Tuesday, 30 September 2014 09:00
The Milwaukee Public Safety Committee may take up the issue of body-worn cameras for the Milwaukee Police Department and the American Civil Liberties Union of Wisconsin is weighing in on the issue.
The city committee could consider the issue as early as Oct. 2.
In mid-September, Police Chief Edward Flynn indicated that MPD wanted to move forward with a pilot program to test body cameras, with the use of 50 cameras. Flynn, according to an ACLU announcement, suggested that policies "would be rolled out over time."
In a letter this week to Ald. Terry L. Witkowski, ACLU of Wisconsin executive director Christopher Ahmuty said such equipment, when used properly, has a role in increasing police accountability.
However, Ahmuty said, the civil liberties group has two suggestions for city officials:
• MPD should be encouraged to develop protocols for the pilot program and for standard operating procedures that take into account "serious privacy considerations affecting both police officers and subjects. Privacy can be protected without significantly diminishing the potential body-worn cameras hold for enhancing police accountability."
• The MPD should conduct its pilot program in "a timely fashion and move to deploy more than 50 body-worn cameras (and adequately train substantial numbers of officers in their use) within a year. The pilot should determine which system, cameras and policies best suit the MPD and emerging best practices."
Ahmuty added, "In my opinion, the MPD is budgeting too much for data storage. The ACLU-WI will urge the Finance and Personnel Committee to move more funds from data storage to body-worn cameras."
The letter continued, "Robust police accountability improves police community relations. Good police community relations are essential if we are to work together to make our neighborhoods safe. Body-worn cameras should be used to enhance police accountability. They must not be used for surveillance. The data collected by body-worn cameras (and MDVRs as well) should not be used alone or matched with other databases for forensic purposes unless there is a warrant. It should also not be analyzed in a way that impinges on the First Amendment, associational and free speech, rights of law abiding Americans, such as anti-abortion demonstrators, politicians, or demonstrators protesting police misconduct.
"The ACLU-WI believes that body-worn cameras have an important role to play in increasing police accountability. However, as with any law enforcement technology, we cannot let human values and civil liberties become subservient to the technology. We should put the technology to work for us. You and your committee have an important oversight role to play. We urge you to thoroughly review this complicated issue to make sure that the residents of Milwaukee will benefit from this expenditure."