[Author]by the El Reportero’s wire services[/Author]
Nearly two months ago, the U.S. Border Patrol is ready to test the use of body cameras on its agents in New Mexico to determine if they are using excessive force in certain cases.
The move comes in response to criticism and several investigations and lawsuits over alleged abuses by the Border Patrol.
The initial tests will be undertaken at the Border Patrol training academy in Artesia, New Mexico.
The measure was applauded by the ACLU, which has several suits outstanding against the Border Patrol for excessive use of force by its agents that in some cases has resulted in the deaths of immigrants or even of Mexicans on their own side of the border, as in the case of Jose Elena Rodriguez, who died in Nogales, Sonora, in October 2012.
“While it has been proven that body cameras drastically reduce the use of force in incidents with local authorities, we still have to see how the Border Patrol will use them,” James Lyall, an ACLU attorney in Tucson, Arizona, told Efe on Monday.
According to Lyall, the Border Patrol committed itself more than a year ago to undertaking a pilot program with body cameras and it is good to know that finally some efforts in that direction are being made.
“In the face of the ongoing refusal of the Border Patrol to (comply with) the law and better practices, it’s too early to say if this move forward will have any impact on the deeply-rooted culture of abuses and impunity,” Lyall added.
But for Guadalupe Guerrero, the mother of Carlos Lamadrid, the young Mexican man who died in March 2011 after being shot by a Border Patrol agent in Douglas, Arizona, this does not change anything.
“It’s already being taken note of that they’re corrupt and, above all, that they remain unpunished because of the 40 (immigrants) they have killed none (of the agents) has set foot in a court. But very soon everything’s going to change. The situation with the cameras – I hope – will prevent them from killing any human being and hiding evidence,” Guerrero told Efe on Monday.
Meanwhile, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, the union that represents more than 17,000 agents, said that they are not opposed to the measure.
“We’re not afraid, we only want to assure ourselves that these cameras are not going to be … used against the agents. What concerns us is knowing how they are going to be used,” he told Efe.
