MADISON, Wis. — Ahead of a community meeting Thursday, Madison Police Chief Shon Barnes spoke with News 3 Now about a proposed body-worn camera pilot program.
The program calls for 48 body cameras for officers in the city’s North District for a year. The council approved $83,000 in its 2021 capital budget for the program.
Officials have debated for years on whether to bring the cameras to Madison, and Barnes said that he’s not surprised.
“There are a lot of things that are in play,” he said. “I want to make sure that my community is completely informed before we make a decision.”
Barnes said most Madison police officers are in favor of the cameras, after seeing how they work in other cities.
“You talk to your friends in other departments around the country and around the state who have body-worn cameras and they realize that the body-worn cameras won’t hurt you.”
The meeting comes in the midst of two officer-involved shootings in Madison. One involved 38-year-old Quadren Wilson, who was hospitalized after his family says officers shot him five times in the back during an attempted arrest last week.
The Dane County Sheriff’s Office identified Wilson as the suspect involved in an officer-involved shooting but did not say if an officer shot him, how many officers fired their weapons, or if Wilson was armed at the time of the shooting.
Officials said that the Dane County Sheriff’s Office was not involved in the incident and that no Madison police officers fired their weapons that day.
The Sheriff’s Office is investigating the shooting.
A second incident involved a man who Madison police say shot at officers during an attempted arrest last month. He allegedly jumped from a balcony before fleeing police.
Officials said the man was shot “multiple times” during the incident.
The Wisconsin Department of Justice’s Division of Criminal Investigation is investigating the shooting.
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Barnes said that body-worn cameras would be a huge help in the two investigations.
“When our public demands to know what happened, it’s our responsibility to be able to demonstrate that consistent with the law,” Barnes said. “I really believe that in both instances, having body-worn cameras would’ve been an opportunity for the leader of whatever agency is conducting that investigation…to be able to show at least some of the video if not all of it.”
Not only would cameras increase transparency, Barnes said that, in his experience, they speed up the investigative process.
The Madison Common Council is set to vote on the camera program at a meeting in April. Barnes said he thinks alders will eventually say yes to the pilot program.
“Some things you want won’t happen and that’s ok,” Barnes said. “We’ll have a playbook for when we have a council that values technology, that values accountability, trust and legitimacy.”
Thursday’s meeting will give the public a chance to learn more about the technology. The camera manufacturers will be on hand to answer questions, and attendees will get a chance to hold a camera and see how it works.
The meeting will be held at Memorial Union. To learn more, click here.
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