City of Madison’s Police Chief Shon Barnes said he wants to fully implement body cameras by 2027. The cameras would be worn by Madison Police Department officers offering surveillance that could be used as evidence in criminal cases.
Body-worn cameras have been widely accepted as one of the best practices in America and overall international policing, Barnes said. Body-worn cameras have now also been extended to federal law enforcement, including the FBI and United States Marshals.
“It’s an added level of protection against the public and against the police, giving everyone an additional vantage point, other than just simply relying on someone’s word,” Barnes said, “The job of policing is about trust, and anything that can be used to build trust, I think is definitely important.”
MPD is currently the only department in the county, and the only major department in the region without body-worn cameras, according to Barnes.
Body-worn cameras have been in the works with MPD for years, but the City Council has been wary about implementing the cameras causing delays in the adoption of the technology, according to the Cap Times.
Barnes’ approach to improving the resilience of body-worn cameras to both the community and to the City Council was by conducting a limited, yet scientific approach, Barnes said.
The 90-day Body-Worn Camera Pilot Study was performed to determine if there would be any changes in the performance of officers while wearing body cameras, Barnes said.
Of the various scientific methods available, experimentations — such as pilot studies — have the greatest likelihood of producing sound evidence, according to the National Institute of Justice.
“Most people just said, ‘Hey, we want body-worn cameras’, then found a vendor, and slapped them on officers, some didn’t even have a policy until they actually got the cameras,” Barnes said. “We’re doing this in a way that’s more systematic, that’s more intentional.”
It was observed in the Body-Worn Camera Experiment Report there was no difference in the performance of officers, or in the way the community asked them to perform when called, Barnes said.
Barnes emphasized MPD is going through with this in a way that’s more systematic and intentional.
“I think the community really needs to know how intentional the department has been in making sure that if we adapt body-worn cameras, we’ve done it in a way that is smart and scientific and does our best job of trying to maintain control for all the things that might happen,” Barnes said.
The Body One Camera Experiment Report was unanimously accepted by the City Council at a meeting last Tuesday, Nov. 26, Barnes said.
The results from the meeting do not determine whether the City Council fully agrees with this implementation, but that they have accepted the results from this program experiment, Barnes said. Another meeting with the council is needed to fully approve the body-worn cameras.
If the council approves the full implementation of BWCs, Chief Barnes’ plan is to improve body-worn cameras for the 2025 budget, so the improved systems can be approved for the 2026 budget. Barnes aims to have BWCs fully administered by 2027.
Barnes acknowledges people who oppose BWCs due to biases against law enforcement, arguing body cameras will create more transparency between MPD and the public.
Oftentimes, recordings such as cell phone videos, surveillance videos and security camera videos are the only evidence provided, and that tends to provide a limited view of the whole picture, Barnes said. However, body cameras will contribute to a holistic view of police encounters.
“We can make people whole again and make sure that the wrong person does not get arrested, just with simple pieces of information that’s available to us,” Barnes said, “And then the most important thing is ensuring successful prosecution for those persons who could be victimized in the community, more evidence is always better than less evidence.”
