On May 13, 2024 Federal Court Appointed Monitor James Ginger filed his 19th Independent Federal Monitor’s report. The 19th Monitor’s Report covers the time period of August 1, 2023, through January 31, 2024. The report is 115-pages long. It is the shortest report filed to date with the previous reports averaging about 300 pages. The link to review the entire 19th report is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/final-imr-19.pdf/view
The Court Approved Settlement Agreement mandates 271 police reforms, the appointment of a Federal Monitor and the filing of Independent Monitor’s reports (IMRs) on APD’s compliance with the reforms. There are 276 paragraphs in 10 sections within the CASA with measurable requirements that the monitor reports on. The ultimate goal of the settlement was to implement constitutional policing practices. Its aim is to make sure APD police officers follow policy and don’t use excessive force or deadly force. The U.S. Department of Justice investigation a decade ago found a disturbing pattern and practice of the use of unconstitutional excessive force by Albuquerque Police officers, particularly with the mentally ill or those in crisis as the victims. The link to the 118-page CASA is here:
https://documents.cabq.gov/justice-department/settlement-agreement.pdf
The 19th Federal Monitor’s report finds that APD has reached 100% Primary Compliance, 100% Secondary Compliance and 96% Operational Compliance. Under the terms and conditions of the CASA, once APD achieves a 95% compliance rate in all 3 identified compliance levels and maintains it for 2 consecutive years, the case can be dismissed. Originally, APD was to have come into compliance within 4 years and the case was to be dismissed in 2018. However, because of delay and obstruction tactics by both APD management and the police union to implement in full the reforms, a 5 year delay resulted.
The 3 compliance levels are explained as follows:
PRIMARY COMPLIANCE
Primary compliance is the “policy” part of compliance. To attain primary compliance, APD must have in place operational policies and procedures designed to guide officers, supervisors and managers in the performance of the tasks outlined in the CASA. As a matter of course, the policies must be reflective of the requirements of the CASA; must comply with national standards for effective policing policy; and must demonstrate trainable and evaluable policy components.
SECONDARY COMPLIANCE
Secondary compliance is attained by implementing supervisory, managerial and executive practices designed to and be effective in implementing the policy as written, e.g., sergeants routinely enforce the policies among field personnel and are held accountable by managerial and executive levels of the department for doing so. By definition, there should be operational artifacts such as reports, disciplinary records, remands to retraining, follow-up, and even revisions to policies if necessary, indicating that the policies developed in the first stage of compliance are known to, followed by, and important to supervisory and managerial levels of the department.
OPERATIONAL COMPLIANCE
Operational compliance is attained at the point that the adherence to policies is apparent in the day-to-day operation of the agency e.g., line personnel are routinely held accountable for compliance, not by the monitoring staff, but by their sergeants, and sergeants are routinely held accountable for compliance by their lieutenants and command staff. In other words, the APD “owns” and enforces its policies.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The 19th Federal Monitors report contains the following succinct summary of the 115 page report:
“APD and CPOA [Civilian Police Oversight Agency] have made significant progress during the IMR-19 reporting period. The monitor acknowledges that progress has taken a significant effort from APD, CPOA, and the City. The number of APD self-monitored paragraphs is at the highest point in the history of the CASA compliance efforts. This is a significant achievement, indicating that APD is now capable of assuming responsibility for oversight of CASA requirements and is not reliant on the monitoring team to do so.
We note that all the CASA paragraphs relating to discipline are compliant. This represents another milestone for APD’s compliance efforts. As of the 19th reporting period, APD is effectively self-monitoring 191 paragraphs.
Perhaps more importantly, we found all force investigation processes compliant during the 19th reporting period. Level 2 and Level 3 use of force incidents were down 16 percent from the last reporting period. We consider this strong evidence that APD’s policies, supervisory oversight, and disciplinary systems are working as designed.
We note that the External Force Investigation Team (EFIT) is no longer providing oversight to the Internal Affairs Force Division (IAFD). Similar progress is evident at CPOA during this reporting period. All the CPOA investigations reviewed by the monitoring team this reporting period were compliant with the CASA requirements. The CPOA Board has been fully reconstituted and are currently working to complete training and other requirements of the CASA.
We would be remiss, however, if we did not note some remaining areas that are still in need of improvement. These include:
- CPOA issues related to timelines and staffing;
- Completing the implementation of effective training for the CPOA Board members; and
- Continuing improvement of supervisory oversight of in-field activities such as use of force.
