“I’ve read, and reread the article by Aysha Camp,” says Maria (all last names have been withheld to prevent the El Paso Police Department from retaliating against officers, or their spouses). “My husband has been in things that would make anyone’s hair go white. If he couldn’t talk to me about it, at the very least, I don’t think he would still be here.”

“Communication is vital in all relationships for healing, for coping, it doesn’t surprise me to see a Department with a Crisis Intervention Team for exterior assistance with mentally ill subjects who can’t seem to understand the concept of taking care of their Officers internally. That is the injustice of irony, led by an out-of-touch Chief (Chief Pete Pacillas).” – Aysha Camp

Rules For Thee, Not For Me (Or the Masses) – Southwest News Today

I was wondering why my husband was a little distant lately, but now I understand clearly, I read this notice with absolute laughter due to the irrational and nonsensical narratives

“I know Pete, personally,” says the wife of another officer, who asked we not share her name, “and he can be a good guy. Here, he’s out of his depth and he doesn’t realize it. Officers need to talk to us, or it will be worse for them on the street.”

We recently published two articles, SWAT, by M.S. and Your Mission If You Choose To Accept…. By Aysha Camp. These two articles have created perfect storm. The emails we’ve received are split. Half of those who took the time to write have sent us some of the worst they have to offer. Some have even called for us to take our own lives. Fortunately, for us, we do see your IP address and are referring those emails to law enforcement, but not to the El Paso Police Department.

The other half of what we’ve received is very negative towards the El Paso Police Department, and the utter failure in how they are treating some officers, which we’ll briefly mention in this article.

“Officer Camp has been suspended,” said a Lieutenant with the El Paso Police Department. “This suspension stems form alleged doxing and sharing his troubles with his wife.”

The Lieutenant shared with us that Camp was accused of providing us telephone numbers to specific officers within the department. What is sad about this, according to the Lieutenant we interviewed, there was no hard evidence, only supposition on the part of Internal Affairs.

“There are those, even in IA, who do not agree with either of these suspensions,” shared the Lieutenant, over coffee. “No investigation was performed.”

Had they phoned us, we would have gladly told them were we obtained such information. A simple internet search would have also educated the Department about the Texas State Directory.

“They also need to understand and become familiar with the definition of doxing,” said the Lieutenant.

Unlawful Disclosure of Residence Address or Telephone Number: This is a new criminal offense that makes it illegal to post on a publicly accessible website the residence address or telephone number of an individual with the intent to cause harm or threat of harm to the individual or a member of the individual’s family or household. It is a Class B misdemeanor, punishable by six months in jail and a maximum $2000 fine, but the punishment can be elevated to a Class A misdemeanor if the offense results in bodily injury of that individual or their family member.

To help other fully understand, especially police officers, one must remember that police officers are considered public figures because they receive constant media exposure and can invite attention and comment. Additionally, if you use your personal cell phone for official duty, and every single officer has, then that phone number becomes publicly accessible.

We provided a list of the telephone numbers we published to the Lieutenant we spoke with.

“I can assure you that each one of these officers has used these numbers for official police business, in contravention of policy and procedures,” says the Lieutenant.

The Lieutenant also shared with us the nature of the investigation for doxing, and how they gained that information.

“When a search warrant is issued, it is for a narrow purpose,” says the Lieutenant. “The warrant for Camp’s home was limited, looking for things connected to the release of a video.”

According to the Lieutenant, the information gathered from the search warrant was used to pursue Camp, internally, on a charge of doxing, talking to his wife, among other things should not have been used for the disciplinary board as it was the product of a criminal (Class A Misdemeanor) against Camp.

“The email communications Camp sent to himself,” we were told, “was something every officer does.”

The El Paso Police Department has a list of books officers need to purchase when wanting to sit for the Sergeants exam. Everything else, such as internal directives and policy, the officers will copy, while on the job, using items owned by the City of El Paso (paper, toner, et al), or they will cut and paste and then email the same information to their personal email addresses.

“I’ve done the same,” says the officer we interviewed, “I have collected items I needed and either copied them or forwarded them to my email for later review and study. Does this mean that every other officer, as the charge was sustained against Camp, will now be called into IA? I doubt it.”

The LT also mentioned that Camp, who coped a video of him intervening in a tense situation in the Northeast, is something most officers do.

“I’ve used Axon View,” says the LT, “in the past to capture video and save it for later. You would be surprised at the number of officers who do this. Not to mention the officers who share them among friends on social media, such as Facebook.”

