Bernalillo County advisory board asks sheriff to answer questions about On Patrol Live contract and public opt‑out

The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office Advisory Review Board said it will send the sheriff a list of questions and invite him to the next meeting after members raised concerns about the sheriff's office returning to the commercial program On Patrol Live. The chair said the sheriff has indicated a contract is under legal review and that deputies and some members of the public had previously expressed differing views on the project.

A committee member who recalled an earlier controversy described a woman who said she was filmed in a traffic crash even after asking not to be filmed. "They said basically they ignored her," the committee member said, recounting public comments that prompted earlier complaints about the program.

Board members urged a careful legal review and asked whether a new contract would allow members of the public to opt out of filming. Daniel Robertson, assistant county attorney, confirmed he had a May draft of the agreement and said it "has an insurance section," and that draft review is part of the county's longer legal process. He and others discussed standard county requests for liability limits that commonly include $1,000,000 and higher tiers.

Members said the prior contract allowed deputies to opt out but did not give the same opt‑out to the public; that discrepancy was a central concern. One member urged that, at minimum, any new agreement be reviewed by county legal counsel and include an opt‑out provision for members of the public, including victims in sensitive incidents.

The board agreed on a procedural step: members will send questions to the chair and vice chair (not to the whole board, to avoid an Open Meetings Act rolling quorum), who will compile and forward the list to the sheriff ahead of the board's next meeting. The chair said the board hopes the sheriff will come prepared to answer those questions.

Next steps: the board will collect questions, consolidate duplicates and place the item on the July 17 meeting agenda so the sheriff can respond.