Frequent readers of the monitor’s reports will note that this “to-do list” is markedly shorter than in the past. This is reflective of the significant progress APD has made over the last six months.”
The link to review the entire 19th report is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/final-imr-19.pdf/view
STATUS HEARING ON 19TH FEDERAL MONITORS REPORT
On June 4, Federal U.S. District Judge James Browning, the presiding Judge over the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) held a status conference to go over the 19th Federal Monitor’s report and listened to testimony from the parties. During the five-hour hearing before Judge Browning, he asked a number of questions of city officials, the party’s to the lawsuit and the Federal Monitor ranging from APD’s staffing to whether Albuquerque is number 1 in the country for violent crime per capita.
Federal Monitor James Ginger and Department Of Justice (DOJ) officials reported that APD is now at fully compliant with the court-approved settlement agreement known as the CASA. The significance of APD being in compliance is that APD has now entered into a new “sustainment” phase to last until the end of 2025. If there’s no backsliding, which has occurred in the past, the DOJ consent decree can be dismissed as mandated by the settlement.
The DOJ officials applauded APD leadership for increasing transparency in the department and praised the quality and thoroughness of its Internal Affairs investigations of police misconduct. Federal Monitor James Ginger and Department Of Justice (DOJ) officials reported a significant improvement and turnaround in the operations of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). DOJ officials told Judge Browning the improvement is due in part to the creation of a new city agency to handle calls from those in distress and the overhaul of police excessive force policies and training, and improvements in supervisory oversight and evaluation.
CIVILIAN POLICE OVERSIGHT AGENCY PROBLEMATIC AS TO ACHIEVING COMPLIANCE
Paul Killebrew, the Deputy Chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division said the city is at 96% Operational Compliance with several hundred reforms set out in the Court Approved Settlement Agreement:
“This is a victory we’ve long wanted to see.”
While APD achieved compliance in all 3 areas, the remaining 4% of the Operational Compliance noncompliance pertains to the city’s Civilian Police Oversight Agency. According to the DOJ, Compliance failure was reported primarily due to lack of staffing and timeliness of its investigations of complaints. Paul Killebrew, the Deputy Chief of the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, told Judge Browing that the civilian agency is improving its operations, and increased staffing is expected to help.
As for the APD, Killebrew said this:
“For two years, we want to see compliance be maintained and that can persuade us the reforms are durable. … We’ve learned over time these institutional reform cases can be complicated. We need to see systems implemented that will prevent a recurrence in the future.”
Killebrew told the court that the police agencies in Portland, Seattle and the Virgin Islands have achieved compliance with DOJ consent decrees but could not sustain that compliance for the 2 years that followed. Killebrew said it was premature to say what would happen if APD failed to sustain compliance over the next two years. Killebrew said this:
“We would have to see what noncompliance looks like.”
OTHERS REPORT
Independent Monitor James Ginger, whose monitoring team of experts is expected to stay on through the next two years, said this:
“Overall, I’m optimistic.”
Richard Necelis, associate monitor on Ginger’s team for his part said this:
“What I’ve seen is more than box-checking. I’ve been looking at the disciplinary system since 2015. There really has been deep-rooted change.”
U.S. Attorney for New Mexico Alexander Uballez for his part told the court this:
“We do have a reason to celebrate a milestone. … [but] much remains to be done. … The coming years offer hope. … This change is about taking our city back. This milestone belongs to our city, and to all of us.”
APD POLICE OFFICER INVOLVED SHOOTINGS STILL “TROUBLING”
It was reported that despite the improvement and gains made by APD to implement the reforms, APD Police Officer involved shootings are still occurring at “deeply troubling” rate. Judge Browning said he has been asked how APD can be in compliance with the CASA given that the level of police shootings is “at the same level as it was when you started this process. We are still having, I would say, troubling police shootings.”
In response to Judge Browning, Killebrew said this:
“The number of police shootings is deeply troubling. It’s not what we anticipated. In 2024, we’re still watching what’s going on.”
In the past, the DOJ investigation concluded, there was a high number of “unlawful” shootings followed by little to no accountability of officers who violated the Fourth Amendment. Killebrew said in the DOJ’s evaluation of 2022 and 2023 individual incidents and the internal systems used by the APD to evaluate them, “we did not see the pattern continuing.” Killebrew added that with training and de-escalation skills, police officers are using a different approach to handling difficult encounters. Killebrew said this:
“All of these things help to ensure officers use force when necessary and only the amount of force necessary.”
