Wauwatosa Police Deploy Body Worn Cameras

Press release from the City of Wauwatosa:

March 22, 2021

On February 18, 2021, several Wauwatosa Police Department personnel received instruction on how the Axon Body 3 body-worn cameras operate. Over the next few weeks, all officers, detectives, and supervisors were trained and began using this new technology.

In general, the body-worn cameras will be activated during any enforcement or investigative contact. The recordings will continue until the officer’s involvement in the call for service ceases or an exception to recording becomes present. These exceptions include sensitive situations – such as interviewing victims of sexual abuse, child victims, or in certain locations such as a medical or educational setting.

The cameras are always recording in a “buffer” where it saves the previous thirty seconds of video with no audio. The video is digitally secured in a cloud-based evidence management system. The original video will be stored for a set time period in accordance to how it’s categorized – a minimum of 120 days per Wisconsin State Statute 165.87(2)(a). Any edits or redactions made will create a new video file and the original cannot be otherwise altered.

Body-worn cameras are a powerful tool that assist Law Enforcement while at the same time give the community a better understanding of police work and what happened during an encounter. While this new technology will add another layer of transparency, the cameras do have limitations that need to be understood and considered when evaluating a recording. The cameras are mounted at mid-chest height and will not follow the officer’s eyes. At times, the view may be obstructed by the officer’s hands, arms, a vehicle frame, doorway, etc. The cameras also do not have any night-vision or infrared enhancements; the cameras are designed to show what an officer is seeing in the given lighting situation

This press release was produced by the City of Wauwatosa. The views expressed here are the author’s own.