Milwaukee mayor: Cameras on police by 2017

MILWAUKEE — The mayor of Milwaukee has proposed that all street police officers wear body cameras by the end of 2016, Mayor Tom Barrett announced Sunday.

The proposal, first reported by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, comes after tense episodes between police and Milwaukee’s black community and fatal shootings by police in Ferguson, Mo.; Cleveland; and North Charleston, S. C., that sparked discussion nationwide about race and policing.

Last year, 31- year- old Dontre Hamilton was fatally shot by a Milwaukee police officer in a downtown park.

According to Barrett’s preliminary budget, body cameras for 1,200 Milwaukee street officers — including storage of video information — would cost $ 880,000 in 2016 and about $ 1 million each year beginning in 2017.

The estimated cost is about what it would cost to add 12 officers to the department’s ranks of 1,880 sworn officers, Barrett told the newspaper.

“The question is: Is it worth 12 officers?” the mayor asked. “That’s a legitimate public policy debate.”

He added: “I embrace it wholeheartedly, both from a fiscal standpoint and from a policy standpoint.”

Both Milwaukee Police Chief Ed Flynn and the president of the Milwaukee Police Association, Mike Crivello, support the initiative.

Attorney Robin Shellow represents some of the more than 60 people who have filed civil- rights lawsuits against the Milwaukee and its Police Department alleging improper strip and cavity searches. While Shellow said she supports body cameras for police, she said she thinks more needs to be done.

“Yes, I believe in body cameras, but more impor- tantly, I think we should have police officers with college educations,” Shellow said. “I think that would do a lot more to reduce unconstitutional interactions.”