Without a bodycam, we’ll never know

IT NEVER CEASES to amaze me that Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales continues to refuse body cameras for his deputies. The recent shooting by three deputies of a mentally ill young woman is a good example. Gonzales claims there is no evidence that the deputies did anything wrong when the three opened fire on the woman who came at them with a knife. The problem is, there is no evidence that they didn’t.

The deputies wear audio recorders, Sheriff Gonzales states. Did they have them turned on? Gonzales says he thinks so. He thinks so! Yet he determines that they followed procedures. How does he know that? Based on the deputies reporting of the incident?

I can only assume the deputies have non-lethal means at their disposal. If so, why didn’t they use that method to subdue the woman? If they didn’t have nonlethal weapons, why not?

What makes me scratch my head the most is how anyone could have voted for Gonzales when he clearly stated during his campaign that he refuses to allow his deputies to wear body cameras. Shame on Gonzales for his refusal, and shame on anyone who voted for him and this policy. JEFFREY PAUL Albuquerque