The city's personnel board voted 3-2 this week to give back officer Jeremy Dear his position. Dear's camera was not plugged in when he shot and killed a 19-year-old girl after a foot chase last year. He was cleared of the shooting, but fired after the city's police chief, Gorden Eden, said that the officer routinely did not have his lapel cam running during encounters with the public, as he was allegedly ordered to do in 2013 after there were several citizen complaints lodged against him.
The officer's attorney successfully convinced the city's personnel board that the police department's policy on body-worn cameras was inconsistently applied and that there were times when cameras should not be running.
Dear's plight comes as more and more police departments are gobbling up body cameras in the wake of last year's Ferguson, Missouri, police shooting and the riots that followed. Body cams present a host of privacy issues for both the officer and public. What's more, the cameras are being used to both protect the public and the police. But shootings captured on film often go viral on the Internet and create a public uproar. And when a camera isn't used, the public cries foul or becomes suspicious.
Meanwhile, Dear said his camera accidentally unplugged from the battery pack before he began chasing the 19-year-old suspected car thief last year after she allegedly pointed a gun at him during a foot chase. He fired in response and killed her. A fellow officer corroborated that the teen, Mary Hawkes, had pointed a gun. That on-scene officer, however, turned on his body camera after the shooting, according to public records obtained by the Albuquerque Journal.
The 2014 shooting happened the same year the US Department of Justice announced that its investigation into Albuquerque police had found a pattern of excessive force. Under a deal with federal authorities, the department has agreed to require its officers in the street to wear lapel cameras.
The city's personnel board, while reinstating Dear, agreed that his punishment should be a 90-day suspension. The city is appealing the decision to the local courts and does not take force until court action is concluded.
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