On September 10, Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Michael Geier held a press conference to announce that Chief Geier was retiring after 2 years and 9 months as APD Chief. Keller announced a national search would be conducted to find a new chief.

Within days after the departure of Chief Geier, the city posted and advertised the position nationally. The Keller Administration hired a consultant to help search for applicants. The search resulted in 39 applicants who submitted their resumes. A screening process was initiated and applicants were sorted into 25 “qualified” candidates and 9 “unqualified” candidates. On January 1, 2021, the names of all applicants were released.

3 FINALISTS ANNOUNCED

The City of Albuquerque narrowed its search for a new police chief to 3 candidates. On January 20, 2019, Mayor Tim Keller announced 3 finalists for Chief of Police. The finalists are:

1. Joseph Sullivan
2. Clinton Nichols
3. Interim Chief Harold Medina

A Link to related news coverage is here:

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/keller-reveals-3-finalists-for-apd-chief-of-police-position/5984697/?cat=500

On Saturday, January 23, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller, along with CAO Sarita Nair and city leaders and Herb Crosby, the owner of AVTEC, Inc., the Albuquerque consulting firm hired by the city for the hiring process for Chief of Police, held a webinar featuring the 3 finalists for Chief of Police.

A link to the full 1 hour and 18-minute webinar is here:

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/city-officials-give-opportunity-to-meet-police-chief-candidates-saturday/

CITY CITIZENS SURVEY RESULTS

Prior to the January 23 webinar interviews with the 3 APD Chief finalists, the city conducted 40 virtual meetings with community groups as well as an online survey to get community input on what characteristics should be looked for in hiring the next chief. The city collected upwards of 2,300 responses to the survey. According to one news report:

“The survey results revealed that the community wants to see the following in the next APD police chief:

Engage with the community. Input session participants wanted the next chief to be a visible presence in their communities.”

A link to the quoted source and survey is here:

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/apd-releases-results-of-police-chief-community-survey/

PUBLIC CONCERNS MIRROR THE DOJ INVESTGATION FINDINGS

On November 10, 2014, the City and the Department of Justice entered into a Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) that mandates 271 sweeping reforms of the APD. The CASA was negotiated to be completed within 4 years and after 2 years of consecutive compliance, the case was to be dismissed in November of 2020. Six years have now expired and APD has failed to fully implement the reforms and is not in compliance.

It is not at all surprising that virtually all of the concerns the public survey found as to what the public wants in its next APD Chief hit squarely on the issues identified and involved with the Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation and the Federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement.

On April 10, 2014, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division, submitted a scathing 46-page investigation report on an 18-month civil rights investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). The investigation was conducted jointly by the DOJ’s Washington Office Civil Rights Division and the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico.

The link to the DOJ investigation 46-page report is here:

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/04/10/apd_findings_4-10-14.pdf

What differentiates the DOJ’s investigation of APD from the other federal investigations of police departments and consent decrees is that the other consent decrees involve in one form or another the finding of “racial profiling” and use of excessive force or deadly force against minorities. The DOJ’s finding of a “culture of aggression” within APD dealt with APD’s interactions and responses to suspects that were mentally ill and that were having psychotic episodes.

INTERIM APD CHIEF HAROLD MEDINA’S WEBINAR INTERVIEW

During his January 23 webinar interview, Interim chief Harold Medina said he has the “hindsight” to take the department forward, to get it where it needs to be and to reduce crime in Albuquerque and complete the reform effort. Medina stated his biggest priorities with the department are to continue to increase the department’s resources, adding more sworn police to the force, build up and add to the department’s investigation capacity and stop “the revolving door” when it comes to arresting and releasing criminals.

Highlights of what Interim Chief Medina had to say include:

“We know we have to increase the quality of our investigations. … The three areas that we will focus on improving is the increase in resources. … We simply need more officers. … The challenge is you have to build the capacity of our investigative units. … We are on track to have our first batch of investigators go to their specific training to through the mid-part of the year.”

