UNMPD begins using bodycams

In March, the University of New Mexico Police Department began using body cameras.

This comes over a year after the Daily Lobo reported that UNMPD did not use body cameras because of a loophole in a state statute. A bill during this year’s legislative session aimed to close that loophole, but it did not make it past the Senate.

UNM announced that the police department would obtain the cameras in August 2024. So far, the cameras have worked well, according to Lt. Tim Delgado, who is in charge of UNMPD’s body camera program.

“The officers are good with it, and it’s helped a lot on calls, with arrests, complaints — because it shows the whole picture,” Delgado said. “It’s a very clear picture — audio and video.”

The department does not have an official policy for the devices yet. The policy that Delgado developed is in the approval process, which involves the Office of University Counsel and Human Resources, according to Delgado. When it is finalized, it will appear in UNMPD’s Standard Operating Procedures manual, which is accessible online.

Currently, UNMPD operates the cameras under a partial policy, which outlines when officers should and shouldn’t use them, according to Delgado.

“For the most part, they know how to use them. We haven’t had an issue with them,” Delgado said.

Officers should activate the cameras during nearly every interaction they have with the public, according to Delgado. They often do not tell people that the cameras are on, he said.

“Anytime you have contact with anybody, you have to have it on for the most part,” Delgado said.

There are some exceptions, such as when officers have casual conversations with the public, participate in briefings or enter hospital rooms.

In a November 2023 interview with the Daily Lobo, then-New Mexico American Civil Liberties Union Executive Director Peter Simonson said body cameras benefit both the community and officers themselves.

“It’s been a critical way for the department to get a deep understanding of how officers are actually abiding by internal policies,” Simonson said.

UNMPD’s body camera policy will outline a process that occurs if an officer does not properly activate their camera, Delgado said. This will involve a report or written memorandum to the officer’s immediate supervisor, he said. The supervisor will then decide what to do.

“What they’re really looking for is if it’s ongoing,” Delgado said. “Someone’s gonna mess up once in a while, but if there’s a pattern of it, they’re gonna look at that really hard.”

State law holds that officers who do not comply with their department’s body camera policies may be presumed to have acted in bad faith, and may be deemed liable for negligent or intentional spoliation of evidence.

Delgado said that officer training on how to use the body cameras is an ongoing process. Axon — the body camera company UNMPD signed a five-year contract with — offered initial training.

Beyond the cameras, Axon provides UNMPD with a cloud-based storage system for the footage. This footage is never deleted, Delgado said, unless a camera is falsely activated.

UNMPD will no longer use audio recorders. The department does not have dashcams, but an officer’s body camera must stay on if someone is in their car, according to Delgado.

In August 2024, UNM Chief Marketing and Communications Officer Cinnamon Blair told the Daily Lobo that the body camera implementation would cost the University $344,000 from its general operating funds for the first year.

UNM decided to obtain the cameras following reporting by the Daily Lobo and KOB. UNM administration renewed the conversation following last spring’s pro-Palestine protests, Blair told the Daily Lobo in August.

“I don’t know if it was a catalyst in and of itself, but I would say it was a contributing factor,” Blair said. “In retrospect, that could have aided us in having a more comprehensive picture of what went on.”

Lily Alexander is the editor-in-chief of the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at editorinchief@dailylobo.com or on X @llilyalexander

Lauren Lifke is the managing editor for the Daily Lobo. She can be reached at managingeditor@dailylobo.com or on X @lauren_lifke

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