Camp has been punished for a few offenses, sustained allegations will be in bold, our writing will be interspersed in italics:

Sustained allegations reached by the Disciplinary Review Board:

Rules and Regulations – Rule 9 – Conduct Discrediting to the Department ( C ), (D), (G), (M) / Rule 11 – Gossiping – Unauthorized Information (B) / Rule 22 – Public Addresses, Permissions Requested”

Sustained on 6 out of 7 allegations: Total Hours 120 hours, reduced to 80 Hours, reduced by settlement of 56 hours.

Obtained personal information related to a department employee for any reason other than official Department use.

Made copies of an official correspondence except by permission of the Chief of Police (Department email forwarded to his personal email and published in an independent social media outlet.

From what we understand, this was our publishing the Mission Statement of the El Paso Police Department. The Mission Statement is public information and can be found via a simple Google Search.

Additionally, our staff are members of the Society of Professional Journalists, and you should see my Muck Rack. Just Google Steven Zimmerman Muck Rack. You’ll see my face and everyone I write for.

Communicated or gave police information to his spouse concerning the business of the Department, which is detrimental to the Department.

We began this article with a quote from a police wife, “I’ve read, and reread the article by Aysha Camp,” says Maria (all last names have been withheld to prevent the El Paso Police Department from retaliating against officers, or their spouses). “My husband has been in things that would make anyone’s hair go white. If he couldn’t talk to me about it, at the very least, I don’t think he would still be here.” We will circle around to this before we close the article.

Contributed to an article intended for publication (Department Mission Statement file) concerning the affairs of the Department without prior consent of the Chief of Police.

We will go on record, categorically stating that none of the information we have received, concerning the El Paso Police Department is coming from Office Camp. Had the detective in Camp’s case did not visit my family, placing the fear of God in them, demanding he provide them all my personal contact information, maybe we would have cooperated with him.

The truth of the matter is, we received the video in question from Ms. Camp. When we tired to reach out to the PIO, the lady detective we spoke to was rude, short, and obviously not in the mood to speak to press. EPPD needs to learn proper manners.

For more on the Camps suspension, click below:

Rules For Thee, Not For Me (Or the Masses) – Southwest News Today

I was wondering why my husband was a little distant lately, but now I understand clearly, I read this notice with absolute laughter due to the irrational and nonsensical narratives

What is really telling is the Departments non-communication with spouses. Not being able to talk to your wife about your job can affect your marriage negatively, leading to a lack of connection, growing resentment, and potential strain on your relationship as you’re essentially creating a barrier between your personal and professional life, preventing your partner from fully understanding and supporting you.

When you hold back important aspects of your life, it can hinder your ability to connect with your spouse on a deeper level, making them feel excluded from your life. You may be facing a situation where you inadvertently hurt someone, or worse, and your best outlet for support must remain in the dark.

Bottling up work frustrations can lead to irritability and tension at home, impacting your interactions with your spouse, and children. We have, over the last few years, seen a shift where people are encouraged to speak of their feelings, issues, and problems impacting them physically and mentally. Now, under the current leadership of the El Paso Police Department, it would seem officers must bottle it all up and bury it real deep within them.

Without open communication, your spouse might make assumptions about your work life based on limited information, leading to potential conflicts. When working late, your spouse may fear an assignation, and she may never know the truth. You may not be gaining overtime, and that could cause a financial strain on your family, but you can’t share that, because you seemingly cannot speak to your spouse.

If your spouse is unaware of the challenges you face at work, she might not be able to offer support or help you find solutions. An example would be part of Camps suspension.

“Camp filed a hostile work environment against another officer,” says the Lieutenant we spoke with from the El Paso Police Department. “For Camps writeup, it was unfounded. Yet the same thing was sustained against Camp when the other officer, the golden boy, filed.”

Camp cannot speak to his wife, a person who does work within the mental healthcare field, and his best sounding board.

“I know Camp and his wife,” another police wife wrote us, “and I am not fond of either of them. Having shared that I must say that there is nothing, absolutely nothing in the Policy and Procedures manual that says my husband cannot speak to me about his job and what occurs day to day. Same must apply for Camp and his wife.”

Several other officers have reached out to us, mentioning that if they must not speak to their significant others about the job and the struggles they face, it would be better to leave the department.

“My husband is considering a lateral transfer to another agency,” says another email from a police spouse. “If they can do this to Camp, they can do it to anyone.”

Finding an officer guilty of infractions, without tangible evidence, and being punished for speaking to your wife should worry us all. This will cause additional, unnecessary stress on officers for not having an outlet with which to discus work problems. Being charged and sustained on hearsay and tenuous connections that would not hold up in a Court of Law, that will cause officers to think twice about actually doing their job, placing us at greater risk.

Peter Pacillas, a man who at one point thought it a point of pride that he didn’t know how to log into the computers in a patrol vehicle, is out of his depth. The City of El Paso did us all a disservice by hiring him as Chief of Police.