Who Posts Their Policy? A Northwoods Body Camera Transparency Audit

Wisconsin law says police departments with body cameras must post their policies online. We checked 19 departments across the Northwoods. Three comply.

Quick Answer: Wisconsin Statute § 165.87 requires law enforcement agencies using body cameras to maintain written policies, train officers, retain footage 120 days minimum, and post those policies publicly. Our audit of 19 Northwoods departments with body cameras found that only Iron County, Bayfield County, and Sawyer County post their policies online — an 84% non-compliance rate with the public posting requirement.

If you want to know when a police officer is supposed to turn on their body camera in Price County, you’d have to file a public records request. The policy isn’t on the sheriff’s website. It’s not on the county site. It’s not anywhere the public can find it without asking permission first.

That’s not just bad practice. **It’s a violation of Wisconsin law — and Price County is far from alone.** We audited 19 police departments and sheriff’s offices across the Northwoods that use body cameras. Only three post their policies online as required by statute.

What Wisconsin Law Actually Requires

Wisconsin Act 108, passed in 2019 and effective March 2020, created the state’s body camera framework under § 165.87. The law doesn’t mandate body cameras — that decision is left to each agency. But if a department chooses to use them, four requirements kick in:

• Written policy: The agency must adopt a written policy governing body camera use, including when cameras are activated, how footage is stored, and retention periods.
• Training: Officers must be trained on the policy before using body cameras in the field.
• 120-day retention: Footage must be retained for at least 120 days, longer if it’s evidence in an active case.
• Public posting: Agencies with websites must post their body camera policies online for public inspection.

That last requirement is where nearly every Northwoods department falls short. The statute is unambiguous: the agency must “make the policy available to the public on the Internet site.” Not in a filing cabinet. Not available on request. On the website.

The Audit: 19 Departments, 3 Compliant

We checked every sheriff’s office and police department across 12 northern Wisconsin counties: Price, Sawyer, Rusk, Taylor, Lincoln, Oneida, Vilas, Iron, Ashland, Bayfield, Marathon, and Clark. We also checked nine city police departments in the region. Every one of them has body cameras. Here’s what we found:

County Sheriff’s Offices

City Police Departments

Price County: $45,000 Spent, Policy Hidden

Price County Sheriff’s Office equipped all deputies with WatchGuard body camera systems at a cost of approximately $45,000. The hardware is in place. The deputies are trained. The cameras are recording. But if you go to the sheriff’s page on the Price County website, you won’t find the policy that governs when those cameras turn on, what they record, and how long the footage is kept.

You have to ask for it. **Public policy shouldn’t require a public records request to access.** The whole point of § 165.87(1)(e) is that the policy , the rules governing surveillance of citizens , should be available without asking permission from the agency doing the watching.

Wausau: A Decade of Cameras, Zero Transparency

Wausau Police Department has had body cameras since 2016. That’s ten years of recording citizens without posting the policy that governs the recording. The department received SRT grant funding, which requires written policies as a condition of the grant. The policy exists. It’s just not public.

Ten years is longer than some departments in the region have existed in their current form. **There’s no excuse left that holds water , the policy is written, it’s been reviewed, and it’s still not on the website.**

Who Enforces This? Nobody.

Here’s the problem with § 165.87: there’s no enforcement mechanism. The statute sets requirements but assigns no oversight body to verify compliance. No state agency audits whether departments are posting their policies. No penalty exists for failing to post.

The Wisconsin Department of Justice doesn’t monitor compliance. The Wisconsin Law Enforcement Standards Board doesn’t either. **The law is effectively self-policing , and when police police themselves, compliance becomes optional.**

When footage disappears or is destroyed, Wisconsin courts apply a common-law doctrine called “spoliation” (established through case law like Jagmin v. Simonds Abrasive Co., not part of § 165.87). But spoliation sanctions require proof of bad faith , deliberate destruction with intent to suppress evidence. Negligent loss or a technical glitch doesn’t qualify. A judge can instruct a jury to assume the missing footage would have shown misconduct, but only if the defense proves the agency acted intentionally. That’s after the fact , after the trial, after the damage, after the footage is gone. The posting requirement was supposed to be the preventive layer: if the public can see the policy, the public can spot problems before footage goes missing.

What a Compliant Policy Looks Like

Iron County and Bayfield County prove this isn’t hard. Iron County posts its Policy 431 as a PDF on the county DocumentCenter. Bayfield County posts Policy 422 on the sheriff’s page. Both are standard policy documents , activation rules, retention schedules, storage procedures, and training requirements.

Nothing about posting a policy PDF is technically difficult. **If three rural Northwoods counties can do it, the other 16 can too.** The barrier isn’t technology. It’s willingness.

Why This Matters

Body camera policies answer questions that matter to real people: When does an officer have to turn the camera on? Can they turn it off? What happens to the footage? How long is it kept? Who can access it? If your interaction with law enforcement is recorded, you should be able to know the rules without filing a formal request.

Price County has a documented history of surveillance expansion . Flock cameras, body cameras, all purchased and deployed with minimal public process. The policies governing that surveillance should be the easiest thing to find on a government website. Right now, they’re the hardest.

We’ve spent months filing public records requests across Price County’s 19 towns and documenting systemic transparency failures at the municipal level. The body camera posting requirement is simpler than any of those , it’s a single document on a website. And most departments still can’t manage it.

What Happens Next

The fix is straightforward. Every department in this audit that hasn’t posted its policy can do so today. Upload the PDF. Link it on the sheriff’s or police department’s page. Done.

We’ll recheck in 90 days. If the policies aren’t posted by then, we’ll name every department again , with screenshots. The statute is clear. The technology is simple. **The only question is whether Northwoods law enforcement agencies believe the law applies to them.**

If you want to check your local department, look for “body camera policy” or “body worn camera policy” on their website. If it’s not there, they’re violating § 165.87(1)(e). You don’t need to take our word for it . read the statute yourself.

See also: our guide to free camping in Wisconsin

See also: our complete lodging guide for Price County

See also: our guide to Price County public records

See also: our guide to every town in Price County

Sources

• Wisconsin Statute § 165.87 . Use of Body Cameras
• 2019 Wisconsin Act 108 . Body Camera Legislation
• Price County Sheriff Budget Analysis
• Price County Surveillance Camera Installation
• EFF Atlas of Surveillance . Wisconsin
• Police Scorecard . Price County