FOND DU LAC (NBC 26) — The Fond du Lac Police Department is seeking the community's input as it prepares to implement a new body camera policy. Police Chief Aaron Goldstein says the policy will hold the department accountable and promote transparency while also respecting citizens' privacy.
“We want to learn what their expectations are for us to have body-worn cameras," Goldstein said. "Body-worn cameras aren’t anything new, but they’re going to be new here in Fond du Lac.”
The department held a listening session Monday to hear comments from community members. Some wanted to know when and how the body cameras will be turned on, while others were concerned about who will be able to see the footage.
Goldstein says the body cameras will be automatically activated when sirens are turned on in an emergency situation. Officers will manually turn them on in non-emergency situations. He says the officers are expected to turn it on during any citizen interaction unless the citizen requests it to be turned off or in sensitive cases such as when speaking to survivors of domestic abuse or sexual assault.
"It might not be used in a sensitive crime or let's just say the survivor really does not want to be recorded. What we're asking the officers to do is verbalize that on the camera so that people can hear it when it is reviewed that this is the reason it's being turned off, ” Goldstein said.
He says the department is looking for the community’s input on when to turn cameras off in settings like homes and schools. The department has collaborated with the school district to decide when school resource officers can have them on.
"It would be when you have a legitimate law enforcement reason that the cameras would be on," Goldstein said. “Some of the exceptions might be a health office, a locker room, as long as let’s say there’s not a fight in the locker room. So there will be very defined times that those cameras will not be used in the schools.”
In accordance with city's records retention policy, all of the body camera footage will be kept for at least 120 days or longer if the footage is relevant to an investigation, case or complaint.
Goldstein says the footage will be released to the public on a case-by-case basis and hopes that when there are incidents such as an officer-involved death or officer-involved shooting that the footage might help the department to be transparent with the community.
“Sometimes releasing early in an instance that might be controversial, in an instance that might be critical to a community helps the community be informed,” Goldstein said.
The department will hold another community listening session this Friday from 8:30 a.m to 10 a.m at the City Council Chambers. You can learn more information and view the body cam policy draft at fdl.wi.gov.
