Miami Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill was driving to Hard Rock Stadium Sept. 8 to play in his first NFL game of the 2024 season when he was pulled over for speeding, according to CNN. When Hill was slow to roll down the window, an officer pulled him out of the car and threw him to the ground, according to body camera footage from the Miami-Dade Police Department. The officer then put a knee on Hill’s back and handcuffed him with the help of two other officers, according to body camera footage.
Body camera footage of the detainment went viral and sparked outrage across the nation. Hill’s arrest raised questions such as, “What would have happened if this was a regular person instead of an NFL star?” and “What would have happened if the police didn’t have body cameras?”
The treatment that Hill received from the Miami-Dade Police Department reopened rhetoric about the excessive use of force by police officers, and the necessity of body cameras to help protect marginalized communities and prevent the abuse of power by officers.
Madison community leaders held a forum in the city’s South Side Oct. 2 in response to the incident, according to The Cap Times. Panelists included former Madison Police Department Chief Noble Wray, current MPD Chief Shon Barnes, United Way of Dane County CEO Renee Moe and Tutankhamun “Coach” Assad, the founder of the Coach’s Crib, and was moderated by Circuit Court Judge Everett Mitchell, according to the Cap Times.
Over 70 people attended the forum, where they discussed what happened to Hill, reviewed the body camera footage that had been released and discussed the need to implement body-worn cameras for MPD, according to The Cap Times.
In April 2024, MPD launched a 90-day body camera pilot program, according to the City of Madison. The program has since ended and the findings have yet to be published, but in light of this latest instance with Hill, the 2015 killing of Madison’s Tony Robinson and the efficacy of body cameras nationwide, the implementation of body cameras should be a no-brainer for MPD and city leadership.
Madison is still one of the largest cities in Wisconsin whose police force does not wear body cameras, according to the City of Madison. In 2020, 60% of Wisconsin law enforcement agencies reported using body cameras, according to the Wisconsin Department of Justice.
A recent study carried out by the University of Chicago Crime Lab and Council of Criminal on Criminal Justice’s Task Force on Policing found that among police departments studied, complaints raised against police fell by 17%, and the use of force by police — in both fatal and non-fatal encounters — fell by almost 10% with the use of body-worn cameras.
The study also points out that body cameras are cost-effective. Many police departments point to the cost of body cameras to explain why they are not using them. But, this new study estimates that the ratio of the value of the benefits of body cameras compared to the cost is 5-to-1. The estimated cost-benefit of hiring more police officers is 2-to-1, according to the Chicago Crime Lab study.
A body camera allowed the Miami-Dade Police Department to suspend the officer who abused his power and violated Hill’s rights. These simple devices help prevent abuses of power, protect marginalized individuals and uncover the truth of what happened when there are contested accounts of a story, and they would be extremely useful to the Madison Police Department.
The calls for MPD to wear body cameras have been going on for almost a decade now. The event that initiated a push for police reform within the MPD was the killing of Tony Robinson in 2015.
An MPD officer responded to a call about a young man who was yelling and jumping in front of cars on March 5, 2015. Robinson had consumed psychedelic drugs that day and had been acting erratically, according to the Cap Times. The responding officer, Officer Matt Kenny, followed Robinson into an apartment building and then confronted Robinson — who was unarmed — according to the Cap Times.
What happened next varies depending on who you ask.
According to testimony from Officer Kenny, he entered the apartment because he heard a disturbance upstairs that sounded like Robinson was hurting someone. Officer Kenny entered the stairwell of the apartment and encountered Robinson at the top of the stairs. At the top of the staircase, Robinson struck Officer Kenny in the side of the head and continued toward him to strike him again.
Officer Kenny had unholstered his weapon before entering the stairwell and argued that he shot at Robinson in self-defense after he had been struck. Seven shots within three seconds, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.
But, dashcam footage from Officer Kenny shows the officer shooting his firearm from outside the apartment and into the stairwell where Robinson allegedly struck the officer, according to the Cap Times. All of the shell casings from Officer Kenny’s firearm were found at the bottom of the steps or outside of the apartment’s stairwell, suggesting that the officer had not climbed to the top of the stairs where Robinson was. Some of the shots were fired while Robinson’s feet were visible in the doorway, suggesting that he was already incapacitated.
No charges were brought up against Officer Kenny, according to The Guardian.
Since then, there has been a serious push within the community to have the MPD wear body cameras. With new research being conducted and Hill’s detainment reminding the community of the stark reality of police brutality, it is clear that the MPD needs to adopt body cameras.
In this upcoming March, it will have been a decade since Tony Robinson was killed. The department has not taken the steps that it needs to prevent another tragedy like this from happening.
