Cost of Police Misconduct Act

Full Title:
Cost of Police Misconduct Act of 2026

Summary#

This bill would require federal, state, and local law enforcement agencies to collect and report information about allegations of officer misconduct that result in judgments or settlements. The Attorney General must list federal law enforcement agencies and post that list online. Federal agencies must begin collecting data 120 days after enactment and report annually to the Attorney General. State and local governments that receive Byrne JAG grants must also collect and report similar data, or face up to a 10-percent cut in certain grant funds. Reported information includes numbers of judgments and settlements, demographics of officers and civilians involved (if known), years of incidents and reports, types of allegations, personnel actions, amounts paid, and the source of money used to pay. The Attorney General must create a public, searchable database of the reported data (excluding personally identifiable officer information), update it yearly, and publish annual reports. The Comptroller General must study the data after two full years and report findings and recommendations roughly three years after enactment.

What it means for you#

  • If you live in a state or city that gets Byrne JAG funding, your local agencies must report settlements and judgments connected to misconduct. Those reports must be published on the state or local website shortly after submission to the Attorney General.
  • The public will be able to search a department of justice database for aggregated data about misconduct-related payments and related information (but not officers' personal identifiers).
  • Agencies will need to track and report details such as the type of allegation, the year of the incident, personnel actions, and payment sources.
  • States or localities that do not comply may lose up to 10% of certain federal public safety grants for the current or next fiscal year.

Expenses#

  • The bill requires reporting of the total amounts paid for judgments and settlements and requires disclosure of the source of those payments (for example, budgets, insurance, bonds, or risk pools).
  • No publicly available information on estimated costs to implement the reporting, create and maintain the database, or other administrative expenses.

Proponents' View#

No publicly available information.

Opponents' View#

No publicly available information.