There’s a push to roll out body cameras in the city of Racine.
Mayor Cory Mason says this is an extra tool for law enforcement that will help protect both the community and officers.
"We think overall this is a good step forward for transparency," Mason said. "At the end of the day, it's going to provide more public trust and confidence in the police department."
Mason proposed $500,000 in the 2019 budget for the body cams. The city council will vote to approve the budget on November 13th.
"We had an event earlier this year where the public started asking the questions well why doesn't Racine have body cameras, in truth the police department had been working on it for a long time," Mason said.
That event was the death of 26-year-old Donte Shannon. He was killed by two Racine officers in January. No charges were filed in the case. The incident sparked protests in the community.
Nakia Shannon, Donte's father, hopes the money is approved to increase the transparency between police and the public.
"We need it," Shannon said. "There's not no other side but the police side that's being told. We need to have the cameras, so we can have our opinion so we can see, what's really going on."
If passed in three weeks, Mason says he expects the body cameras to roll out in the first quarter of next year.
The city's entire budget is $211 million.
