Madison, WI – On September 3, 2026, Representative Shelia Stubbs joined Attorney Ben Crump, the family of Corey Ruiz, and Interim Independent Monitor Aeiramique Glass for a press conference at the Center for Black Excellence and Culture in Madison. Representative Shelia Stubbs (D-Madison) released the following statement:
 
“Today, I joined Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump and his team, the family of Corey Ruiz, and Interim Police Monitor Aeiramique Glass for a press conference demanding body-worn cameras for the Madison Police Department.
 
Let’s get straight to the point: it is unacceptable that, in 2026, Madison Police Department still does not have body cameras for all of its officers. When given the opportunity, time and time again the City of Madison has failed to make the investments necessary to equip officers with this critical technology.
 
You can’t just tell me your priorities; you need to demonstrate your priorities–with action and with investment. The City needs to be clear with where they stand, because I’m not seeing the action. I’m not seeing the investment.
 
The City had an opportunity to do something when Tony Robinson was killed by a Madison police officer in 2015. At that time, I was serving on the Dane County Board of Supervisors, and every day, I was out there with my community–marching and peacefully protesting, advocating for work groups to address our county’s pressing racial disparities in criminal justice.
 
That’s what you do when you’re an elected official. You show up. You meet your community where they’re at and work with them to create solutions.
 
In 2021, following the death of Mr. George Floyd in Minneapolis and the police shooting of Mr. Jacob Blake in Kenosha, I was selected to Co-Chair the Speaker’s Task Force on Racial Disparities. We didn’t just talk about what needed to be done to keep our communities safe and hold law enforcement accountable; we created the policy to get it done.
 
We brought together protestors, pastors, law enforcement, and community advocates to develop bills that would hold law enforcement agencies responsible and improve relationships between communities of color and the police. From the recommendations we put together, we were able to pass 9 laws.
 
One of the most critical of those laws, 2021 Wisconsin Act 185, signed into law on March 17, 2022, created a statewide grant program in the Department of Justice to help law enforcement agencies purchase body cameras.
 
The grant opened in Fall 2022. There was $2 million available in funding to assist law enforcement agencies across our state with purchasing this necessary equipment. But Madison failed to apply.
 
Every single law enforcement agency who applied for a grant through this program, 48 agencies in total, received one. The City of Middleton got a grant. The Village of Belleville got a grant. Iowa County got a grant.
 
On the state level, we enacted policy. We created an opportunity to bring transparency and accountability to law enforcement agencies across Wisconsin. What did the City do? They failed to apply.
 
The City had an opportunity in November 2025 to fund body-worn cameras through an amendment to the budget, and they voted it down 17 to 3. I understand that there were concerns about taking money from the Office of the Independent Monitor. They could have come together and worked to find another funding mechanism. Instead, they gave up.
 
Corey Ruiz was killed over a month ago, and the City has had multiple press conferences, multiple meetings, and still no action on body-worn cameras.
I want to see the effort in the City’s final budget. I want to see their follow-through. Because it is unacceptable, that, in 2026, innocent bystanders have to take cell phone video of a man being killed by police for us to be able to know what happened. 
 
It is unacceptable that, in 2026, our community continues to be traumatized and re-traumatized by the City’s failure to take meaningful action.
 
I am going to continue to stand with the Ruiz family and demand accountability, demand transparency, demand responsibility for the loss of Corey’s life.
 
There is still work to do across this state, and I’m not going to stop until every law enforcement agency across this state has body-worn cameras. That is the baseline.  
 
I’m going to keep working with the Ruiz family to develop legislation that brings transparency, responsibility, and accountability to law enforcement, so that this never has to happen to another family.
 
I’ve always said elected officials need to have less talk, and more action.
It’s time for the City of Madison to show this family and the communities they serve what their priorities are.  
 
In the words of Civil Rights Attorney Ben Crump, ‘Justice for Corey!'”