MILWAUKEE — Following the release of Milwaukee Police Department body camera footage showing a hostage situation in which an officer shot and killed a 66-year-old male suspect in December of 2022, community members and activists are calling for elevated transparency.
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MPD started sending out community briefings of critical incidents in 2018 as a way to "promote transparency and accountability with the public." The pre-recorded briefings are uploaded to the department's YouTube page.
Community groups like the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression are in talks with the commission to create official standard operating procedures for quicker video release times.
“In cases of police misconduct, footage in that case should be released in 48 hours and the names of those officers be released in 24 hours,” said Alan Chavoya, the Alliance’s outreach chair. “This is what we've been calling the 24-48 campaign.”
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The Fire and Police Commission has an informal policy that video from critical incidents like Friday’s should be released within 45 days. That video was released on day 45.
Of the 26 briefings posted between November 2018 and February 2023, 14 were released within 45 days. The rest took 46 days or longer. The longest taking over 100 days to be posted.
Family of people shot by police in the past went to the Fire and Police Commission's Thursday night meeting with similar pleas for more answers and the release of videos quicker.
MPD said in a statement to TMJ4 it is not required by law to release video from critical incidents, but despite this, became the first agency in the state to release these video briefings in 2018:
At this time, there is no policy or law that requires the Milwaukee Police Department to release footage of officer involved critical incidents. Despite this MPD, created the community briefing series in 2018 and was the first law enforcement agency in the state of Wisconsin to release community briefings. It is our goal to try to release footage within approximately 45 days of the incident; however, that is not always the case. MPD remains committed to working with our community and system to build sustainable neighborhoods free of crime.
