Officials frustrated by camera requirement

By fall, every New Mexico law enforcement officer must wear a body camera and keep the footage on hand for roughly four months.

Officials are still looking into exactly how much it will cost them, and what they’ll need to do to be ready when the legislation takes effect in early October, 90 days after the measure was signed by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham.

The camera bill passed 31-11 in the Senate and 44-26 in the House of Representatives during the June special session that was largely dedicated to patching pandemic-related impacts to the 2019-20 and 2020-21 budgets.

Every local legislator voted against the measure.

Rep. Randy Crowder, R-Clovis, criticized the legislation as an unfunded mandate to the tune of $3 million to $5 million across the state.

Local law enforcement representatives did respond to questions from The News about the legislation, but largely declined to address questions on specific costs and storage capabilities. The legislation requires agencies to store video for 120 days, and that officers who interfere with the devices or otherwise flout the camera requirement could face penalties for withholding evidence.

Roosevelt County Sheriff Malin Parker noted frustration that law enforcement input wasn’t sought on the legislation, and said meetings are still pending to answer most body camera questions.

“The only (question) I can answer now,” Parker said, “is that we had recently purchased cameras (prior to this surprise bill) for all of our deputies and now due to the extreme restrictions of this legislation (we) are not sure if they will fit the requirements.”

The Portales Police Department is still researching what cameras it should purchase. Deputy Chief Chris Williams said due to the new requirements and the simple phasing out of some cameras, the department will have to replace all 25 of its current cameras and buy a few as backups.

“Just as any other piece of electronic equipment it is prone to errors and/or failure due to no fault of the operator,” Williams said. “We do not have any cameras out for repair at this time and there is no repair shop; they must simply be replaced.”

The Portales department, Williams said, usually collects about one terabyte of data per month and has about 20 TB available. The new requirements, however, will likely lead to a 400% increase in data and a 120-day storage requirement will almost certainly require upgrades.

Curry County Sheriff Wesley Waller said all commissioned staff are issued a body camera with 64 gigabytes of storage, and there are opportunities to upgrade the cameras with more storage and battery life.

“The cameras we use are very durable, but still susceptible to damage,” Waller said. “We currently have one pending repairs.”

Server storage, Waller said, will be addressed by the county’s Information Technology department.

The Clovis Police Department and Eastern New Mexico University police did not respond to inquiries from The News. At a board of regents meeting to the legislation’s passage, it was noted the college’s police already had body cameras for all officers and a robust storage system that included off-site backup.

Senate Bill 8 also requires the Law Enforcement Academy Board to revoke the certification of any police officer who is found guilty, pleads guilty or pleads no contest to a crime involving unlawful use or threatened use of force in the line of duty, or if he or she failed to intervene in a police action involving unlawful use of force.