The idea of putting body-worn cameras on police officers has spread since protests and unrest following the shooting of an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, Missouri. Earlier this week, the Obama administration proposed federal funding to get 50,000 more officers equipped with the cameras.
The increased use of cameras makes a few policy questions around them more pressing. One such question: what happens when a police officer fails—or straight-up refuses—to turn on the body camera?
The issue was highlighted in today's Wall Street Journal, which features a story about a New Mexico police officer who "was fired for allegedly not following an order to record and upload all contacts with citizens," according to the Albuquerque Police Department and the officer's lawyer.
Officer Jeremy Dear shot and killed a 19-year-old woman in April, an incident that heightened the already intense scrutiny of the Albuquerque Police Department. The city's police department had earlier reached a deal with the US Department of Justice, after a federal investigation concluded that police there "had used a pattern of excessive force."
Dear's lawyer, Thomas Grover, says the officer tried to activate the camera but couldn't. He also says there was never an order issued to record all citizen contacts.
The department says Dear's action was deliberate. “Insubordination tears at the fabric of public safety, especially when the officer makes a choice not to follow a lawful order," said the city's police chief in a statement.
"If they fire every officer who doesn't turn on his uniform camera, they won't have anyone left on the department," Grover told a Reuters reporter. "I think the department is struggling to get the lapel camera policy in place and set an example of him to show the Department of Justice they are doing something."
However the Albuquerque situation gets resolved, similar disputes are likely to be seen nationwide as more departments, willingly or under pressure, use body cameras.
