Milwaukee Police Must Release Crime Footage Within 15 Days

File photo of police body camera. Photo by Ryan Johnson, CC BY-SA 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons

The Fire & Police Commission, the oversight board for the Milwaukee Police Department, unanimously passed a policy Thursday night that will drastically accelerate the release of body camera footage to the public.

The chair of the citizen-led commission, Edward Fallone, called the move a “major step forward for the city of Milwaukee.”

But not everyone is happy.

The president of Milwaukee Police Association, the union for rank-and-file officers, blasted the change in a press release. The union sued to block the policy’s implementation.

The new policy, with no exceptions, requires footage to be released to victims and their families within 48 hours and to the public within 15 days. For more than a year, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Oppression (MAARPR) had pushed for all critical incident videos to be released within 48 hours. The current, unwritten practice by MPD is to release videos within 45 days as part of a “community briefing” video.

“These activist groups misuse important words like ‘transparency’ and ‘trust’ to push their agenda, but at the same time they reject factual data from previous community briefings. Instead of waiting for an investigation to be completed, their goal appears to be setting their own narrative. We have all seen where false narratives have been put out to the public to incite riots,” said union president Andrew Wagner. He said the commission is failing to consider that the officer “is the victim and is guaranteed privacy protections under Masry’s Law.”

Wagner said the new standard operating procedure violates the contract between his union and the city. The policy applies to officer-involved shootings and other “critical incidents.”

Unless a court intervenes, the policy would go into effect May 1.

Police Chief Jeffrey Norman did not attend the meeting, but has said his department would accept the commission’s decision. Fallone, at the meeting, praised the chief’s leadership.

“This policy is thoughtful, considered and a significant achievement.” The crowd erupted in applause after the vote.

“Community input matters,” said Commissioner Bree Spencer.

Thursday’s vote came after more than hour of testimony and more than a year of public, and private, debate.

“Citizen oversight of police and public safety works,” said Fallone. He thanked executive director Leon W. Todd, III for his “invaluable” support on the process.

“Good meeting,” said Todd at the conclusion of the proceedings.

In calling the policy a “massive step forward,” MAARPR was also critical of how long it’s taken. “It’s important to note that this policy was not passed out of the good will of the Fire & Police Commission or the MPD. The FPC, as well as police departments in the surrounding Milwaukee area, have primarily served as roadblocks to change. The FPC wasted months of time going over the same tired and unsubstantiated points being brought up by the police department,” said outreach chair Alan Chavoya. He praised Spencer and FPC vice chair Amanda Avalos for moving the policy forward.

In addition to the alliance, Black Leaders Organizing for Communities also prominently advocated for faster video releases.

The mother of deceased officer Peter Jerving, killed in the line of duty on Feb. 7, wrote a letter opposing the shorter timeline because it would retraumatize the families of victims. She said she was barely prepared to see the video of her son’s killing on April 2.