Dane County Moves Forward With Body Cams For Sheriff’s Deputies
Supervisors back $3 million in 2027 funding as officials promise public input on policy.
Body cameras are docked onto charging stations Tuesday, April 20, 2021, at the Wauwatosa police department. Angela Major/WPR
Dane County sheriff’s deputies are one step closer to getting body cameras.
County supervisors voted Wednesday night to approve a 2027 capital budget that includes $3 million for those devices.
The budget — which includes $94 million in capital costs plus $861 million in operating expenses — is awaiting the signature of County Executive Melissa Agard. She’s previously come out in support of the body camera funding.
Deputies could be wearing the new cameras as soon as summer 2027, following training and a bidding process to buy the devices, a spokesperson for the sheriff’s office said.
Going forward, Sheriff Kalvin Barrett plans to hold community engagement sessions in villages and towns throughout the county. And county supervisors have asked him to spend 30 days taking public comment about a draft policy for camera use.
“Body camera technology, if done right, makes our community safer and our justice system more transparent,” Supervisor Keith Furman said in an interview with WPR. “But I think it’s important for us to have strong policies in place for their use.”
Furman sponsored a recently-approved amendment, which asks the sheriff to consider issues, including limits on the issue of facial recognition as well as policies for storing and releasing the footage.
Many of those considerations are already reflected in the sheriff department’s existing draft policy, but Furman says he believes additional public engagement will be beneficial.
“People want to see their sheriff’s deputies wearing body cameras, but they also want to understand how that footage is being used,” said Furman, who chairs the county board’s Public Protection and Judiciary Committee.
Across Wisconsin, most law enforcement agencies already use body cameras. But, within the Dane County Sheriff’s Department, only about 30 west precinct deputies are using them as part of a pilot program.
The recently-approved funding would expand camera use to all of the department’s public-facing officers.
Pressure to adopt the cameras on a more widespread basis has grown after city of Madison Officer Kiel Baitinger-Peterson fatally shot city resident Corey Ruiz in July. Madison is the largest city within Dane County.
Baitinger-Peterson wasn’t wearing a body camera because the department never outfitted him with one. Currently, the only Madison officers with body cameras are on the SWAT team and motorcycle unit.
That could soon change. Under a plan that’s pending approval from the Common Council, all of Madison’s public-facing cops would get body cameras in 2027 using a combination of city, federal and foundation funding.
Despite support from the city’s police union, proposals to expand body camera use in Madison have stalled for more than a decade. Over the years, some left-wing activists have opposed the cameras citing concerns about privacy. Other opponents have suggested the cameras could lead to “over-policing” if the footage is used in court to file more lower-level charges against people.
Cost has also been a concern, said Furman, who served as Madison’s Common Council president before his time on the county board.
“It’s a pretty expensive technology,” Furman said Thursday. “Finding a place in the (county) budget to be able to afford not only the purchasing of the hardware but the actual operation of the hardware, I know, has been difficult.”
Dane County supervisors OK funding for sheriff’s deputy body cams was originally published by Wisconsin Public Radio.
If you think stories like this are important, become a member of Urban Milwaukee and help support real, independent journalism. Plus you get some cool added benefits.
