CALDWELL, Idaho — Newly obtained emails reveal conflicting accounts over who denied a Caldwell Police Department request to city hall cameras.
Idaho News 6 obtained emails from June 8 and 9 between a Caldwell Police Department sergeant and the city IT director in which police requested access to internal and external cameras at City Hall.
In the email to CPD from June 9, IT Director Jose Menchaca states that Mayor Eric Phillips denied the request because Phillips said it wasn't approved by city council.
WATCH | Questions raised about police access to Caldwell City Hall cameras—
When Idaho News 6 asked the City Clerk Kristina Buchan about the issue going to council, she stated that the camera issue was never brought before council. Additionally, no email communications between the mayor and city council about the issue were discovered in a public records request.
Two weeks after those original emails were sent, the issue of police camera access came up again at a city budget workshop on June 23. Menchaca then told councilors that the police department never requested access to those cameras, after Councilor Geoff Williams asked if it was the police department's choice to not have internal access.
During the exchange, Councilor Chris Allgood questioned why police didn't have access.
"We're spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on security upgrades and the police can't see the cameras in City Hall, and they're right there," Allgood said.
When Caldwell Neighborhood Reporter Norma James asked the city's public information officer why Menchaca would say it was struck down by city council if the issue never arose at a council meeting, the city's public information officer told her that he (Menchaca) misspoke.
Caldwell Mayor Eric Phillips gave Idaho News Six the following statement:
"City Hall is under the authority of the city of Caldwell, with the mayor serving as the city's chief executive. Because this was an administrative decision within the mayor's authority, the city council was not involved, and no vote was required."
The city told Idaho News 6 that the Caldwell Police Department now has access to the cameras but did not clarify what date that happened.
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