Medina emphasized his years of experience with APD and what he is doing now had this to say:

“How can you change a culture if you had not lived and been a part of that culture? … I have already begun the transformation process for the Albuquerque Police Department, and I am asking for the time to complete it. … We will continue to reach out to make sure that all segments of the community have their voice heard with APD. … The success of these relationships will rest on the department being transparent with the public.” (Yes, Medina really said it, and more on this later.)

Medina added that there needs to be measures taken to boost the quality of use-of-force investigations while making sure those who break policy are held accountable and he said:

“The narrative has to change. … The focus cannot be that we are disciplining officers but rather we are protecting the integrity of all the great officers of this department.”

One very uncomfortable take away from Interim Chief Medina’s presentation is that he either read or regurgitated answers he had memorize, while the other two applicants clearly answered the questions spontaneously.

MEDINA TELLS OFFICERS APD CANNOT FOCUS EXCLUSIVELY ON CRIME BLAMING DOJ CONSENT DECREE

On January 30, the on-line news outlet ABQ Raw reported that APD Interim Chief Harold Medina addressed APD personnel in a 4-minute internal message. The recorded message was not for release to the general public. In the recorded message, Medina says that and APD cannot focus exclusively on fighting crime because it is being forced to divert resources to comply with Department of Justice mandated reforms. The media outlet ABQ RAW obtained the video from a confidential source and then published it.

In the video, Medina says that the police department is short of patrol officers and that he is asking officers in the field to determine which calls for service cops should not be sent to. ABQ Raw for its part said the clip shows that Medina and the Keller administration have admitted defeat in the fight against crime.

The ABQ Raw report and the video can be viewed in the entirety at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/abqraw/videos/1137832919984382

The most relevant portion of Medina’s internal statement to APD employees is as follows:

“I wish, and those of you who know me, uh, know that I would love to sit here and say that we’re going to focus on crime and crime alone. But the reality is that’s not where the Albuquerque Police Department is at this time, and we must change the culture for the good of the community and for the good of our officers. So we’re going to have to make sure that we’re open to ensuring that we move forward on all fronts, the compliance front and the crime front, and it’s a very delicate balancing act, and when we’re able to I intend to give more resources to Investigations.

“We recognize the Field [of patrol officers] is short and I’m going to ask commander(s) in the field to make sure their people are getting information to us on which calls we shouldn’t be dispatching to. So there’s a lot of moving parts to this. We’re well aware of them, we’re committed, and everybody recognize that this is a tough time for law enforcement across the nation.”

HAROLD MEDINA’S TROUBLED PAST

Interim Chief Harold Medina has a very troubling past of 3 police officer involved shootings with reactive decision-making and failed leadership resulting in the killing of two mentally ill people having psychotic episodes.

The 3 cases reveal Medina’s actions, his failure to act and supervise, his reactive decision-making process resulting in disastrous outcomes, even death, and reflecting failed leadership. A short summation of each of the 3 shootings merit review:

1. THE 2004 SHOOTING OF DOMINIC MONTOYA

Harold Medina has the tragic distinction of shooting and killing a 14-year-old Cibola High School student in 2004 when he was an APD field officer. At the time of the shooting, Harold Medina was 30 years old and was a seven-and-a-half-year veteran of APD. According to news accounts, 14-year-old boy Dominic Montoya went to Taylor Ranch Baptist Church looking for prayer. Montoya was reported as saying he was possessed by demons and went to church for help. Some one noticed the teenager was concealing a weapon and APD was called. It turned out it was a BB gun and when APD showed up, the 14-year-old was fatally shot by police after pointing the BB gun at the officers. It was then APD Officer Harold Medina who fired 3 shots at the 14-year-old, Cibola High School Student with two hitting the juvenile in the abdomen. It was reported that the BB gun was indistinguishable from a real gun and Medina said he was in fear for his life and reacted by discharging his service revolver killing the boy.

