Denied
4 August 2024, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman – The El Paso Police Department has reached a new low- the denial of an officer’s promotion because the officer’s wife released a video to the media.
El Paso Police Officer Sgt. Camp was involved in a call where he talked down a suspect who had a gun to his head. Within minutes of arrival, Camp had the situation under control, and the suspect surrendered. Ms. Camp felt that this video (below) should be seen by the community as it shows the level of commitment Camp has to the community he serves.
EPPD’s response to the video was to suspend Sgt. Camp, raid his home, seize his families’ electronics, and disturb his wife’s father’s ashes.
The following is from Ms. Camp in response to the denial of promotion.
From: “Holguin, Minnie R.” [email protected]
Sent: Wed, Jul 31, 2024 at 10:38
Subject: Lt Eligible List
Hello Sgt Camp,
I am contacting you regarding the current Lieutenant vacancies and upcoming promotions as I will be overseeing HR and Planning and Research. We recognize participating in the assessment center requires a lot of time and energy. We thank you for your interest and desire to grow with EPPD. At this time, you have not been selected to promote to Lieutenant. This decision was made in accordance with the Collective Bargaining Agreement’s “Rule of Five” and the Civil Service Commission procedures. Your name will remain on the current eligible list until it expires on August 23, 2024.
If you have questions or would like to schedule a meeting, please contact me.
Thank you,
Minnie Holguin
Minnie Holguin, SHRM-SCP
Administrative Services Executive | EPPD
911 N. Raynor | El Paso, TX 79903
Office: 915.212.4340
Dear Jerusalem Press,
Just when you thought the El Paso Police Department couldn’t stoop to a new low. The El Paso Police Department sent my husband a letter from Human Resources stating that he will no longer be considered for a promotion to Lieutenant! Remember my husband saved a life and put himself in the line of direct fire and because of this, an unscrupulous witch hunt was ordered by the Chief of Police (Pete Pacillas). So, in Bullet point form here is the massive retaliation and targeting that my husband has been going through at the hands of this Department!
Timeline:
The following video may be disturbing for some viewers. At the Jerusalem Press, we believe the family of this man needs to sue the El Paso Police Department. In the audio clip that follows (below the next paragraph), you can hear officers asking for FMS to be sent – Fire Medical Services. They were not sent until it was too late.
On October 16th, 2022, Camp was involved in an Active shooter with mass casualties where he requested an immediate regional tactical alert for assistance. A Lieutenant and a Sergeant refused to respond to the active scene. He wrote the Lieutenant and the Sergeant up for dereliction of duty, failure to act, failure to render aid, and cowardice. Since this original complaint, he has been targeted by the department for speaking out and writing up a Lieutenant.
Camp was disciplined for writing this Lieutenant up, however, this Lieutenant was unfounded in all wrongdoing.
May 2023, Camp wrote up the same Lieutenant for a Hostile Work Environment where there were witnesses who observed the acts of this Lieutenant, but this too was unfounded of any wrongdoing.
February 8th 2024: (The most recent concern). Sgt. Camp saved a man’s life, he was holding a fully loaded handgun to his head, Camp’s Body Worn Camera was recording the incident. El Paso Police Sergeant Chris Camp placed himself in harm’s way unarmed while he built a rapport with the subject. The subject in question is an active gang member and was determined to kill himself. Camp gained compliance with the subject who was taken into custody effectively within 3 minutes of speaking with the subject.
Sergeant Camp copied this video for training purposes only and showed the footage to his wife (Aysha Jusino Camp). In March of 2024: Ms. Camp released the footage to the Jerusalem Press (now known as Southwest News Today) who posted the video, the video was submitted by Ms. Camp who was proud of the Officers and her husband for being a positive attribute to the Department. Since then, the El Paso Police Department began to target Camp, criminally, for thinking he released the video without the consent of the Department.
Internal Affairs then requested for Sgt. Chris Camp to sign a Cease-and-Desist order to not speak to any form of media in any format otherwise face harsh discipline or termination.
March 13, 2024: Camp’s work computer was taken away from his desk by SIU (Special Investigations Unit) immediately went after him at the directive of Chief Peter Pacillas indicating it was City property and if he needed to do his work to ask someone else to borrow theirs.
An officer without a computer cannot function effectively.
March 14, 2024: Camp’s presence was requested at Headquarters for a statement. Camp attended this meeting with an attorney. The meeting ended abruptly as Camp would not answer their allegations.
March 15, 2024: Detectives took Camp’s personal iPhone out of his hands by SIU detectives who stated: “We think we have enough PC (probable cause) for a judge to sign a warrant” and proceeded to take his iPhone without any form of documentation, legal search warrant, anything.
It should be noted that El Paso Police Detectives phoned Camp, on another phone, and told him they had a warrant and he needed to provide the phone’s PIN number. The warrant wasn’t issued until days after that phone call.
May 5, 2024: Camp was then removed from the Northeast Regional Command Center and forced to work at the Mission Valley Regional Command Center due to a Lieutenant that he originally complained against filed a complaint against Camp for a “Hostile Work Environment” Camp was immediately removed. Sgt. Camp complained against this Lieutenant of May 2023 and he was not removed from his region but Camp was removed, without any recourse.
May 17, 2024: For six days Camp worked in the capacity as a Sergeant in Mission Valley Regional Command when May 17th SIU, West Side Patrol Officers pulled Sgt. Camp over for an illegal traffic stop where he was served a very broad house search warrant from a Jail Magistrate to search for the BWC (body warn camera) video footage of the suicidal subject on a thumb drive. At this point Camp was being persecuted for a Class A Misdemeanor (Occupational Code) for sharing material without authorization / consent.
SIU, CSU, Detectives, and Patrol Officers searched the Camp’s residence, desecrated Ms. Camp’s father’s ashes, and took personal belongings — laptop, External Hard Drives, Thumb drives, iPhone, Cell Phones, iPads, anything containing any form of internal storage.
They took an external hard drive that had no relevance to the case whatsoever. The hard drive contained Camp’s family’s photographs, his mother and father’s photographs, and personal, sentimental images. *Please note there are no other copies of any of these photographs, the Hard Drive consists of the only photographs of my family.* Camp spoke to Sgt Mike Chavez about his concerns with the sentimental aspect of this Hard Drive and he said: “I will treat this as if it was my own”.
The Jerusalem Press has received comments from officers indicating that the drive may have been damaged by EPPD personal.
The Detectives, the SIU, and CSU helped themselves to the Camp’s air conditioning, bottled water, and Gatorade/Powerade, they made themselves at home!
May 18th 2024: Sgt. Camp was ordered by Internal Affairs to surrender his Police Radio, Police Credentials, and Police Badge, and was placed on Administrative Duty with pay. Please understand this is all over a video his wife released of him saving a life.
Since this has been reported, Camp’s wife was interviewed by staff at Jerusalem Press regarding the El Paso Police Department’s behaviors regarding this matter. It is believed they (EPPD) are deliberately going after Chris Camp for personal bias from the Chief of Police, The Assisting Chief (Julie Inciriaga), and The PIO Officer – Sgt Robert C. Gomez.
Camp was to be promoted to lieutenant. The promotion did not occur for what appears to a false witch hunt being conducted against his character.
The full story to include Videos can be found in full at the following internet address:
Cops Against Malicious Power (CAMP)