According to DOJ officials, it is monitoring those incidents. Notwithstanding, DOJ officials testified and told Judge Browning that serious use of force incidents are down. DOJ officials testified the shootings generally have been found to be constitutionally sound.
Taylor Rahn, an Albuquerque attorney representing the city of Albuquerque, told Judge Browning that in 2023, in every APD officer-involved shooting, the suspect was armed and only one didn’t involve a firearm and that incident involved a knife.
A trend reported to the court was that much of the past “use of deadly force” was directed at people who were “in crisis.” However, in 2023, none of the officer-involved shootings stemmed from calls initiated as behavioral health calls. Rahns said each started as an actual crime in process.
Killebrew said serious force incidents “continue to decline” and there is progress the city has made outside of the court-approved settlement agreement, such as the creation of the Albuquerque Community Services agency that has diverted calls involving potentially mentally ill or distressed people away from an initial police response.
APD RANKS #1 IN CIVILIAN KILLINGS OUT OF THE 50 LARGEST CITY POLICE DEPARTMENTS IN THE COUNTRY
During the June 4 status conference, Judge Browning asked Chief Medina whether Albuquerque is number one in the country for violent crime per capita as reported by the media. Chief Medina told the Judge Browning that contrary to some news reports, it is the state of New Mexico that is highest in the country per capita for violent crime. What was not discussed during the June 4 hearing was the extent of killings of civilians by APD.
On April 10, the on line news publication Searchlight New Mexico published a remarkable story researched and written by its staff reporter Josh Bowling. The article is entitled “Can the Albuquerque Police Department ever be reformed?” The article goes into great detail explaining the Court Approved Settlement Agreement, what has been done to reform APD and the the role of the Federal Monitor. The link to read the full, unedited Searchlight New Mexico article with photos and graphs is here:
The Search Light New Mexico article reported that last year, the Albuquerque Police Department killed 10.6 people per million residents, more than any other sizable police department in the nation, according to data tracked by the national nonprofit Mapping Police Violence.
Following are the relevant excerpts from the Search Light New Mexico article
In 2022, the department set a record for police shootings with 18, 10 of which were fatal. That year, a Searchlight analysis found, only the police departments in Los Angeles, New York and Houston killed more people than APD.
Law enforcement officials, including police leaders and district attorneys, say such figures are nuanced. They point to the acute dearth of mental health resources in New Mexico and, anecdotally, stories of people who draw guns on police officers as explanations for why the problem of police violence is so outsized locally.”
…
“In the past four years, Albuquerque police repeatedly shot people who were suffering visible mental health crises. They shot 26-year-old Max Mitnik in the head during a “schizoaffective episode” in which he asked officers to fire their weapons at him; they shot and killed 52-year-old Valente Acosta-Bustillos who swung a shovel at officers and told them to shoot him; they shot and killed 33-year-old Collin Neztsosie while he was on his cell phone, pleading for help with a 911 dispatcher.
These grim numbers have led reform advocates, critics and law enforcement leaders themselves to question what it means to be “in compliance.”
“You can improve things on paper or comply with the terms of a consent decree and still have these things happening. … Albuquerque is a prime place to be asking the questions…about what impact consent decrees have. The city should be ground zero for the national conversation on police reform” said UCLA law professor Joanna Schwartz, author of the 2023 book “Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable.”
This is not to say that the consent decree has been without merit. The 2014 Court-Approved Settlement Agreement between the DOJ and Albuquerque laid out nearly 300 mandated reforms: Since its launch, APD has fulfilled hundreds of reform requirements, including overhauling scores of policies and training procedures.”
The Search Light New Mexico article contains a horizontal graph listing the 50 largest cities in the United States. According to the graph, among the 50 largest cities, Albuquerque Police killed people at the highest rate than all the other city police departments in 2023 at the rate of 10.6 per 1 Million population. It is worth comparing Albuquerque’s 10.6 kill rate to the largest cities in the surrounding border states of Texas, Colorado, Arizona and also including Oklahoma and Nevada:
- Albuquerque, NM: 10.6
- San Antonio, Texas: 9.8
- Phoenix, Arizona: 8.7
- Austin, Texas: 7.3
- Denver, Colorado: 5.6
- Tucson, Arizona: 5.5
- Fort Worth, Texas: 5.4
- Houston, Texas: 5.2
- Colorado Springs, Colorado: 4.2
- Dallas, Texas: 3.1
- El Paso, Texas: 2.9
- Las Vegas, Nevada: 2.6
- Oklahoma City, Oklahoma: 2.0
APD PERSONNEL LEVELS
APD Chief Harold Medina gave Judge Browning a report on APD personnel levels. Medina told Judge Browning the current number of APD sworn police officers currently is at 950, but that is questionable. Chief Medina did not report that for the last 15 years, APD has had a consistent meltdown and decline in overall number of APD sworn officers.
