LF: Sheriff Says He Won't Deploy Body Cameras Because He Doesn't Want His Deputies Criticized

Title: Sheriff Says He Won't Deploy Body Cameras Because He Doesn't Want His Deputies Criticized
Source: Tech Dirt
URL Source: https://www.techdirt.com/articles/2 ... -his-deputies-criticized.shtml
Published: Nov 27, 2017
Author: Tim Cushing
Post Date: 2017-12-01 18:20:31 by Deckard
Keywords: None
Views: 921
Comments: 19

from the christ,-what-a-coward dept

Something's very wrong with Albuquerque-area law enforcement. The Albuquerque Police Department has been described as a "criminal enterprise." These words didn't come from an activist group or an enraged op-ed in the local paper, but rather from a departing District Attorney in a letter to the DOJ.

The DOJ is at least partially aware of the Albuquerque PD's criminal activities. Its 2014 investigation concluded APD officers routinely engaged in indiscriminate force deployment. Worse, those above the officers did almost nothing to curb misconduct and brutality. Beyond shooting citizens at an alarming rate, APD officers were found to be tampering with camera footage -- an accusation brought by a private employee of the department in an affidavit presented to a judge.

It seems the APD isn't the only law enforcement agency in the Albuquerque area prone to unchecked acts of violence. Nor is it the only one actively disinterested in any form of accountability. In the last four months, the Bernalillo Sheriff's Department deputies have shot nine people. One deputy -- Charles Coggins -- shot two people in 22 days, killing one of them.

In addition to the shootings, a deputy was caught on camera pointing a gun at a motorcyclist. This incident occurred while both the motorcyclist and the deputy were in motion, with the deputy pointing his gun out the passenger-side window. The deputy claimed he was "in fear of an immediate and impending battery." Hmm.

Oddly, the deputy did not pursue the biker, despite being in so much fear he felt compelled to point a loaded weapon at him. He also offered no details on how a motorcyclist performing a wheelie equated to "impending battery."

The nine shootings, along with this incident, have generated calls for greater accountability. The Sheriff's Office is being pressured to issue body cameras to deputies, but Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales isn't having it.

Gonzales says his department does not, and will not, wear body cameras because he believes the media will use the footage to falsely criticize officers.
"Gives a lopsided, one-sided story, which I think is a disservice to the whole community," Gonzales said.

This is an incredibly stupid statement. First, it's hard to believe footage captured and controlled by the Sheriff's Department somehow morphs into a "one-sided story" -- with that "side" not being the BCSD's -- the instant it ends up in anyone else's hands.

Furthermore, there's the inane assertion footage will be used only to "falsely" criticize officers. There's a good chance it may be used to criticize officers, but under no circumstances would every criticism be "false." This only draws attention to the statement Gonzales won't make: he doesn't want his officers to create footage that might be used to justly criticize officers.

What Gonzales wants is zero accountability. He doesn't want any outside entities to question his officers' actions or his disciplinary tactics. He wants to run an agency that takes the public's money but owes them nothing in return.

Body camera footage is hardly a band-aid for police misconduct. Footage is often buried deep behind legislative walls and release of it is sometimes left entirely to law enforcement agencies' discretion. When it is released, it's sometimes missing critical moments and/or features (like audio). Sometimes it's been captured from useless angles. Sometimes it's been edited.

On top of that, even the most damning footage can be made useless by frame-by-frame analysis -- a process that turns the recording into an abstraction that can be made to "show" whatever the person presenting it wants it to show. This tactic dates all the way back to the Rodney King beating more than 25 years ago.

And it's not as though the footage can't be exonerating as often as it is damning. But a lot of that depends on the mindset and actions of the officers wearing them. That's what Sheriff Gonzales is really worried about: the footage might show his officers are as out of control as the public believes they are. But imagine being in the Sheriff's shoes: holding so much power but so afraid of the people he serves.