https://apnews.com/41e13a7f6393b3ea5b92ccfadae5ccd6

2. THE FEBRUARY 8, 2009 SHOOTING OF ANDREW LOPEZ

On February 8, 2009, the shooting of 19-year-old Andrew Lopez by APD officer Justin Montgomery occurred. Harold Medina was “off-duty” supervisor when Lopez was killed. The reasons why Medina was off duty have not been disclosed. Medina’s assigned APD’s officers he was supposed to supervise attempted to pull over Lopez when Lopez stopped the vehicle, exited, and ran pursued by Montgomery who shot at Lopez three times with one shot causing a non-lethal bullet wound. Lopez fell to the ground and lay motionless on his back. Lopez was unarmed. The officer fired the fourth and final shot into Lopez’s chest, piercing his lung and heart and causing his death. The officer said Lopez had a gun. The truth is Lopez had no gun and none was found at the scene.

In a bench trial in state court, the judge found that the officers’ testimony about the threat they perceived from Lopez was not credible. The judge concluded that the shooting was unreasonable. The judge further found that the training provided to APD officers on use of deadly force “is not reasonable and is designed to result in the unreasonable use of deadly force.” The judge found the City principally responsible for Lopez’s death and awarded his estate approximately $4.25 million.

3. THE JANUARY 13, 2010 SHOOTING OF KENNETH ELLIS

On January 13, 2010, Kenneth Ellis, III, a 25-year-old veteran who was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and was shot and killed by APD police officers. The officers suspected Ellis of vehicle theft and pulled him over in a parking lot. Ellis exited the vehicle holding a gun pointed to his head. Ellis continued to hold the gun to his head as he made several phone calls and the officers attempted to negotiate with him. After several minutes, an officer shot Ellis one time in the neck and killed him.

A 12-page transcribed interview taken on January 13, 2010 of then APD Lieutenant Harold Medina reveals his involvement in the shooting and killing of Ken Ellis. Lt. Harold Medina admits that he was at the scene, that he authorized the use of deadly force on Kenneth Ellis and he did not attempt to deescalate the confrontation. APD Lieutenant Harold Medina became “involved” by being armed with a rifle and “covering” Ellis. In his interview Medina states he was prepared to use deadly force himself. A judge in a state civil suit granted summary judgment in favor of the plaintiffs, finding that the shooting of Ellis violated the Fourth Amendment. A jury later returned a verdict finding the City and the officer who shot him liable for Ellis’ death and awarding more than $10 million in damages.

Former APD Chief Michael Geier sat on the city’s force review committee at the time of the Ellis shooting and later said that Medina should have been disciplined for his failure in leadership in dealing with Ken Ellis.

Medina was never disciplined for his conduct relating to any of the 3 high profile shootings.

COMMENTATY AND ANALYSIS

What Interim Chief Harold Medina said during his January 23 webinar interview is worth repeating:

“How can you change a culture if you had not lived and been a part of that culture? … I have already begun the transformation process for the Albuquerque Police Department, and I am asking for the time to complete it.”

You sure the hell can not change the culture with someone who helped create, was part of and who did not stop “the culture of aggression” found by the Department of Justice. Frankly, Medina has had 24 years with APD and his “time” has really come and gone and he needs to go away.

In his internal office video to all law enforcement personnel, Medina said APD has a problem with staffing and that crime is raging out of control. When Medina says:

“… I would love to sit here and say that we’re going to focus on crime and crime alone. But the reality is that’s not where the Albuquerque Police Department is at this time, and we must change the culture for the good of the community and for the good of our officers …” he is ostensibly referring to the DOJ consent decree to change the APD “culture of aggression” found by the DOJ in 2014.

The message Medina is delivering to APD officers is that the DOJ reforms are making difficult then to fight crime.