On December 1, 2009 when Mayor Richard Berry was sworn into office succeeding Mayor Marty Chavez, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) was the best trained, best equipped, best funded police department in its history. In 2009, APD was fully staffed with 1,100 sworn police officers. APD response times had been brought down below the national average and violent and property crime rates in Albuquerque were hitting historical lows.
During the 8 years Mayor Richard Berry was in office, the city’s violent crime and property crime rates hit historical highs and APD went into a personnel meltdown going from 1,100 sworn police officers to 853 sworn police, a loss of 247 sworn police. Since taking office on December 1, 2017 Mayor Tim Keller has made Public Safety his number one priority over the last 7 years because of the city’s spiking violent crime rates.
Notwithstanding all of APD’s efforts to recruit and expand APD, the department is still seriously short staffed. This is despite the millions being spent on salary increases, sign on bonuses and being the best paid law enforcement agency in the state and the region.
According to the 2024-2025 proposed budget, by mid-fiscal year 2024, APD had 856 sworn officers which is only 3 more sworn police than the day Keller took office in 2017. Given the volume of arrests and cases, APD is critically understaffed to complete its mission.
The link to a quoted and relied upon news source is here:
APD BRIBERY AND CONSPRACY SCANDAL TO DISMISS DWI CASES
It was on Friday January 19, 2024 that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) executed search warrants and raided the homes of 3 Albuquerque Police officers and the home and law office of prominent DWI criminal defense attorney Thomas Clear, III. All 6 are allegedly involved in a bribery and conspiracy scheme spanning a decade to dismiss DWI cases. Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman ordered the dismissed 196 DWI cases because of the scandal due to the main witnesses’ credibility being called into question which in all the cases are APD officers. All 6 of the APD officers have since resigned. The Albuquerque Police Department has opened its own Internal Affairs investigation of the 6 APD officers and the FBI Investigation is continuing and no one has yet to be charged.
The ongoing FBI criminal investigation of APD’s bribery and conspiracy scandal was a topic of discussion during the June 4 status conference on the Court Approved Settlement Agreement. During the hearing, U.S. District Judge James Browning brought up the criminal investigation of the DWI unit and asked, “If what I read in the paper might be occurring, would that violate any of the terms of [the agreement]? If the police department was unable to discover such a large problem, would that cause any concern [related to the consent decree compliance]?”
Paul Killebrew, deputy chief of the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division, responded that he wasn’t privy to the investigation by the DOJ’s criminal division. He said it would be premature to draw any conclusions. Killebrew told Judge Browning this:
“… APD can’t solve its force problem if it doesn’t solve its accountability function. … I don’t know what’s going on or how far-reaching things are [with the DWI dismissal investigation], but with any large organization, you have to expect there will be some people who violate the law. We don’t know if it’s a systems breakdown or individual violations.”
Browning pressed Killebrew and asked: “Is that an area that could be a problem with continued compliance over the next two years?” Killebrew responded “Oh, yes. [If a widespread problem is uncovered by the FBI criminal investigation that implicates the accountability of the APD] that would raise some serious questions about the efficacy of reform.”
U.S. Attorney Uballez told Judge Browning that there was much he and Medina could nor divulge about the FBI inquiry, but Uballez added that the investigation has proceeded in full partnership with APD and he said “People will be held to account.”
The link to the quoted and relied upon news source is here:
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
The announcement that APD, after over 9 years, is now in full compliance with the Court Approved Settlement and implementation of the reforms is indeed a historic milestone. APD is commended for at last getting the job done. The 19th report from the monitor essentially says APD is “effectively self-monitoring” and that APD’s uses of force have decreased. The monitor’s report notes that APD still needs to improve supervisory oversight of in-field activities. The monitor also has said the Civilian Police Oversight Agency, which focuses on police accountability, needs to address timeliness and staffing issues.
The resulting settlement agreement with the DOJ led to an overhaul of APD use of force policies, recruitment, training, internal affairs procedures and field supervision of officers. The implementation of all the reforms took over twice as long as was originally agreed and required the expenditure of millions of dollars and oversight by an outside independent monitor. The Federal Monitor and his team have been paid upwards of $11 Million for their services and reports. The city has also spent over $40 million to implement the reforms.
