An Axon Outpost Camera at highways 64 and 285. Submitted photo.
A companion campaign to DeFlock was launched today. It’s called Eyes on Axon (only on Instagram, as far as I can tell), which is timely as we learn about the newly installed Axon automated license plate readers in Tres Piedras.
Axon Outpost ALPRs were recently installed by the New Mexico Department of Public Safety around the intersection of highways 64 and 285. Residents started noticing and posting about them on Facebook over the last week.
Like the Flock cameras in Taos, this appears to be happening without much notification to elected officials and the public. Taos County commissioners were not directly notified, nor was a key Department of Transportation employee I spoke to. I put in a records request for the NMDOT permits and the agency said there were no responsive records (the agency could be misrepresenting how the records search law works so I’m still looking into this).
It’s very telling that amid coast-to-coast controversy, enough for the New Mexico All Source Intelligence Center to be monitoring the nationwide situation, that the state continues to install these without formal communication.
It is likely more cameras are being put up around Taos County and Northern New Mexico as we speak. If you’ve spotted any, please reach out.
Take Action
This is a good time to speak up to your state representatives, who oversee DPS and DOT. There are two state senate seats relevant to this situation:
Senator Roberto "Bobby" J. Gonzales (District 6) represents most of the east side of Highway 285, as well as much of Taos County. He can be reached at [email protected].
Senator Leo Jaramillo (District 5) represents most of the areas west of Highway 285. He and his legislative aid can be reached at [email protected] and [email protected].
Unfortunately, Tres Piedras' house representative, Susan Herrera, unexpectedly stepped down last month, leaving a vacancy that is likely to be filled by Yolanda Jaramillo, who is running unopposed for the seat this November (she is also likely to be appointed in the interim). Even so, this should be a campaign issue up and down the ballot. They must still earn our vote.
Contact information for Yolanda, her campaign manager, and her political manager, are listed on her website.
Subscribe to get these posts delivered by email.