Editors Note: For our readers, we support Steven Zimmerman and his work and condemn officers who have crossed the line regarding his family. While our editorial policy is not to deny a voice to anyone, staff or otherwise, we must say – The opinions expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the Jerusalem Press, its staff, or advertisers. For clarification, don’t hesitate to get in touch with [email protected] 

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From officers who steal, sleep on the job, seemingly hate women, to not giving a damn about the law, I am disgusted. I feel sorry for the good officers who are overlooked for promotion, those good officers who do their damnest only to be hated by the public because of the actions of a few. I understand your pain and how hard this is for you to overcome. I’ve got your six for those officers who want to make a change and follow the law. For every crooked officer in the department, this became personal for me when some of your officers decided to harass my wife and my family. There is a song by NWA for you, so listen to it. 

The good officers, I’ll fight for you. The assholes with badges, messing with family, you made this personal.

24 May 2024, El Paso, Texas, Steven Zimmerman—Yesterday was a quiet day for police activity in El Paso. Then, for one officer’s family, today was not a good day.

On 17 May, Officer Chris Camp, on his way to work, was abruptly halted by his colleagues. To his utter disbelief, they informed him that his home was to be raided. The very officers he trusted were now seizing every electronic equipment in his house. 

We asked Aysha Camp to write about that day. I will tell you I am disgusted by the actions of the El Paso Police Department. 

First, these officers, El Paso’s finest, feel that it is just alright to help themselves to drinks in the pantry and refrigerator. In the video below, you’ll see the drinks in their hands. No sign said, “Leftover Donuts located in the fridge beside the milk.” 

People’s homes are their castles, and the Fourth Amendment requires officers searching them to do so in a reasonable manner. If officers act unreasonably, a court may exclude evidence that they find. In the Thompson case, the court found that the officers acted unreasonably and threw out the evidence they found during the search.

Courts generally frown on officers who fail to exercise even the most basic courtesy to cooperative people while executing search warrants. For example, officers aren’t supposed to enter your home, refuse to show you the warrant, refuse to allow you to get dressed, and then keep you outside in the hot sun for five hours without anything to eat or drink. Nonetheless, in one case, that’s precisely what Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) agents did to a woman when they executed a search warrant at her home. (U.S. v. Thompson, 667 F.Supp.2d 758 (S.D. Ohio 2009).)

Stealing food and drinks from the person whose home you are searching for is also unreasonable. The Camps can thank the El Paso Police Department for sending criminal-minded officers to search because stealing from the house you are searching is a no-no. 

Now, let’s talk about how easy it is for the police to plant evidence during a search. Since they decided to steal food, who is to say they won’t plant evidence, right?

When the police take items from your home under a search warrant, they must leave an inventory of everything they seized. If you are at the house, they will give you a copy right then and there, or they will leave one behind. 

This is not left to the officers’ discretion; it is the law. 

Art. 18.06. EXECUTION OF WARRANTS. (a) A peace officer to whom a search warrant is delivered shall execute the warrant without delay and shall return the warrant to the proper magistrate. 

(b) On searching the place ordered to be searched, the officer executing the warrant shall present a copy of the warrant to the owner of the place, if he is present. If the owner of the place is not present but a person who is present is in possession of the place, the officer shall present a copy of the warrant to the person. Before the officer takes property from the place, he shall prepare a written inventory of the property to be taken. He shall legibly endorse his name on the inventory and present a copy of the inventory to the owner or other person in possession of the property. If neither the owner nor a person in possession of the property is present when the officer executes the warrant, the officer shall leave a copy of the warrant and the inventory at the place.

The Camps have asked multiple times for that inventory. They are told they will get one, but that never happens. Are we surprised? No. EPPD crime scene units were also at the Camp’s home during the search, and they should have ensured that the inventory was left by Texas law. 

A “return of search warrant” form contains the same information, listing what was seized, and gets filed with the judge. It says, “I carried out the court’s order to search this place, and here’s what I seized.” That return does not absolve the police from providing that inventory to the Camps. 

Let’s also talk about Officer Camp and how he connects with his family in Australia. 

Officer Camp’s mother is in the middle of heart failure and requires treatment. Ms. Camp shared with us a message from her father-in-law.

Of course, Camp didn’t know about any of this. Why? The El Paso Police Department kept seizing his phones. As an aside, when they took his last phone and suspended him, they said he needed to call them twice a day, according to Ms. Camp.

There are officers within the El Paso Police Department who do a great job and are truly there to make a difference. Sadly, their actions are overshadowed by bad actors, such as the ones who searched the Camp’s house. 

The El Paso Police Department does not like scrutiny and only gives us the illusion of transparency. Let what I’ve written and what Ms. Camp has written (below) serve as a warning to all of us: The few bad actors are giving the whole department a bad name, and it seems we are powerless to change it.

Before you read what Ms. Camp has submitted, know that this expenditure of resources and funds went over a video that Ms. Camp submitted to us, along with an interview she conducted with her husband. But when have we ever known EPPD to care about facts? All this for a Class A Misdemeanor.