The Court Approved Settlement Agreement requires 95% Operational Compliance by APD. Operational compliance tracks whether officers follow policies and whether they’re corrected when they don’t. According to this latest report APD is at 96% Operational Compliance.
Since October 2019, APD has been and has remained at 100% Primary Compliance, meaning all required policies and procedures are in place. APD is also at 100% Secondary Compliance regarding the training of officers.
The achievement of 96% of Operational Compliance now allows APD to enter a new phase of implementation directed towards the dismissal of the case. What the 19th report means is that APD can move toward self-monitoring with all of its remaining sections that have not already been dismissed by the court. If compliance can be sustained at 95% or more in all 3 compliance levels for two years, the case can be dismissed.
PEOPLE IN MENTAL CRISIS
The Court Approved Settlement Agreement was the result of an 18-month long investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) that found that the Albuquerque Police Department engaged in a pattern of “excessive use of force” and “deadly force”, especially when dealing with the mentally ill and the homeless. The 19th Federal Monitor’s report states in part as follows:
“[In evaluating APD’s and the city’s current response to] individuals in crisis and people who are unsheltered, we note that APD has met, and in many cases, far exceeded, the requirements of the CASA as it relates to mental health response planning, crisis intervention, training development and delivery, and services delivery. … We remain highly concerned about the sheer number of officer-involved shooting of people in crisis or people with mental illness. We appreciate the CIU’s efforts to continuously review officer behavior in the field and take appropriate corrective actions when necessary. Still, APD leadership and accountability structures must also effectively address these issues.”
FLY IN THE OINTMENT
The only fly in the ointment at this point continues to be the Civilian Police Oversight Agency. Issues found with the Civilian Police Oversight Agency include inadequate staffing and late completion of investigations, due to excessive caseloads the report said.
The 19th Federal Monitor’s report put it this way:
“From the monitor’s perspective, CPOA remains in crisis. … The change in compliance levels does not effectively demonstrate the progress made by APD and the CPOA (Civilian Police Oversight Agency) during this reporting period. … In this report, APD has demonstrated its commitment to policies, supervisory oversight, and importantly, a disciplinary process that holds officers accountable when necessary.”
It was the 18th Federal Monitor’s Report that identified the failures of civilian oversight as representing the largest remaining roadblock to the city in ending the consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice. Twelve of the remaining 15 paragraphs of the Court Approved Settlement Agreement involve failures with the Civilian Police Oversight Agency (CPOA) which is appointed and overseen by the Albuquerque City Council. The Civilian Police Oversight Advisory Board (CPOA) was formed in January, 2023 after the City Council abolished the previous Civilian Police Oversight Board.
The 18th Federal Monitor’s Report found that the civilian oversight mandated by the CASA is “in crisis” with understaffing and excessive caseloads leading to inadequate investigations by the external board tasked with everything from evaluating civilian complaints to weighing in on police shootings. The report also showed that 12 of the remaining 15 sections of the settlement that are noncompliant revolve around the operations of the Civilian Police Oversight Advisory Board. The monitor found that since the change made in January, 2023, the CPOA had not been able to properly function.
The 18th Monitor’s Report states:
“From the monitor’s perspective, CPOA is in crisis. This crisis was birthed by understaffing, the need for the City to fill supervisory and oversight positions, and the need to improve the organizational structure of the agency.”
The CPOA’s problems led the city to fall behind on Secondary Compliance which had reached 100% compliance in the 17th report but dropped by 1% and is now at 99% in the 18th IME Report due to a drop in CPOA training.
Then City Council President Pat Davis said in a letter to Mayor Tim Keller that changes to “key leadership” within the City Council and the administration “slowed things down” over the summer, but they have since interviewed more than a dozen applicants for the vacant board positions. Davis said the council expected to reach its initial goal of having those positions filled, as well as filling a crucial leadership role, by the end of the year.
Davis said the board was expected to be fully staffed and hire a contract compliance officer, who would make sure the CPOA abides by the settlement agreement and would be in charge of staffing, by the end of December. Davis said this:
“We’re on track. … This is the last big-ticket item, the administration wants it done fast, the monitor wants it done fast, we want it done well — and fast.”
