New Mexico Police Body Camera Laws: Mandate & Liability

New Mexico requires law enforcement agencies to equip officers who routinely interact with the public with body cameras under N.M. Stat. Ann. Section 29-1-18, keep footage at least 120 days, and can hold an officer liable for evidence spoliation if the camera is not used as required.

This guide is part of our Police Bodycam Laws by State series.

Jurisdiction scope: This article addresses New Mexico state law on police body-worn cameras: the statewide mandate and spoliation-liability provisions of N.M. Stat. Ann. Section 29-1-18, and public access under the Inspection of Public Records Act. It does not address a civilian's right to record law enforcement, a separate and already-settled question covered in our recording-law guide below.

Does New Mexico require police to wear body cameras?

Yes, with two narrow exceptions. N.M. Stat. Ann. Section 29-1-18 requires a law enforcement agency to require peace officers the agency employs, and who routinely interact with the public, to wear a body-worn camera while on duty. The statute defines "peace officer" broadly, covering any full-time salaried or certified part-time salaried officer vested by law with the duty to maintain the public peace, which reaches municipal police, county sheriff's deputies, and the New Mexico State Police alike. The mandate was enacted as Senate Bill 8 during the Legislature's First Special Session of 2020, part of a broader police accountability package Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham signed on July 8, 2020, with a compliance deadline of September 20, 2020, roughly 90 days after the special session adjourned. As enacted, that 2020 law contained no exceptions at all. The two exceptions now in the statute arrived three years later, in a 2023 amendment (Senate Bill 368, Laws 2023, Chapter 47, signed March 30, 2023): the first applies when an officer conducts an undercover operation sanctioned by a law enforcement agency, which the amendment defines as an operation focused on a suspect who is the target of an ongoing criminal investigation and involving covert operatives whose identities are concealed, and the second when an officer conducts an explosive recovery and disposal operation to render safe or disassemble an explosive or incendiary device and materials. The same amendment renumbered the statute's subsections and added the definition of "undercover operation."

When must a New Mexico officer's camera be on?

Section 29-1-18 requires every covered agency to adopt written policies and procedures consistent with the statute's activation rule. That rule requires 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, and it prohibits deactivating the camera before that encounter concludes. Unlike some states, New Mexico's statute does not carve out separate rules for use-of-force incidents specifically; the same activation and no-early-deactivation duty applies across ordinary calls for service and higher-stakes encounters alike, once an interaction with the public has begun.

How long must New Mexico agencies keep bodycam footage?

An agency's written policy must provide for retention of body-worn camera video for not less than 120 days, the statutory floor set by Section 29-1-18. New Mexico's baseline is lower than several neighboring states, and the statute leaves the decision to extend retention, for example for footage tied to a use-of-force incident, a pending prosecution, or civil litigation, to each agency's own policy rather than a separate statutory tier. Departments frequently hold footage well past 120 days once it becomes evidence in an open matter, since destroying evidence connected to a pending case raises separate legal exposure under the spoliation provisions described below.

Can the public get a copy of New Mexico bodycam footage?

Bodycam recordings are public records under New Mexico's Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA), subject to the exemptions in NMSA 1978 Section 14-2-1.2 for law enforcement records. A request for lapel or body camera video generally must identify the incident with reasonable specificity, such as a computer-aided-dispatch number, a police report number, or a date or date range, so the custodian can locate the recording. Within that framework, a custodian may redact narrow categories of especially sensitive content, including images of a dead body or of great bodily harm, but that redaction authority does not apply where the harm shown was caused by a law enforcement officer, a limit designed to prevent an agency from using redaction to shield an officer's own use of force from public view.

What happens if an officer fails to activate the camera, or tampers with footage?

