In Trial Evaluation, Border Agents at 62/180 Checkpoint Will Wear Body Cameras
As part of field testing being conducted by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Border Patrol agents at the Hwy. 62/180 checkpoint in Hudspeth County will be wearing “body-worn cameras” for a 30-day period beginning later this month. CBP is assessing the feasibility of deploying the cameras more broadly, and the testing comes after increased criticism about a lack of transparency and accountability in the use of force by CBP agents and officers.
Officials at the Border Patrol’s El Paso Sector asked to be involved in the field testing. The cameras are currently deployed at the Santa Teresa Border Patrol Station, and testing at the Hwy. 62/180 checkpoint is expected to begin in mid-March. El Paso Sector agents could also test the body-worn cameras on ATVs and in other field operations.
In a Feb. 20 press briefing, El Paso Sector Deputy Chief Benjamine Carry Huffman said the sector had asked to be part of the study, because cameras presented an “opportunity to promote transparency and accountability in our organization” and to “promote greater trust with the public.”
“The El Paso Sector has enjoyed a very positive relationship with advocacy groups,” Huffman said, “and we’d talked about this in the past, about the potential of using the body-worn cameras. So when the opportunity came up for the study, we advocated for bringing them here to the El Paso Sector.
“We’re doing good work on behalf of the public,” Huffman said. “However, it’s difficult to tell that story sometimes. We believe that, if this feasibility study proves out, as we hope that it will, these body-worn cameras [will] allow the American public to look over our shoulder while we’re working.”
Twelve cameras will be used in the study, and the cameras will be worn by agents who have volunteered to participate. If the use of force is filmed by a camera during the field study, the camera data could be used in an investigation of the incident.
According to a news release from the ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights, at least 39 people have died in encounters with CBP agents and officers since January 2010; 34 of those deaths resulted from the use of lethal force by CBP personnel, and the ACLU and other critics have highlighted cases in which individuals across the border were shot and killed after throwing rocks at agents. In Hudspeth County in February, agents shot and killed a man after he sped through the Sierra Blanca checkpoint, and agents at the Hwy. 62/180 shot a man with a tazer after he became threatening, the agency said.
CBP Commissioner Richard Gil Kerlikowske changed the agency’s use-of-force policy and the procedures for investigating the deadly use of force shortly after taking up the leadership position, in March 2014. Last summer, Kerlikowske established the CBP Body-worn Camera Working Group – to determine whether body-worn camera technology was feasible within the agency’s operations – and the trial run in Hudspeth County is part of that assessment. Body-worn cameras are used by many police department in the country.
In the first phase of the trial, which ended in December, the cameras were sent to CBP academies, where the devices were worn by trainees in “scenario-based training.” The deployment of the cameras in the El Paso Sector is part of the second phase of the evaluation. After the trial in the El Paso Sector, agents operating in Washington state will field-test the devices. The cameras will also be tested in “humid and coastal areas,” in Florida and Michigan.
Regional ACLU representatives welcomed the agency’s decision to test the cameras. In a press statement, Vicki Gaubeca, director for ACLU of New Mexico Regional Center for Border Rights, said the move showed that “the cries of harassment, abuse of power and fear from border community members have been heard.”
“Equipping port-of-entry officers and Border Patrol agents with body-worn cameras, governed by privacy protections, will help protect abuse victims,” Gaubeca said in the statement, “and if used appropriately these cameras will help ensure that CBP’s interaction with community members is fair and lawful.”
The ACLU first called on CBP to deploy cameras in 2012. In the press statement, Chris Rickerd, ACLU policy counsel, said the feasibility study was a step in the right direction.
“The implementation of body-worn cameras has the potential to significantly bolster CBP’s recent commitment to transparency and accountability,” Rickerd said. “While we welcome cameras as a step forward, they are not a complete solution to CBP’s troubling track record of excessive force and other abuses. We must see other tangible reforms to the agency’s culture, such as a responsive complaint process and an end to racial profiling.”
At the end of this spring’s field test, the working group will evaluate the feasibility of the broad deployment of body-worn cameras on agents. Factors that the working group will consider include records retention, costs, legal ramifications, privacy and evidence issues, among others.
The timeline for the potential deployment of body cameras on a large scale remains uncertain – even if the CBP finds the results of the field study to be promising. Representatives for the National Border Patrol Council, the union for Border Patrol agents, have expressed reservations about the cameras, including whether data from the cameras might be used in disciplinary actions against agents.
In the Feb. 20 briefing, Border Patrol Assistant Chief Donna Twyford said that, in addition to negotiating with the unions representing CBP employees, the agency would have to seek funding for the large-scale deployment of cameras. She said the “many unknowns associated with the implementation” made it difficult to project a time frame for the project.
“This is going to be a very deliberative process,” she said. “We do not feel that to be hasty and rush this would be beneficial to anybody involved in the process.”