KENOSHA, Wis. — Kenosha County Eye has learned that Judge Jason Rossell ordered the intake courtroom security camera system shut off, according to information obtained by KCE from the Kenosha County Sheriff’s Office.

The revelation comes after weeks of questions surrounding why large portions of the camera feed inside the county’s busiest and most volatile courtroom suddenly became permanently obscured by black boxes.

According to information obtained by KCE, Rossell ordered the intake courtroom camera shut off. Multiple courthouse insiders told Kenosha County Eye they believe the order was driven by Deputy Chief Judge Chad Kerkman’s desire to prevent activity in the intake courtroom from being captured on video. Those insiders noted that Kenosha County Eye has previously obtained and published videos showing Kerkman inside the intake courtroom.

The Sheriff’s Office opposed completely eliminating the camera feed and successfully persuaded Rossell to allow the portion showing the sally port area to remain visible for security purposes.

Rather than shutting the camera off entirely, the result was the heavily redacted camera feed that exists today, with substantial portions of the courtroom permanently obscured behind black boxes.

According to Lt. Chase Forster, the redactions are permanent. The black boxes are built directly into the video feed itself, meaning anything occurring behind those black boxes is not recorded and can never be recovered later.

The disclosure answers one of the biggest questions in the controversy. The Sheriff’s Office did not seek the redactions. Rather, the Sheriff’s Office fought to preserve at least a portion of the camera coverage after Rossell ordered the system shut off.

The explanation has generated even more questions among courthouse employees and prosecutors.

Several courthouse employees have privately questioned whether a single judge has the authority to order a county-owned security camera system shut down or significantly altered, particularly in a courtroom that handles newly arrested defendants every day.

One prosecutor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Kenosha County Eye that the changes have actually made the courtroom less safe.

The prosecutor noted that Intake Court is the only courtroom in Kenosha County that does not utilize a metal detector. According to the prosecutor, someone could potentially bring a firearm into the courtroom, and if a violent incident, assault, or other emergency occurred in one of the permanently obscured portions of the room, there may be no video evidence documenting what happened.

The prosecutor said they feel less safe knowing that large portions of the courtroom are no longer captured on video.

The prosecutor also pointed to other recent courtroom security changes that have raised concerns among some courthouse personnel. According to multiple sources, Deputy Chief Judge Chad Kerkman ordered prosecutors to stop using a separate entrance they had utilized for decades and instead enter Intake Court through the same public doorway used by defendants, family members, witnesses, and spectators.

Sources noted that the prosecutor’s table is the first table encountered upon entering the courtroom. As a result, prosecutors must now walk through the same entrance as individuals they are often preparing to prosecute and sit at the first table directly inside the courtroom.

The prosecutor who spoke with Kenosha County Eye said the combination of reduced camera coverage, the absence of a metal detector, and changes to courtroom access procedures has increased concerns about safety inside the courthouse’s busiest courtroom.

According to the prosecutor, if a confrontation were to occur near the prosecutor’s table or in one of the areas now hidden by permanent digital redactions, there may be little or no video evidence available documenting the incident.

Other courthouse employees expressed similar concerns, noting that if a deputy is assaulted, a defendant is injured, a use-of-force incident occurs, or another serious confrontation takes place behind one of the blacked-out areas, the public may never know exactly what happened because the footage simply does not exist.

The controversy extends beyond security cameras.

At approximately the same time the camera feed was altered, video was also removed from the overflow viewing room adjacent to Intake Court. For decades, members of the public who could not fit into the courtroom gallery could watch proceedings from the overflow room. That room is frequently used because Intake Court is often filled to capacity.

Today, the overflow room provides audio only.

Critics question why public visibility was reduced both inside the courtroom and in the overflow viewing area at roughly the same time.

Courthouse insiders also told Kenosha County Eye that they believe Rossell was acting at the direction of Deputy Chief Judge Chad Kerkman.

Several insiders told KCE that Rossell appears to believe Kerkman’s title of Deputy Chief Judge gives him authority over other judges. However, multiple courthouse sources noted that the title is generally considered an administrative designation and does not, by itself, grant supervisory authority over independently elected or appointed judges.

Those insiders question whether concerns about courtroom security fully explain the sweeping changes that were ultimately implemented. Several sources have speculated that the real motivation was to reduce the likelihood that courthouse activity would be captured on video and later obtained through public records requests.

Kenosha County Eye has previously published videos showing Deputy Chief Judge Chad Kerkman inside the intake courtroom. KCE has a strong belief that the camera changes may be connected to those recordings and to broader efforts to limit future video documentation of courthouse activity.

Kenosha County Eye contacted Judge Rossell and asked why he ordered the camera shut off, whether he believes a single judge possesses the authority to make such a decision, and whether the changes were connected in any way to public scrutiny of courthouse operations.

Rossell did not respond.

For now, what is known is that Judge Jason Rossell ordered the intake courtroom camera shut off, the Sheriff’s Office persuaded him to leave a portion of the feed operational for security purposes, large portions of the courtroom are now permanently obscured, the overflow viewing room no longer provides video of proceedings, and prosecutors and courthouse employees are questioning whether the changes have made the courthouse less secure and less transparent.

Whether the true purpose was security, privacy, or something else remains unanswered.