Albuquerque police officer Jeremy Dear, who fatally shot a 19-year-old girl suspected of stealing a truck in April, has been fired for insubordination and untruthfulness. Police investigation revealed that Dear intentionally switched off his body camera before he shot and killed Mary Hawkes.
Albuquerque police chief Gorden Eden said the firing was part of a ‘zero tolerance’ policy on police camera use during citizen interactions. Eden’s statement read: “Insubordination tears at the fabric of public safety, especially when the officer makes a choice not to follow a lawful order. The department has a policy requiring all officers to record every time they have contact with a citizen. Dear was under that order and didn’t comply.”
According to the police, on April 21, 2014, after a foot chase, Hawkes allegedly pointed a gun at Dear. That prompted the officer to shoot and kill her. The incident wasn’t recorded because apparently his body camera ‘malfunctioned’.
Hawkes autopsy reported that all three gunshots were fired on her from a downward trajectory, indicating that Dear was actually standing over the teenage girl when he killed her.
Here’s all you want to know of the incident…
This is not the first occasion where Dear’s body camera was mysteriously turned off.
A review of Dear’s personnel file shows that in January 2013, his camera malfunctioned during the course of him breaking up a fight, in which Dear did strike the 22-year-old suspect several times on his face with a closed fist. The incident wasn’t recorded because the camera was never turned on during the encounter. Dear said he tried to turn it on but it just didn’t seem to work.
In February the same year, Dear pulled a man over for speeding, handcuffed him too tightly, and allegedly kicked the suspect in the groin after dragging him from his vehicle. This too wasn’t recorded.
Thomas Grover, Jeremy Dear’s lawyer, said, “If they fire every officer who doesn’t turn on his uniform camera, they won’t have anyone left on the department.”
Grover added that the number of citizen complaints in Dear’s file are the result of working a lot of extra hours, so he had more contact with citizens than the average patrol officer.
Here’s more on Dear’s firing…
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why is there an off switch in the first place? the idea of body cams was to prove there was no police brutality in the first place! as for the “excuse” he was working over time and came into contact with more people beggars belief!now he should be placed on trial for murder!
I assume thats because it doesnt have enough memory to record an officer’s entire shift including when he is taking a loo while his duty ..lol
I know cops in usa are getting more and more aggressive and shooting citizens one after another and this should be stopped and every officer needs to have some strict regulation and laws against them , as if anyone broke any law or did injustice towards the citizien should get punished immediately. But this doesnt happens in USA 99% of the crimes or injustice the cops do gets JUSTIFIED stamped by their superiors ..which needs to be checked.
Jeremy Dear Souless Coldblood Killer murdered Mary Hawkes.
It would not be hard to install some sort of RFID mandatory on switch when the officer leaves the vehicle. If my car “keys” can do it, so can the cameras.
Why has no one filed murder charges?
The crazy thing is that, when I read the headline for this story, I felt a sense of justice. However, now that I think about it….this guy murdered someone, and its considered to be “justice” that he was simply fired. Sad
She loses her life, and all he loses is his job? Typical.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Missing_white_woman_syndrome
relevant, except apply it to violence against white women instead of strictly kidnappings and disappearances.
While the cameras are definitely a step in the right direction. It seems like there are some major design flaws. Why are do they even have a cable in the first place. Wouldn’t something like a go pro be sufficient. Surely the technology exists.
She’s a thug…The cop is right to kill her…she would’ve killed him… he was in danger…GOD bless him
Seriously?! I never reply to people’s comments but Dee you are a complete moron! So because she was a “thug” like you say she deserved to die?! He was right to kill her?! You are a perfect example of what is wrong with society. Wow. Your parents must be proud.
It was sarcasm…because if she was black that’s what your people would be saying…love it you guys r proving my point…because we all know there is no such thing as a white thug
You are actually retarded. I’m not saying she wasn’t dangerous, but he killed somebody on the job and he regularly has his camera off when he dishes out violence. That guy is a psychopath.
If it was a one off incident, I’d be on your side, if he regularly was a good cop instead of one who lies, makes excuses, harasses and assaults continually.
If she was black your people would be burning down your town and stealing everything from local stores.
Being quite white, and having heard the “thug” defense used on some of the young black men shot in recent months, I can assure you my response was “So he made a mistake at some point in his life, he deserved to be killed? What the f— is wrong with people?!”
So please, don’t make this a “your people, my people” argument. It should be a human argument; no one deserves to be killed for no reason, regardless of color, religion, sexuality, etc., and anyone who thinks they do is a monster.
Your people? …. wow i can see racism goes both ways… only difference is we dont cry about it. I mean for god sake its hasnt seriously impacted anyone for how long. Get over it,Its called history for a reason. Just live your life. Also by the comment you made about your people, its actually condoning the same thing you complain about… AKA you are your own worse enemy. Bottom line color means jack shit. We are all human beings our actions define us…
“It hasn’t seriously impacted anybody for like a really long time?” “Get over it?” Seriously?
That is what I hear every time a young BLACK Person is killed by the Police in this country. He’s was a thug he deserved what he got ,don’t try and make the cop look bad for doing his job! SERIOUSLY Dee?
Every time? Really? Michael Brown was a thug and had felony charges for burglary and already being investigated for an attempted murder when he attacked that officer. So yea, THAT guy happened to be a thug.. and a stupid one at that. But lately all I ever hear when a black person is shot, or even just arrested, is “the cop was racist”. Cuz we all know that only white people are capable of being racist and cops only go after black people.
