THE administration will immediately resolve the status of Edward Camacho in the U.S. military so he could continue serving as public safety commissioner, Gov. Juan N. Babauta said yesterday.
“We hope to get this resolved in a not too distant future. If not, (Camacho) has to resign as commissioner. But I am sure that it won’t happen—I would like to see him continue serving in that capacity,” Babauta told reporters.
Babauta tapped Deputy Commissioner for Operations Santiago Tudela to serve as acting public safety commissioner until Camacho is released from his active duty status in the military.
Camacho is an Army reservist on active duty.
“We brought (this) to his attention. We brought that up as a concern. After a couple of meetings with him, we then referred the matter to his superiors in the Army,” Babauta said.
Babauta said it was their understanding that if Camacho’s nomination as public safety commissioner was confirmed by the Senate, the Army would put him on reserve status.
“So that’s where we are now. He has been called to duty and remains to be in active duty status,” the governor said, adding that he has written the Army and the Pentagon about Camacho’s status.
DPS spokesman Pete C. Muna said Camacho took his military leave early this week.
“I am pretty sure that they are going to release him. It is just a matter of getting the paperwork done. We are hoping that by the end of this month he will be released so we can continue with our programs and improvements for DPS,” Muna said.
When told that some DPS officers were unhappy about the no overtime policy implemented by Camacho and were pushing for his removal from the department, Muna said: “Just like the commissioner mentioned before, if you take away some of the luxury privileges that these guys are used to, then there’s going to be some issues brought up. I think overtime should not be an issue. The government is obligated to give 80 hours of pay to all government employees, but when it comes to overtime, I think they should understand that the government is not obligated to make them work overtime.”