On January 1, 2024 a new city council was sworn in. During a November 8 news conference announcing the 18th Federal Monitors Report, Mayor Keller emphasized the CPOA is the responsibility of the City Council, but said his administration is “here to help.”
When asked if the city could reach full compliance without the CPOA portions of the CASA fulfilled, city and police officials replied, “Just barely.” Keller said if the City Council doesn’t get the CPOA into compliance with the CASA, one option would be to split the CASA into two, calling the CPOA half “a little casita.”
REFORMS ACHIEVED UNDER THE CASA
On November 16, 2023, it was a full 9 years that has expired since the city entered into the CASA with the DOJ. It was originally agreed that implementation of all the settlement terms would be completed within 4 years, but because of previous delay and obstruction tactics by APD management and the police officers’ union found by the Federal Monitor as well as APD backsliding in implementing the reforms, it has taken another 5 years to get the job done.
After 9 full years, the federal oversight and the CASA have produced results. Reforms achieved under the CASA can be identified and are as follows:
- New “use of force” and “use of deadly force” policies have been written, implemented and all APD sworn have received training on the policies.
- All sworn police officers have received crisis management intervention training.
- APD has created a “Use of Force Review Board” that oversees all internal affairs investigations of use of force and deadly force.
- The Internal Affairs Unit has been divided into two sections, one dealing with general complaints and the other dealing with use of force incidents.
- Sweeping changes ranging from APD’s SWAT team protocols, to banning choke-holds, to auditing the use of every Taser carried by officers and re-writing and implementation of new use of force and deadly force policies have been completed.
- “Constitutional policing” practices and methods, and mandatory crisis intervention techniques an de-escalation tactics with the mentally ill have been implemented at the APD police academy with all sworn police also receiving the training.
- APD has adopted a new system to hold officers and supervisors accountable for all use of force incidents with personnel procedures implemented detailing how use of force cases are investigated.
- APD has revised and updated its policies on the mandatory use of lapel cameras by all sworn police officers.
- The Repeat Offenders Project, known as ROP, has been abolished.
- Civilian Police Oversight Agency has been created, funded, fully staffed and a director was hired.
- The Community Policing Counsels (CPCs) have been created in all area commands.
- The Mental Health Advisory Committee has been implemented.
- The External Force Investigation Team (EFIT) was created and is training the Internal Affairs Force Division on how to investigate use-of-force cases, making sure they meet deadlines and follow procedures.
- Millions have been spent each year on new programs and training of new cadets and police officers on constitutional policing practices.
- APD officers are routinely found using less force than they were before and well documented use of force investigations are now being produced in a timely manner.
- APD has assumed the self-monitoring of at least 25% of the CASA reforms and is likely capable of assuming more.
- The APD Compliance Bureau has been fully operational and staffed with many positions created dealing directly with all the reform efforts and all the duties and responsibilities that come with self-assessment.
- APD has attained a 100% Primary Compliance rate, a 100% Secondary Compliance rate and a 96% Operational Compliance rate.
CITY SHOULD SEEK DISMISSAL OF CASE AND NOT WAITE ANOTHER 2 YEARS
Simply put, the Court Approved Settlement Agreement was never designed to guarantee or completely stop nor prevent police officer involved shootings, but it was designed to implement constitutional policing practices, especially when dealing with the mentally ill. There never was a guarantee that police officer shootings of civilians would simply never occur again even with training. What the CASA reforms ensure is that police officers are being held accountable when they violate constitutional policing practices and peoples civil rights. All that really can be done is to train and implement constitutional policing practices in the hopes that it will bring down police officer shootings of civilians.
Over the last 9 years, APD has devoted thousands of manhours and the city has spent millions of dollars on the reform process, creating and staffing entire divisions and roles and rewriting policies and procedures. APD has implemented oversight outside of the CASA requirements, implementing 6-month reviews of police shootings to identify shortcomings and possible solutions.
Despite the fact that the Court Approved Settlement Agreement mandates 2 years of sustained compliance of all 3 levels, it can be said that the spirit and intent of the CASA have now been fully achieved. Given the extent of the compliance levels, the work of the Federal Monitor is done. The purpose and intent of the settlement has been achieved and it should now be dismissed.
The city should seek to negotiate a stipulated dismissal of the case with the Department of Justice (DOJ) sooner rather than later. Should the DOJ refuse, the City Attorney should move to immediately to dismiss the case under the termination and suspension provisions of the CASA by filing a Motion to Dismiss the case and force the issue with an evidentiary hearing and let the assigned federal judge decide the issue of dismissal.