Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office could return to On Patrol: Live soon

Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office said more than 6,000 people voted on whether deputies should return to On Patrol: Live, and nearly 95% backed the move. Sheriff John Allen had pulled the department out of the ride-along series about three years earlier, but BCSO said it has been in talks with Reelz about bringing the cameras back.

If Allen approves the return, viewers would again see Bernalillo County deputies answering calls, making traffic stops and handling tense situations in real time across Albuquerque and the county. That is the part of the conversation that matters most to residents: who gets filmed, when the cameras roll, and how much control the people in those encounters have over being shown on a national broadcast.

KOAT reported that Allen hoped to make a decision the following week. The office’s online vote, spread across Facebook, Instagram and X, suggests BCSO wanted more than internal approval before reopening the door to the series. The result gave the sheriff a public mandate of sorts, even as the agency weighs the practical questions that come with filming law enforcement in neighborhoods, on roads and at people’s front doors.

This would not be BCSO’s first time in the format. KRWG reported on Nov. 4, 2022, that the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office was set to resume the reality-show appearance after a pause. Allen later pulled the department out, leaving the latest talks with Reelz as a possible return to a partnership that has already come and gone once.

A comeback would put Bernalillo County back in a highly visible setting, but the stakes are local. Residents who support the show see a chance to show the day-to-day work of deputies and emergency response. Critics worry about privacy and whether cameras change how officers handle stops and calls. With the sheriff’s office weighing the move again, those concerns will sit at the center of how Albuquerque and the rest of Bernalillo County judge the decision.