SAN MIGUEL DE ALLENDE, Mexico – The Human Rights Procuracy of the State of Guanajuato (PRODHEG) has issued a formal recommendation to the municipal police of San Miguel de Allende following an incident where officers used personal cell phones to photograph and share images of a citizen without consent.

The investigation revealed that officers Ana Chavero Razo and Ricardo de Jesús Camarillo Flores took several photographs of a man during a police intervention. Despite being equipped with official body cameras provided by the department, the officers chose to use their private mobile devices to capture the images and subsequently upload them to a police shift WhatsApp group.

The incident occurred on April 22, when the officers intercepted a man riding a quad bike without a helmet. During the stop, the officers photographed the individual with their personal phones. The citizen, noticing the breach of privacy, filed a formal complaint with the human rights organization, which subsequently determined that the officers acted outside of legal boundaries.

Unauthorized Equipment and Privacy Breaches

The PRODHEG highlighted several critical violations in the report:

• Unauthorized Equipment: Police documentation must be conducted using authorized institutional equipment, such as the body cameras available during the intervention.
• Privacy Breach: The use of personal devices and the distribution of images without consent were deemed highly irregular.
• Legal Security: The agency emphasized that wearing a uniform does not grant officers the right to turn a citizen’s image into circulating social media content.

Recommended Actions

In its recommendation, the PRODHEG called for the following actions:

1. Psychosocial Attention: Provide support to the affected citizen.
2. Administrative Investigation: Conclude the internal investigation to determine individual responsibilities.
3. Training: Conduct mandatory human rights and data protection training for the officers involved.
4. Formal Record: Incorporate the resolution into the officers’ permanent files.