FPC Discusses Protocols for The Release of Milwaukee Officers’ Body Camera Footage

The Milwaukee Police and Fire Commission discussed possibilities for a change in policy when releasing officer body camera footage after critical incidents during a public meeting on Thursday.

Before the meeting began, grieving mothers and protesters from the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression rallied in front of Milwaukee City Hall in support of a faster timeline for information on critical incidents and police body camera footage to be released.

According to the MPD, their current standards is for the body camera footage to be released within 45 days of the critical incident occurring.

Members of the MAARPR created the 24/48 Campaign, which demands the names of officers involved in critical incidents to be released within 24 hours and all body camera footage of the incident or police misconduct to be released within 48 hours of the incident occurring.

Twenty-eight people spoke during public commenting section of the meeting, including Maria Hamilton, the mother of Dontre Hamilton.

Dontre Hamilton was shot and killed by Milwaukee police officer Christopher Manney in 2014. Manney was not charged for the shooting, but he was fired from the police department. Protests erupted after the incident, resulting in Milwaukee police officers being required to wear body cameras while working.

“I’m grieving because I didn’t have the opportunity to come here and ask you for body cam footage to see how my child died,” Hamilton said to the FPC. “It’s not going to take anything from you or anybody in the police department [to release footage] if there’s nothing wrong.”

The FPC discussed a possible timeline of releasing body camera footage to the public within 15 days of the incident and 48 hours to the families of victims.

Within those 15 days, however, police are allowed to edit the footage and delay release if they believe it may intervene with the investigation or notifying the victim’s family.

The MAARPR has been rallying for a change in these protocols for over two years.

“Without the transparency, there isn’t accountability for the police,” said Alan Chavoya, the outreach chairman for the MAARPR. “What good are those cameras if the public is not seeing what happened? The public needs to be able to see it right away.”

Commissioner Ruben Burgos believes that if the body camera footage is released too soon, there won’t be enough time for the police department to properly investigate the incident.

“We have to do it right,” said Burgos. “We have to let the system investigate so that we can get those police officers punished for what they’ve done when they do a mistake.”

The FPC approved a motion to vote on possibly updating their procedures during their next meeting on April 20.