New Mexico backs its activation duty with an accountability tool most other states do not use: civil liability tied directly to the missing footage. Under Section 29-1-18, a peace officer who fails to operate a body-worn camera according to agency policy, who intentionally manipulates a recording, or who prematurely erases footage in violation of policy may be presumed to have acted in bad faith. That officer can be held liable for the independent tort of negligent spoliation of evidence, or, where the conduct was intentional, the tort of intentional spoliation of evidence, in addition to whatever internal discipline the agency imposes. That permissive wording dates only to the 2023 amendment. For conduct between September 20, 2020 and that amendment, the statute was mandatory rather than discretionary: a non-complying officer "shall be presumed to have acted in bad faith and shall be deemed liable" for those torts, so anyone assessing an incident from that earlier window is working under the stricter standard. A person harmed by missing footage generally must file a written tort claims notice within 90 days to preserve a claim against a public agency. The rule responds to cases where a missing recording complicated a later prosecution or civil case, including the 2014 firing of an Albuquerque officer whose camera was not recording during a fatal shooting, an incident that predates the current statute but that New Mexico lawmakers pointed to when building today's accountability rules.

The Dotson shooting: bodycam footage in an active case

New Mexico's current framework is playing out in real litigation. On April 5, 2023, three Farmington police officers responding to a domestic violence call went to the wrong address and shot Robert Dotson after he answered his door holding a firearm, believing the officers were intruders. Body camera footage released by the department showed the officers knocking, announcing themselves, and debating whether they had the right house before opening fire, according to CNN's coverage of the family's lawsuit. A district attorney declined to bring criminal charges against the officers, and Dotson's family's wrongful-death lawsuit against the City of Farmington, filed under New Mexico tort law and the New Mexico Civil Rights Act, remains active, with a federal judge dismissing only part of the claims in 2025. The case illustrates how New Mexico's bodycam framework functions in a high-stakes matter: the footage was released and shaped public understanding of the shooting well before the civil case reached its outcome.

Is a civilian allowed to record the police in New Mexico?

That is a separate legal question from the one this page addresses. New Mexico generally allows a person to record an on-duty officer performing public duties in a public place. For the full explanation of that right and how it differs from the rules on police-generated bodycam footage described above, see Is It Illegal to Record Someone?

More New Mexico Laws

• New Mexico Data Privacy Laws
• New Mexico Drone Laws
• New Mexico Recording Laws

Frequently Asked Questions

Does New Mexico require police departments to use body cameras?

Yes. N.M. Stat. Ann. Section 29-1-18 requires municipal police departments, county sheriff's offices, the New Mexico State Police, and the Department of Public Safety to equip peace officers who routinely interact with the public with a body-worn camera, with compliance required since September 20, 2020. A 2023 amendment added two exceptions: officers on a sanctioned undercover operation, and officers conducting an explosive recovery and disposal operation.

How long must New Mexico police keep bodycam footage?

At least 120 days under Section 29-1-18. Agencies commonly hold footage longer once it becomes evidence in an open criminal case, civil claim, or internal affairs matter.

How do I request New Mexico police bodycam footage?

File a request under the Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA) with the agency that recorded the footage, identifying the incident with reasonable specificity, such as a case number, police report number, or the date of the encounter.

Can New Mexico police redact or withhold parts of bodycam video?

A records custodian may redact narrow categories, including images of a dead body or great bodily harm, but that redaction authority does not apply when a law enforcement officer caused the harm shown.

What happens if a New Mexico officer fails to record an encounter?

The officer may be presumed to have acted in bad faith and can be held personally liable for negligent or intentional spoliation of evidence under Section 29-1-18, in addition to internal agency discipline.

What is spoliation of evidence under New Mexico's bodycam law?

It is a tort claim available against an officer who fails to activate a required camera, tampers with a recording, or prematurely destroys footage in violation of agency policy, allowing a person harmed by the missing evidence to sue.

Is New Mexico's bodycam law the same as the right to record police?

No. This page covers the public's access to police-generated footage. A civilian's right to record an on-duty officer in New Mexico is a separate legal question.