The Milwaukee Police Department could be the first in the state to have all uniformed patrol officers wear cameras.
Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said his proposed city budget for the next fiscal year will include nearly $900,000 to provide body cameras for 1,200 officers. Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn said the cameras won’t be turned on all the time.
“Balancing a reasonable expectation of privacy when you summon the Police Department to deal with a family crisis has to be balanced with our need to be accountable and transparent,” he said. “So, there are opportunities to turn them off during certain types of calls for assistance and certain types of dramatic circumstances and obviously, there will be some amount of national trial and error.”
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Some other police departments around the U.S. are experimenting with body cameras, following accusations of unnecessary violence against citizens.
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