Madison Joins Milwaukee In Pursuing Police Body Camera Technology

As Milwaukee takes bids from vendors for police body cameras, Madison has also begun looking into the technology and plans to start a pilot program in 2016.

The city is setting up a committee to look at when and how body cameras would be used. Meanwhile, Madison Mayor Paul Soglin met with federal justice officials on President Barack Obama’s call for police body cameras.

The initiative comes in the wake of black fatalities involving police in Missouri, New York, and Ohio.

“We are going to have body cameras. There is no question about that. And I think that’s going to be uniform throughout the United States,” said Soglin.

Soglin said he supports cameras but has concerns about their possible use in sensitive crimes, and it could make undocumented immigrants more hesitant to contact police.

Madison Police Chief Mike Koval said the use of cameras might be limited depending on what officials and the public decide. He said there are certain contexts where cameras may be inappropriate to use.

“In the cases where there’s a juvenile engagement or a neighborhood relationship is being established, should the police have that monitored — will it have a chilling effect?” he said.

Koval said he’d rather spend the money on more neighborhood officers.