Medina knows better. To blame the DOJ consent decree for APD’s inability to concentrate on crime alone is wrong on so many levels. Medina knows a lot of the problems with APD are directly related to the APD management and he has been a part of management for the last 3 years when he was in charge of Field Services as a Deputy Chief.

Medina’s January 29 recorded message to his department personnel is an admission that he cannot do both the jobs of criminal investigations and implementing the DOJ reforms.

With his words, Interim Chief Harold Medina admitted he was and really is still part of the problem with APD. Medina has a history of reactive decision-making and failed leadership resulting in the killing of two mentally ill people having psychotic episodes. Interim Chief Harold Medina spins the two tragedies as a positive credential to run the APD saying because of the shootings he now understands the DOJ reforms, their need and can implement them. Medina’s conduct in the two shootings is the very type of conduct that resulted in the Department of Justice investigation in the first place.

With two separate fatalities involving the mentally ill, Interim Chief Harold Medina represents the total opposite of what a large majority of survey respondents want in a police Chief. Survey respondents said it was “very important” to have a chief with “experience with reducing use of force”, “crisis management”, “protecting civil rights” and able “to tackle issues such as mental illness. ” The fatal shootings Medina was involved with show he possesses none of the desired traits and Harold Medina, as a Deputy Chief, has been part of the very management team that has shown he does not possess the desired traits with the failure to implement the DOJ reforms.

Interim Chief Harold Medina is part of the very problem that brought the Department of Justice (DOJ) here in the first place. It was the past APD management practices that resulted in the “culture of aggression” found by the Department of Justice that lead to the federal consent decree after 18 police officer involved shootings and the findings of excessive use of force and deadly force by APD. The litany of cases includes 4 Cases where $21.7 Million was paid for APD’s excessive use of force and deadly force and $64 Million for 42 police officer shootings in 10 years.

Mayor Keller needs to take to heart the findings of the citizen’s survey. Any one in APD command staff who assisted, contributed or who did not stop the “culture of aggression” found by the Department of Justice and who has resisted the reform process has no business being APD Chief or Deputy for that matter and that includes Interim Chief Harold Medina.

When running for Mayor, Keller had zero knowledge of the extent of how serious the problems that were found by the Department of Justice and the “culture of aggression.” Keller was not interested in learning about the APD “culture of aggression” in that he did not bother to attend any one of the many Federal court hearings on the APD reforms when he was running for Mayor. Keller has no background nor practical experience in law enforcement and now his inexperience is showing, as is the inexperience of the political operatives such as CAO Sarita Nair he has surrounded himself with in his office.

It is no secret at city hall that Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair is very much involved with the day to day management of APD and that Interim Chief Harold Medina have developed a strong working relationship with CAO Nair. According to city hall sources Interim Chief Harold Medina will do whatever he is told to do by CAO Nair and Mayor Tim Keller. Confidential APD command staff also reported that Deputy Chief Harold Medina made it known to them that he intended to be the next Chief of APD sooner rather than latter even if took orchestrating Chief Geier’s departure relying upon CAO Sarita Nair’s support.

Mayor Tim Keller has his eyes focused on another 4 year term or higher office unable dealing with a crisis of Keller’s own making. Keller has forced his first, handpicked appointed APD Chief to retire in order to appoint an insubordinate Harold Medina with a nefarious past who was hell bent on orchestrating Geier’s removal and taking his job as Chief. Mayor Keller is now faced with the very difficult task of finding and hiring a new APD Chief 8 months before the November 2021 election for Mayor. That may not happen because whoever is appointed by Keller likely will know they will be out of a job if Keller is not elected to another 4-year term. Keller now has an Interim Chief who wants to be made permanent and who has a nefarious past who will lead APD in the reactionary manner that will result in disastrous outcomes.

Experience with a law enforcement department both in crisis and under a DOJ consent decree must be an absolute requirement. If Mayor Tim Keller is truly committed in conducting a national search to find someone who will change the culture within APD, he should order AVTEC, Inc., the Albuquerque consulting firm he hired, to find far more than just two qualified law enforcement professionals who have the experience to manage a department in crisis. Both applicants Chief Clinton Nichols and former Deputy Commissioner John Sullivan should be considered with others, but not Harold Medina.

