Union withdraws lawsuit requiring Milwaukee police to release bodycam footage in 15 days

A police union lawsuit that suspended a policy that would’ve required releasing body camera footage within 15 days was withdrawn this week.

A Milwaukee Police Association lawsuit that put the policy on hold for over a year was withdrawn on Tuesday, with the union citing concerns over a “fruitless” legal pursuit and Milwaukee Police Department Chief Jeffrey Norman's support of the policy.

The policy requires footage of critical incidents to be released publicly within 15 days and allows for the family of those killed by police to access the footage in private within 48 hours.

“Even if we win the lawsuit, the day that we win it, the chief can enforce whatever policy he wants. It was kind of fruitless for us to keep pursuing it,” said Andrew Wagner, the president of the union that represents rank-and-file department members. “We decided financially it was not a good risk.”

In a statement, Milwaukee police indicated they are already following the policy. The department pointed to a Wednesday evening shooting between police and a suspect of a double shooting from earlier in the week as an example.

"A press release issued after the incident highlighted that video related to the incident would be released in accordance with MPD’s Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) 575," the police said in a statement.

The lawsuit’s withdrawal was celebrated by activists, who along with community members had pushed for its approval and were angered the policy was put on hold.

In a statement, the Milwaukee Alliance Against Racism and Political Repression said it was “ecstatic” about the decision. Aurelia Ceja, co-chair of the group, told the Journal Sentinel it was a “huge win” for transparency and accountability.

“It’s going to be community members that hold police accountable for their actions. We can’t hold them accountable unless there’s transparency,” Ceja said.

The policy, known as standard operating procedure 575, was passed in April 2023, but the police union filed a lawsuit later that month to put it on hold. The union cited concerns over potential impacts to investigations.

At the time, Police Chief Norman said the department would support the Fire and Police Commission’s policy, however, officials had hoped to instead codify a 45-day policy that had been the department's unofficial goal. However, the department did not always meet its 45-day goal.

On Thursday, Wagner said he still believed the union’s earlier concerns to be present, but that Norman’s support of the policy made their legal challenge likely null. In a statement, the union said it was still willing to work with the police chief’s office to modify the policy to better balance the “legitimate need” for transparency and “protecting the integrity of investigations.”

“Despite the many concerns raised about (the policy), the Office of the Chief has continuously signaled support for this policy, such that even if we were successful in arguing that the FPC did not have the authority to implement the policy based on Act 12, the Chief could implement it,” the union’s statement said.

Wagner also suggested that, whenever body camera is released, it should be released to everyone.

“What we don’t want is one side seeing a thing, within 48 hours, then there’s no statement to anybody else, then they put out a narrative that might not be true,” he said.

The policy applies to critical incidents, which are as police shootings, in-custody deaths and other police-related incidents that result in death or serious injury.

The withdrawal came hours before Columbus, Ohio, police shot and killed Samuel Sharpe Jr. in King Park, about a mile from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. In that incident, Columbus Police Department released the footage later that day.

The activist Ceja said that showed the importance of Milwaukee’s policy.

“It’s a win for accountability measures, but in terms of the work that we do, fighting police crimes is always tough and very, very heavy work as we’re working with families who are fighting for justice,” she said.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Union withdraws lawsuit that blocked Milwaukee police bodycam policy