MILWAUKEE — During a vigil for Tyre Nichols, the man beaten and killed by police in Memphis, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression called for a quicker release of body cam footage from the Milwaukee Police Department.
"The release of footage should be a guarantee," said the alliance's co-founder Omar Flores.
In Memphis, following Nichols' death, police released video 17 days after the incident. Fiver officers were also arrested and charged in his death.
Flores called that response an improvement from past incidents across the country.
"But I do think there's many ways they could improve the process," Flores added.
Right now, there's no official standard operating procedure for MPD to release body camera footage. The department has an informal policy of releasing video from what it deems critical incidents within 45 days. That video is released as part of a Community Briefing on the department's YouTube page.
Of the 25 community briefings posted on the YouTube page between November 2018 and December 2022, 13 were released within 45 days. The rest took 46 days or more. The longest wait was a community briefing that came more than 100 days after the initial incident.
"We're demanding the [Fire and Police Commission], as well as MPD, release all footage of police misconduct within 48 hours," Flores said.
MPD has said that video is not released earlier than 45 days to avoid jeopardizing the investigation.
In a statement to TMJ4, the Wisconsin Professional Police Association said:
As the state's largest law enforcement group, the Wisconsin Professional Police Association supports the interest of promoting transparency wherever doing so will not impede ongoing investigative efforts or impair the rights and expectations of innocent victims. Under current law, police agencies are required to evaluate requests for body camera data using a balancing test to determine whether the interest in disclosure outweighs any other consideration. While it is not practical or possible for agencies to adopt a one-size fits-all policy with regard to the release of body camera footage, the fact that the Memphis Police Department has been so completely transparent appears to have bolstered the agency's credibility with the public at a time when it is needed the most - when community tensions and public scrutiny are both so high. The agency's credibility is not only crucial to maintaining the safety of the public and the officers that continue to serve it, but it's vitally important as the department enacts the changes necessary to ensure that the conduct which led to Tyre Nichols' tragic death is not repeated.
