APD lapel camera non use, whose head should roll?

Should any heads roll at all?

At least two things are readily apparent with regard to the use of lapel cameras by Albuquerque Police.

1. Lapel camera use is clearly required, and apparently,
2. there have been no real consequences for those who, even routinely, do not.

The consequences that befall those who break rules say something about the seriousness that the rule makers and enforcers attach to the misconduct they are prohibiting.

It stands to reason that those who commit serious misconduct should feel greater consequences than those who commit less serious misconduct.  By the same logic, the lesser the consequences, up to and including no consequences at all, the less serious must be the misconduct.

No matter how serious the policy makers (and enforcers) claim they are, about subordinates obeying a policy, the proof is in the consequences they actually provide for those who disregard their policy.

If a beat cop is told to use his or her lapel camera, and s/he sees that there are no meaningful consequences attached to ignoring the order, s/he will reasonably conclude that it really doesn't make any difference whether they employ their camera.

Someone in the leadership of the APD is personally responsible for sending a message that lapel camera use was optional despite countervailing policy.  Unless we missed it, that person's head did not roll.  Nor will it roll.  It's not the way they roll.

The same message was given to the leadership of the APD as they passed on to the rank and file; for some misconduct, there are no consequences and therefore don't take them too seriously.

Whether it is the leadership of the APD ignoring the non-use of lapel cameras or the leadership of the APS telling students they can't sag and allowing them to sag anyway, the permission of prohibited behavior teaches cops and students alike, that the behavior really isn't prohibited at all.

The most prominent characteristic of cultures of corruption and incompetence is a lack of consequences that correlates directly with power.  The more powerful one is, the less likely they will suffer consequences for their corruption and or incompetence.

For as long as powerful people are not held accountable for their failure to hold their subordinates accountable, cultures of incompetence and corruption will endure.

Hell, they will flourish.