2024 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 29 - Law Enforcement
Article 1 - Peace Officers in General
Section 29-1-18 - Requiring certain law enforcement agencies to use body-worn cameras while on duty; exceptions; adoption of policies and procedures governing use.

A. A law enforcement agency shall require peace officers the agency employs and who routinely interact with the public to wear a body-worn camera while on duty, except as provided in Subsection B of this section. Each law enforcement agency subject to the provisions of this section shall adopt policies and procedures governing the use of body-worn cameras, including:

(1) requiring activation of a body-worn camera whenever a peace officer is responding to a call for service or at the initiation of any other law enforcement or investigative encounter between a peace officer and a member of the public;

(2) prohibiting deactivation of a body-worn camera until the conclusion of a law enforcement or investigative encounter;

(3) requiring that any video recorded by a body-worn camera shall be retained by the law enforcement agency for not less than one hundred twenty days; and

(4) establishing disciplinary rules for peace officers who:

(a) fail to operate a body-worn camera in accordance with law enforcement agency policies;

(b) intentionally manipulate a body-worn camera recording; or

(c) prematurely erase a body-worn camera recording in violation of law enforcement agency policies.

B. The provisions of Subsection A of this section shall not apply when a peace officer:

(1) conducts an undercover operation sanctioned by a law enforcement agency; or

(2) conducts an explosive recovery and disposal operation to render safe or disassemble an explosive or incendiary device and materials.

C. Peace officers who fail to comply with the policies and procedures required to be adopted pursuant to Subsection A of this section may be presumed to have acted in bad faith and may be deemed liable for the independent tort of negligent spoliation of evidence or the independent tort of intentional spoliation of evidence.

D. As used in this section:

(1) "body-worn camera" means an electronic device worn on a person's body that records both audio and video data;

(2) "law enforcement agency" means the police department of a municipality, the sheriff's office of a county, the New Mexico state police or the department of public safety;

(3) "peace officer" means any full-time salaried or certified part-time salaried officer who by virtue of office or public employment is vested by law with the duty to maintain the public peace; and

(4) "undercover operation" means an operation that:

(a) is conducted by one or more law enforcement agencies that is focused on a suspect or suspects who are the target of an ongoing criminal investigation;

(b) involves one or more covert operatives whose identities are concealed and kept confidential; and

(c) is designed to either obtain information about criminal activity of individuals or organizations through the development of ongoing relationships with individuals or organizations or to effect an arrest.

History: Laws 2020 (1st S.S.), ch. 7, § 1; 2023, ch. 47, § 1.

The 2023 amendment, effective June 16, 2023, provided exceptions to the requirement that law enforcement use body-worn cameras, and defined "undercover operation" as used in this section; in the section heading, added "exceptions"; in Subsection A, after "while on duty", added "except as provided in Subsection B of this section"; added a new Subsection B and redesignated former Subsections B and C as Subsections C and D, respectively; in Subsection C, after "Subsection A of this section", deleted "shall" and added "may", and after "bad faith and", deleted "shall" and added "may"; and in Subsection D, added Paragraph D(4).

New Mexico Livestock Board inspectors are not law enforcement officers subject to body-worn camera requirements. — Although the New Mexico Livestock Board has certain law enforcement functions, and livestock inspectors routinely respond to calls and conduct investigations of livestock-related crimes, the legislature included a specific definition of "law enforcement agency" for purposes of construing the body-worn camera requirements of this section, and the livestock board or its inspectors were not included in this definition; the livestock board's absence from the definition of "law enforcement agency" evinces the legislative intent to limit the statute's applicability to only certain law enforcement agencies, which would exclude the livestock board and its inspectors from the requirements of this section. 2024 Op. Att'y Gen. No. 24-01.