It seems that she went to the Grand Jury and failed to get indictments against two cops, thus giving a strong rebuttal to the old saying that “even the poorest of district attorneys can get an indictment on a ham sandwich from a grand duty.” She apparently failed in both cases to get an indictment against the cops and the police department then locked her of the next investigation. So, she decided to take her law books and run home to pout, but not before writing a strongly harsh letter to the DOJ condemning the APD.

So what I see here so far, is the beginning of another sleazy dirt bag yellow journalism article….I shall continue reading to determine if this is true.

What (Bernalillo County Sheriff) Gonzales wants is zero accountability. He doesn't want any outside entities to question his officers' actions or his disciplinary tactics. He wants to run an agency that takes the public's money but owes them nothing in return.

I know you believe that because I have learned the way you think. I know you believe your statement because that is the thought process you have programmed your mind to follow. Cop hating is deeply involved in all aspects of your mental process. However, just because you think that Gonzales wants zero accountability doesn’t make it so….it doesn’t make it a fact.

Maybe, just maybe he is right. Can you think that? Probably not….but at least try.

Here is a picture of Gonzales making his full statement from which the abbreviated quotation was taken out of context. Wouldn’t we love to hear EVERTHING Gonzales had to say before passing judgment on him restricting the use of body cameras by his deputies. I at least would and if you wouldn’t, then why not?

You probably wouldn’t like to hear the full statement by Gonzales because you have continually shown that you simply don’t think objectively. All you want to do is take a short extract of a full statement out of context and proclaim; “Ah Ha! Gonzales is just another asshole LEO who for no reason at all believes body cameras gives a lopsided, one-sided story, which I think is a disservice to the whole community….so I don’t like the bastard.” Am I right, this is you way of thinking? Of course I am right….you have displayed this to us all many times over.

A critic of Gonzales, Greg Williams who is president of the open government foundation had this to say about Gonzales not using body cameras: “It often justifies their position because it shows that they were doing their job in a correct way.”

Well, we all know from experiences here on LF that’s not true. Because we have seen instances where a cop’s body camera showed the cop was doing his job in a properly correct manner following departmental procedures as prescribed by law and yet the media and you cop-hating assholes still severely criticized him. Also, during trials, we have repeatedly learned that the cops’ body cameras have cause cops to be acquitted of all charges and still the media and you cop-hating assholes screamed these were injustices.

There are actually many documented cases where Gonzales is correct….that being, where the media and you asshole cop-hating anarchists use the footage to falsely criticize officers. Again, we have witnessed a number of those here on LF. Haven’t we? Sure we have!!!

There is no Federal, State, or County law that requires the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s deputies to wear body cameras. Until there is, then Sheriff Gonzales should be free to run his office to the satisfaction of the citizens of the Bernalillo County and if those citizens become displeased with his performance….they can vote him out of office.

BTW, I can do this same analysis of the incident surrounding the cop pointing the gun out the window, but I will not take time to fully do so now. I will only say he cop rightly felt he had justification. Because the picture doesn’t show and the author doesn’t specifically point that the Sheriff’s office received several calls that day about “a group of roughly 50 bikers racing and driving recklessly in the Heights and the bikers were flashing gang signs and intimidatingly surrounding the deputies as they tried to pull them over. The sheriff’s office said the deputy who pulled the gun was definitely in fear of an immediate and impending battery. Once again, the author took something entirely out of context and didn’t bother to present all the facts is his article. The author made the picture look like the passenger cop and the lone biker to his right were the only ones involved in the fray. Apparently, the 50 or so bikers split off in many different directions after the officer pulled his weapon and the officers felt a HIGH SPEED chase through a family neighborhood would be unsafe. Although the author did link to the original story….but then surely he knew that hardly anyone except a few truth seekers ever chase links so he was going to make the point he wanted to make.

There is just no way of sedating the vicious anger spewed forth by you cop haters.

Were Thomas Jefferson and the other Infidels of Every Denomination "cop haters"?

from the christ,-what-a-coward dept