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The day was Friday, May 17, 2024 it was like any other day, bright sunny day, clear skies and hot. Well that’s how it was when I left bright & early to an appointment. Unbeknownst to us, it would turn dark very quickly.

My husband who I know to be one of the most courageous & caring sergeants for the El Paso Police Department was on his way to work, to what was now Mission Valley when he was ambushed by SIU (special investigation unit) who pulled him over and gave him a very bland and broad nondescriptive search warrant. Telling him, “either you let us in or we will break the door down.”

My husband, who complied drove back to our residence where nine vehicles approached our front yard which included the crime scene unit, SIU, Homeland security, & two officers in uniform (who guarded our door as we were not allowed to enter). They were all desperate to find a thumb drive of the suicide subject with a weapon on this thumb drive. Since there was no visible video on the thumb drive they decided it was justified for them to go through each room and go through everything, to include dirty laundry. To find any electronic device that was capable of storing any media, my husband’s cell phone was once again taken from him making this his third phone that the department has taken. Mind you, the first one was taken with no search warrant (March 15, 2024) out of his hands & his 4th amendment rights stripped.

Despite begging them to leave him with a phone for his work, to communicate with his officers and to have contact with his deaf 90 year-old mother and his 87 year-old father who has coronary heart problems, as they live in Australia, for communications they shrugged their shoulders and stated, “oh well you will have to get another phone.” My husband then responded, “you will just take that one too” which they insensitively replied, “yeah we probably will.”

While all this was happening, I was at my appointment & began to receive notifications from our home security cameras of high activity at my home. When I noticed what was happening, I knew my husband was being held by the direct orders of chief Pacillas of the El Paso Police Department. I had to leave my appointment immediately and notified our attorney that Chris was out of contact with all of us. He was not under arrest nor detained, but was ordered to step out of the residence while they searched our entire house for a video on a thumb drive.

I showed up and immediately hugged my husband who was standing outside numb, broken and confused at the many resources being utilized for a witch hunt because that’s exactly what this is.

I walked away from my own home being abused by strangers, I felt violated personally and was deeply angry. I walked with Chris down the block to have privacy. At this very moment, I realized how disgusted and repulsed I was at the city of El Paso. I didn’t want to show my anger to Chris because he had been going through this since March 13, 2024. All of this because he did a fantastic job in putting his life before his own officers & the community. Many would say, that’s his job but the fact is my husband is an exception because he always puts others before his own life. I can assure you my husband won’t even get a thank you from El Paso Police Department. All they want to do is to continue to persecute him, harass him, attack him & retaliate against him all because of personal biases from a Sergeant Robert Gomez (PIO) Retired Sergeant Martin Short (ex president of municipal police officers association) Assistant chief Julie Inciriaga (ex commander from Northeast Regional Command Center – personal bias), chief Pacillas stated, there’s no law against killing yourself) and Lieutenant Frank Rodriguez (coward related to 8500 Dyer, hostile work environment and threats).

My husband‘s real crime is that he holds 3 tertiary degrees, he is from Australia with an Indigenous background related to Australian Aboriginal Culture & leads by example. He holds himself & others at a higher standard because he wears that badge, to him it symbolizes “always doing what is right.” He motivates, encourages & backs his officers. He values them and he isn’t afraid to call out wrongdoings from upper ranks.

My husband did absolutely nothing wrong except for doing his job. He won’t be given any awards, no medal of valor, no life saving, no credit, no thank you from his own department due to punitive bias. The department won’t promote him to lieutenant even though he is supposed to be promoted, they would rather freeze the list or hold this investigation open until he falls off the list. Yet many know he deserves it due to his leadership & education alone.

The department took away his credentials, threw him out and relieved him of duty with pay. Please remember, this is because he saved a life and complained against a lieutenant 2 years ago for not doing his job.

At 1630 hours the search was over. We returned home and recorded everything, we found our belongings tossed out, sprawled out in the hallway. They went through everything. From the obvious things they took, I noticed it was both our laptops, hard drives, all thumb drives they found, 3 iPads to include my daughters’ which she uses for school, they have now in their possession 3 cell phones. They came in for electronics but also took cds & papers. Other than these items we were not left an itemized list of what was taken. I am absolutely disgusted in the attitude to deliberately turning our house upside down for a video I released because I was proud of my husband and the police department. They took something so genuinely positive & good & made it ugly & repulsive. My only intention was to show the world the good in the police since all we ever see is the bad.

My father‘s urn was opened and obviously searched & left opened. This was sacred and very personal and they abused their scope of power and desecrated his remains. This is disgusting in all aspects.

I then observed on our security cameras that the police department helped themselves to the air conditioner, our bottles of water and Gatorade from our pantry (isn’t this theft), damaged our walls (sounds like criminal mischief). This is absolutely abuse of power and I am asking for the Jerusalem Press to publish all the men and women who were at our home and have National News services to call me to make this public. This goes beyond personal. This is now a modernized crucible witchhunt except instead of being in Salem it is now in El Paso derived from the chief of police.

I would like to know how much of our taxpayers money went into all of the resources for this witch hunt?