Proposal would restrict access to police body camera footage

Looking to avoid situations where victims become targets.

MADISON, Wis. –Republican lawmakers are circulating a bill that would allow crime victims, witnesses and property owners to block the public release of police body camera footage. 

The bill also would exempt any footage not related to an injury, death, arrest or search from Wisconsin’s open records law. 

Rep. Jesse Kremer and Sen. Patrick Testin wrote in a memo seeking co-sponsors that technological advances are welcome but they also create a decay of public privacy.

They wrote they want to send a strong message that people have an expectation of privacy and they want to prevent situations where victims and witnesses become a “target” of a YouTube video or the media. 

The bill’s prospects in the assembly and senate isn’t immediately clear.