Kenosha County executive: Body cameras for sheriff's department in 2021 budget
KENOSHA, Wis. - Kenosha County Executive Jim Kreuser said body cameras for the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Department are in the budget for 2021 during a news conference Monday afternoon, Aug. 31 to provide an update just over a week after the police shooting of Jacob Blake in Kenosha.
Officials announced Monday more than 1,500 National Guard will remain in Kenosha for the time being and thanked residents for keeping the peace over the last few days and adhering to the 7 p.m. curfew in place east of I-94 through Tuesday night. On Wednesday night, a 9 p.m. curfew will be issued, in effect through Labor Day.
"The protests have been peaceful," said Kenosha County Sheriff David Beth. "We are very thankful for that."
Rally for Jacob Blake in Kenosha
More than 200 arrests have been made since the shooting of Blake Sunday, Aug. 23, officials said. Kenosha police announced late Sunday 175 arrests -- with more than half people from outside the state. Many arrests were for curfew violations, and included possible charges for burglary, possession of illegal drugs and carrying concealed weapons without a permit, officials said. More than 20 firearms had been seized.
Sheriff David Beth and Kenosha Mayor John Antaramian said they are opposed to President Donald Trump’s planned visit to Kenosha Tuesday – saying the timing is bad because people in the community are in the process of healing.
When asked if there will be violence during his visit, the Kenosha County executive's answer was, "We’ll see…”
The police chief was not part of Monday's media briefing because he was with the Secret Service preparing for President Trump's visit Tuesday -- a visit the mayor said he'd prefer be postponed, concerned a presidential visit could stop any progress made since the shooting.
"Yes we have issues," said the mayor. "Yes we are going to deal with those issues, but more importantly, we as a community stand together. The timing on this we felt was not good so we did make the request for him to do it at a different time."
Governor Tony Evers wrote to President Trump Sunday asking that he reconsider his visit.
The president Monday confirmed he's still coming Tuesday, sharing this message on Twitter:
"Yes, that's a false statement," said the county executive.
Members of the Kenosha County Board in a letter to the president voiced their support of his visit.
During the president's White House news conference Monday afternoon, he spoke about his trip, and said he spoke with the Blake family's pastor, adding, "I thought it would be better not to do anything with their lawyers involved. They wanted me to speak but they wanted to have lawyers involved. And I thought that was inappropriate so I didn’t do that."
Benjamin Crump, attorney for Blake's family, responded in a statement Monday night:
In the meantime, Sheriff Beth was asked Monday afternoon whether he saw viral video showing him apparently viewing the video of the shooting of Blake at the shooting scene Sunday -- later saying during a news conference Friday that he had not seen the video. The sheriff said he makes no apologies for what he said or did when bottles and rocks were being thrown at him but did not say anything more direct about it.
Kenosha Police Officer Rusten Sheskey, Jacob Blake
The tension began Aug. 23 after a video showed a Kenosha police officer shooting Blake, a Black man, in the back while responding to a call about a domestic dispute.
Family members say Blake, 29, is paralyzed, and a lawyer said most of his colon and small intestines were removed. His family led a large peaceful protest Saturday, just before Trump announced his plans to visit.
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