months of enactment, the Attorney General would set rules to track every police use of deadly force. A standard form would capture details like race or ethnicity, gender, age, religion, date, time, place, alleged crime, and how force was used. Agencies would send the form to the Justice Department’s Bureau of Justice Statistics and keep the records for at least 4 years. The Bureau would give the data to Congress and make it public, without names or other personal identifiers.

Grant cuts if agencies do not report

States or local governments that get Byrne JAG grants would face a 10% cut next year if they substantially fail to report deadly-force data for a fiscal year. The cut would apply to the amount they would otherwise receive the following year.

Privacy limits on released incident data

The bill would bar release of names or other identifying details for officers, targets, and others in these incidents. Identifying details could be shared only to follow this law, to give a person their own information, or in a lawsuit. These identifying records would be exempt from FOIA, except a person could get their own information.

Sponsors & CoSponsors

Sponsor

Cohen, Steve [D-TN-9]

TN • D

Cosponsors

There are no cosponsors for this bill.

Roll Call Votes

No roll call votes available for this bill.

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