Ahead of committee meeting, community groups call for bodycam policy at sheriff's office

MILWAUKEE (CBS 58) -- On Friday night, Jan. 26, dozens of community members united in calling for a standard policy for releasing body camera video at the county level.

Currently there is no policy for releasing video after a critical incident, shooting, or death, and many of the community members say it amounts to a lack of transparency.

A draft policy will be discussed Monday in a county board committee meeting. Friday night people weighed in.

But only the sheriff can implement a policy, so the vote amounts to -in a County Supervisor's words- a strongly worded letter.

Many at the meeting started by reciting the mantra: "Truth, transparency, and the whole damn video."

When the Sheriff's Office is involved in critical incidents, members of the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression want body camera and dash camera video released to the public.

Right now, the Sheriff's Office does not have a policy for releasing videos.

After successfully calling for a release policy for city police, the group is backing a similar one for the county sheriff that was written by County Supervisor Ryan Clancy.

Clancy's draft policy calls for video to be released to families within 48 hours and to the public within 15 days.

He conceded, "It is not the best, it is not the gold standard."

But Clancy called it a compromise.

The city policy called for much shorter time frames, but that was put on hold after it was quickly challenged in court by the police union.

Clancy and other supervisors acknowledged the board cannot set policy for the Sheriff's Office, only the sheriff herself can.

One person in the audience said, "I think we also need to really lean on the sheriff herself."

Those gathered Friday night say there are too many incidents and too little information shared.

Alan Chavoya, with the Milwaukee Alliance, said, "At the county level, we have witnessed in the last two years, six in-custody deaths."

Some family members of some of those who've died attended the meeting.

Clancy told the crowd, "It's incredibly frustrating to be in the room and to see victims and families having to wait. Not just days or weeks, but months or years before they understand and are able to see the last moments of their loved ones."

The county board committee will hear public testimony at its meeting Monday morning at 9:30 a.m.

If the draft policy passes committee, it could get a full vote at the full County Board meeting Thursday.