It is as disappointing as it gets that Mayor Tim Keller did not make it clear from the get go that Interim Chief Medina should not apply for the position full time if he wanted to serve as Interim Chief. If Mayor Tim Keller appoints Medina as permanent Chief, it would mean Keller could not care less about what the public thinks and what it wants in a Chief of Police. Then again, Keller’s inability to deal with the city’s spiking crime rates will go down as his biggest failure, even if he is elected to a second term which at this point in time seems more likely than not. APD deserves better than Harold Medina as Chief

On Friday, October 6, 2020, after over 6 years of auditing and $7.5 Million paid to Federal Auditor, APD Monitor Ginger told Federal District Court James Browning Judge overseeing the DOJ reform efforts:

“We are on the brink of a catastrophic failure at APD. … [The department] has failed miserably in its ability to police itself. … If this were simply a question of leadership, I would be less concerned. But it’s not. It’s a question of leadership. It’s a question of command. It’s a question of supervision. And it’s a question of performance on the street. So as a monitor with significant amount of experience – I’ve been doing this since the ’90s – I would have to be candid with the Court and say we’re in more trouble here right now today than I’ve ever seen.”

On Friday, December 4, 2020 an all-day status conference hearing was held by Judge Browning on the 12th Compliance Audit Report of the APD reforms mandated under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA). During the hearing, it was revealed publicly for the first time that the City and the Department of Justice were negotiating a “stipulated order” for court approval that would create and External Force Investigations Team (EFIT).

During the hearing, Paul Killebrew, special counsel for the DOJ’s civil rights division, said that after the 12th Federal Monitor’s report was released on November 2, the DOJ and the City realized that something had to be done. If not agreed to by the city, the DOJ would have to take very aggressive action. Killebrew told Judge Browning:

“The city agreed the problems were serious and needed to be addressed … that’s significant. If we had gone to the city and the city disagreed with our picture of reality, and had they not been willing to address the problem we identified, I think we would be in a different posture … We might have needed to seek enforcement action over the city’s objections.”

The enforcement action that could have been taken, and in fact recommended by other stakeholders in the case, was to file a “Motion for Contempt of Court” seeking sanctions against the City and APD for intentional violations of the CASA. Another option recommended was to have APD placed in a “receivership” with the appointment of a Special Master to take over the day-to-day management of APD. Creating the EFIT was a compromise approach.

JOINT MOTION FILED

On Friday, February 5, the City of Albuquerque and the Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a “Joint Motion For Entry of Stipulated Order Establishing An External Force Investigation Team”. The motion has attached to it a proposed Stipulated Order that has been negotiated between the city and the DOJ with no objection from the court appointed Federal Monitor. The APD Police Union is an intervenor in the case, but did not sign off on the motion and ostensibly was not involved with negotiation of the stipulated order. A hearing must be held by the Federal Judge who must approve the Stipulated Order before it can be implemented.

According to the motion filed, the proposed Stipulated Order will require the City to establish, on a “temporary basis”, an External Force Investigation Team (EFIT) to assist the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) in conducting use of force investigations by APD officers, while also assisting APD with improving the quality of its use of force by police investigations.

The EFIT team will train APD Internal Affairs investigators on how to properly investigate uses of force instances by APD police officers. According to the proposed order, the City will ensure that APD maintains at least 25 force investigators assigned to the APD Internal Affairs unit unless and until APD can demonstrate by an internal staffing analysis that fewer investigators are necessary to timely investigate uses of force by APD Officers.

A link to the Motion and the Stipulated Order is here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DO2UyAGKf5Srw50Y9DcYCmuX3WzESukC/view<

EXTERNAL FORCE INVESTIGATION TEAM (EFIT)

According to the motion filed, the proposed Stipulated Order will require the City to establish, on a “temporary basis”, an External Force Investigation Team (EFIT) to assist the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) in conducting use of force investigations by APD officers, while also assisting APD with improving the quality of its use of force by police investigations.