I hope an officer kills you
and there went the hope for humanity…poof..out the door like this persons mind..-sigh-….the world is so far gone..
Wow, I can’t believe you posted that. Haven’t you a heart. She was someone’s daughter, sister, and probably someone’s mother. You should be ashamed of yourself.
fuck u u stupid ass bich i hope u get killed now bitch
DEE YOU NEED HELP FOR YOU TO SAY THIS COMMENT TO GET A REACTION SHOWS YOUR COLORS IT SHOULD NEVER BE ABOUT COLOR BUT NO MATTER WHAT YOU OR I SAY FACT IS THERE ARE PEOPLE MAINLY WHITES WHO BELIEVE THIS COUNTRIES IS THERES AND ONLY THERES
…wow
This guy should definitely be charged with capital murder. It’s sad that he wasn’t disciplined on the other occasions when he turned his camera off. When I was a high school student one of my classmates killed a rival who was seeing the same woman. This married man killed the other man and his punishment was the loss of his job. Why is it so hard to get justice for policemen who murder?
So it’s alright if the police be racist kill black people and try do get rid of any evidence but when police do the same with white people they get fired
Bury this shitstain in a shallow grave.
They should do more than just fire him..
Hey Mr. Lawyer, how is that good police policy to record all encounters, it could help protect their asses, or help prosecute the dirty cops, not all law enforcement officers are overbearing and wrong, but the ones that are, need to be held accountable.
Hey Mr. Lawyer, how is that good police policy to record all encounters, it could help protect themselves, , or help prosecute the dirty cops, not all law enforcement officers are overbearing and wrong, but the ones that are, need to be held accountable.
I meant, how is it not good police policy.
the comment that if they fired every officer who’s camera is not on during CONTACT with civilians there would be no one on the force is laughable maybe if joining was harder to do then they would not have route out the rednecks and psychos AFTER they murder a mother/father son/daughter and then hide behind a badge
The department has a policy requiring all officers to record every time they have contact with a citizen. Dear was under that order and didn’t comply.” so this mean he was against the policy or violated the law already when he turned off the camera so then he is guilty for killing or attacking citizens.
Memory is cheap. There should be no problem whatsoever in creating a camera system with multiple cameras showing a stereo view forward as well as what is behind the cop…essentially 360 degree coverage…that records 24/7/365.
It should sync and upload all video and charge wirelessly when the cop is close to the car (upload) or sitting in it (wireless charge).
Then when the cop exits the car, upload sync continues as long as in-range via a radio system like cellular.
The fully charged system should last at least 12 hours before needing a charge, and should accept common cellphone charging cords and wireless charging methods.
With the cop cars acting as remote base stations for each officer, the data is already backed up for integrity purposes, so there’s no more “honest mistakes” where the cop “accidentally deleted” their video.
Next step, the cop car then feeds the recorded video to headquarters using data compression which can be overridden when any particular officer is on a call so that dispatchers can watch the live video at high resolution to aid the cop; watching behind him, applying night vision to the display (Perhaps a combiner eyepiece for the cop too?), and using facial recognition etc.
With such a system; the triple-redundancy and automatic backup of the data and the Always-On, Always Maintaining a Charged State design would insure every second of a cop’s duty time, that time when he is working for the citizen taxpayers and taking their money in exchange for upholding the law and complying with department policy…is recorded.
No more “forgot to turn it on”. No more deleting video thst is embarrassing or incriminating before uploading it at the station.
Memory is cheap. There should be no problem creating a system that can operate untethered for 24 hours, capturing numerous lines of high resolution video, both recording to memory and uploading to the node in the car, which, in turn, uploads to police headquarters, and perhaps to a DOJ site to insure top-down tampering doesn’t occur.
Add the ability to turn the data transmit rate up from the trickle necessary for backup to full motion live video, and you have the beginning of Sensor Synthesis for cops.
Funny thing is the Military has been using something just like this for many years with SEALs and other Special Forces. ..satellite enabled too!
Finally, “Always On” recording will only insure the integrity of the cops wearing the devices.
MAKE IT NECESSARY FOR THE PERFUMED PRINCES AT HQ TO WEAR AN ACTIVE CAMERA WHILE ON DUTY TOO. The chiefs, deputy chiefs, captains, lieutenants, etc. shouldn’t be able to escape the very accountability demanded of their juniors.
Next, expand the use of these cameras to politicians and others being paid by taxpayers.
This cop should be tried and prosecuted 100% if not then the people should take over and do what is right. These cameras should not have an on or off button or anything like it. Once turned on they should stay on until the unit is turned into a civilian intervention center so not even the cops can change anything at any time period. its the only way to keep this type of program free from interference of any kind
Why isn’t there a call for federal, state, and local legislation making it a felony for any arrest or police action to occur without an issued body cam turned on and in view of that action? no exceptions.
I have an idea… why not assign a partner for every officer… tada two cameras. Either way he deserves to charged with murder as a third account leading to a death just because hes got a temper problem. Oh and i would like to know for one dont police officers wear protective gear such as vests, and also why not shoot the leg or arm to disable instead of three shots at a downward angle. Gun or no gun it was a contious decision for him to kill not disable. where do we draw the line. Ill be one of many to call him what he is…. murderer, which inturn makes him a criminal.