County not pushing body cams for deputies
Shootings don’t sway commissioners’ support of sheriff’s anti-camera stance
The Albuquerque Police Department and Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office share the same Downtown headquarters, work cases alongside each other at times and are both part of a multijurisdictional team that investigates when an officer shoots someone.
But when it comes to using onbody cameras, the two departments have opposite policies. APD was one of the first major city police departments in the country to equip most of its officers with cameras, but the Sheriff’s Office doesn’t use them.
The sheriff and county commissioners, who approve the Sheriff’s Office budget, say they have no plans to change course.
Sheriff Manuel Gonzales III has been asked about the technology repeatedly in the past two months amid a spate of deputy shootings. Deputies fired their weapons in the line of duty five times from July 4 to Aug. 6. Two suspects have died, and two were wounded.
Gonzales said during his campaign for sheriff that he wasn’t in favor of using body cameras. And
his perspective hasn’t changed since he took office or since the issue has been frequently broached as a result of the recent shootings.
Asked about cameras during a news conference about one of the deputyinvolved shootings, he sarcastically suggested that it would be better if people with long criminal histories wore cameras instead of deputies.
At a County Commission meeting this summer, Gonzales asked commissioners to increase his budget so he could hire more deputies. But he said he wouldn’t be asking for money for cameras when asked about them by Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins.
“I haven’t found any empirical information, any research, that shows a body camera saved a person’s life,” he said. “But what I do know is over the last several hundred years of sheriffing and policing out there, there are thousands of documented cases of people in law enforcement saving human life. I’d rather invest the money in something that is valuable and works.”
For now, county commissioners are disinclined to force the issue.
The commissioners said in recent interviews that they would let the sheriff decide what’s best for his department. None said he or she was considering legislation to try to force deputies to wear cameras, though several said they like the general idea of the technology.
“The cameras are here, and they have the potential of helping an officer,” Commissioner Wayne Johnson said. “I guess the commission could pass a law and force it down their throat, but I’m really reluctant as a legislator to make a policy decision for another elected official.”
Commissioner Debbie O’Malley said she believes Gonzales’ reluctance to equip his deputies with cameras is a way to be a strong leader for his deputies. He doesn’t want to act like he questions their actions during dire circumstances, she said.
“I think he’s a very strong leader, and his deputies look up to him,” O’Malley said. “Culturally, what’s happening (in the Sheriff’s Office) is so different (than at APD), and that’s probably why his response (is to not use cameras.) He wants his deputies to feel that they can engage and get out there, and it’s clear that’s he’s very supportive of the folks he manages.”
O’Malley did say she would be in favor of getting feedback from officers who do use cameras to see if police think the cameras have affected how they approach their jobs.
Commissioner Lonnie Talbert said it’s up to the sheriff to decide what equipment he does or doesn’t need.
“He’s responsible for his people and his investigations,” Talbert said.
Commissioner Steven Michael Quezada said he liked the idea of the cameras, which he said can help monitor deputies. But he said the county can’t afford them.
“I would like to see if they are racially profiling people. … I have concerns about all of that, and a lapel camera would tell me that,” he said. “But we don’t have the money. Either we have officers or we have lapel cameras.”
Hart Stebbins said she thinks body cameras enhance public confidence in law enforcement when they are used with sound policies that protect victims and witnesses.
“The sheriff has to base his decision on a thorough cost-benefit analysis that balances the benefits to BCSO staff and transparency against the significant costs of purchasing and maintaining a system,” she said.
APD cameras
Albuquerque police rolled out body cameras in 2012 amid a multiyear increase in police shootings. The department equipped all officers with cameras and instructed them to record every encounter.
It hasn’t been smooth. The early cameras had a short battery life and at times came unplugged. Officers were not using them as often as called for in APD policy, which some have called confusing.
But APD has remained committed to the effort. The department also agreed to continue to use the cameras in its settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice, which outlines a yearslong reform effort that is underway by Albuquerque police.
This month, the department is rolling out new on-body cameras that police officials hope will help reduce the amount of times when officers fail to record a situation, because the cameras are wireless. And officers will carry two of the cameras, so that if one breaks or if batteries die during a shift, the officer has a backup, said Celina Espinoza, a police spokeswoman.
Some of the footage has produced strong results. Video of the fatal shooting of James Boyd by two Albuquerque police officers became a crucial piece of evidence in the murder trial against the officers, which ended in a hung jury. They will not face a retrial.
Former officer Jeremy Dear’s failure to record when he shot and killed 19-year-old Mary Hawkes added a layer of scrutiny and criticism to the shooting, and the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Mexico has confirmed it is investigating allegations that police altered video in that and other shooting cases.
Officers told researchers APD’s policy has caused them not to talk to people as much while working their beats, made them reluctant to give people some slack for minor infractions and has led to frustration when cases were dismissed because of a lack of video, according to a study completed by the University of New Mexico’s Institute for Social Research.
On the other hand, video has helped exonerate Albuquerque police officers in some cases. After a recent fatal shooting by an Albuquerque police officer, within days the department released a video of the shooting that showed a suspect had a gun and was raising it in the direction of an officer when the suspect was shot and killed.
Johnson, who is running for mayor, said APD’s use of lapel cameras has put the Sheriff’s Office in a difficult position. And he said the Albuquerque public now expects there to be clear video of every police shooting, when that is not always the case.