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: 1160
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.

I suspect a "Consent decree" is the goal of all of this. I wouldn't have a job where I was under observation by camera. I quit truck driving over this, and would quit the police force too.

from the christ,-what-a-coward dept