It’s past time for BCSO to adopt deputy lapel cams

In recent weeks, Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzales or his chief deputy has stood before the public to recount the events leading up to two fatal shootings of a suspect by a BCSO deputy.

The verbal accounts seem compelling. Both of the men killed had weapons, BCSO says. Both put innocent civilians at risk, and one took hostages. There is no reason to think the actions of the deputies were not justified.

But the public heard those kinds of accounts for years over at the Albuquerque Police Department, before the U.S. Department of Justice conducted an investigation that concluded APD had a systemic pattern of improper use of force — both deadly and other kinds.

Partly as a result of that, APD has embraced the lapel cam technology of modern policing and public accountability while Gonzales and Bernalillo County have refused to budge on the issue. The difference is stark. While Gonzales stands at the podium and describes the events, APD now offers so much more.

In response to a fatal shooting by an APD officer this week, here is what the public heard from the city’s police department:

Officials said the deceased had outstanding warrants that included being a felon in possession of a firearm when he was pulled over for riding a motor scooter that didn’t have a license plate. And they said he had a weapon and pointed it at the officer, a nine-year APD veteran.

Unlike BCSO, however, they have proof. On Wednesday, APD released the officer’s lapel cam video, which supports APD’s description of what occurred.

We live in a world where the “CSI” effect is real and video in these cases is important from a public accountability and confidence standpoint. The United States has been embroiled in a running debate over policing and public confidence. Black lives do matter. So do brown lives, white lives and blue lives.

Law enforcement officers have a tough job, and there is without doubt a dangerous criminal element running loose. Lapel cameras are just as much for officers’ and deputies’ protection as for public accountability.

Video is also valuable in the prosecutions that come out of day-to-day police work.

A commitment to lapel cams is about more than video evidence of specific incidents. It’s about a broader change in the culture of policing. And preliminary statistics provided by the city show that seems to be working at APD. Citizen complaints against officers in 2016 fell by more than 20 percent from the year before. So did use of force by specialized units such as gang and narcotics. Crisis intervention teams are handling more calls and there have been no shootings of mentally ill people since 2014.

The sheriff is an independent elected official and the Bernalillo County Commission can’t order him to move into modern-day policing. But he should, and commissioners should publicly encourage him to do so. APD has done it, and the results are positive. At the end of the day, it’s for the protection of officers and public alike.

It’s time for BCSO to join the modern era of policing.