The EFIT team will train APD Internal Affairs investigators on how to properly investigate uses of force instances by APD police officers. According to the proposed order, the City will ensure that APD maintains at least 25 force investigators assigned to the APD Internal Affairs unit unless and until APD can demonstrate by an internal staffing analysis that fewer investigators are necessary to timely investigate uses of force by APD Officers.

The proposed Stipulated Order provides that the Independent Monitor will continue to provide extensive technical assistance to the City regarding Internal Affairs processes, including the period before an EFIT administrator is selected. The specialized unit would be disbanded when APD becomes proficient at investigating itself, but no timeline is identified and neither is the actual cost to the city.

The Stipulated Order also provides that the additional services to be provided by the Federal Monitor will be additional to the auditing work under the CASA. According to the Stipulated Order, the monitor and the city will have to enter into a separate contract providing additional compensation. The Federal monitor’s team has already been paid $7.5 million for 6 years of work and is currently being paid $1.5 million a year. The Federal Monitor employees a 9-member professional team in addition to local staff and the city provides office space.

COMPLIANCE BUREAU FUNDING FOR CASA REFORMS

APD’s existing budgets for the last 2 years contains a “line item” appropriation identified as “PD-PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY” which is essentially a consolidation reference to all of APD’s DOJ Compliance functions. The biggest responsibilities of the Compliance Bureau is the ongoing cooperation and working with the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree (CASA) and its implementation of its terms and conditions. The Compliance Bureau consists of the Internal Affairs Professional Standards Division (IA), Policy and Procedure Division, Accountability and Oversight Division, Internal Affairs Force Division and the Behavioral Health and Crisis Intervention Section and includes funding for training provided by the APD Academy for constitutional policing practices mandated under the CASA.

Internal Affairs (IA) deals with investigation police misconduct cases, including excessive use of force. Crisis Intervention deals with the crisis intervention teams who deal with the mentally ill and police encounters. Policy and Procedures deals with the review and writing of standard operating procedures that must comply with the CASA reforms. Policy and Procedures deals with the review and writing of standard operating procedures.

2019 -2020 APD BUDGET ALLOCATED $32 MILLION PLUS FOR CASA REFORMS

The City’s fiscal year budgets begin each year on July 1 and end on June 31 the following year.

On July 1, 2019, the Keller Administration released the 2019- 2020 operating budget and general fund appropriations budget. It was a whopping $1.1 Billion for fiscal year 2019-2020. APD had an approved general fund budget of $210,057,000 million dollars, which represented an increase of $12,134,000 Million above the previous year’s budget. APD’s approved budget for 2019-2020 contains a line-item budget of $32,077,000 for “Professional Accountability” which was an increase of $11, 053,000 from the previous year. (See Albuquerque City 2020 approved budget, page 12.)

The 2019-2020 budget contained an increase of 41 full-time positions which were added intra-year FY/19 at a total cost of $1.9 million including benefits and 4 positions were created at the APD Academy to comply with the Independent Monitor and DOJ mandates. Two quality assurance auditors were converted from part-time to full-time to support the DOJ compliance efforts. A chief policy advisor position was added to provide support on policy, best practices and case law development.

The link to the City 2019-2020 city budgets is here:

https://documents.cabq.gov/budget/fy-20-approved-budget.pdf

2020-2021 APD BUDGET ALLOCATS $35,851,000 FOR CASA REFORMS

On Monday, October 19, 2020, the Albuquerque City Council enacted the 2020-2021 fiscal year budget with the fiscal year budget beginning on July 1, 2020 and ending June 30, 2021. The enacted budget totals $1.1 Billion dollars for second year in a row and for that reason is considered a zero-growth budget.

APD continues to be the largest budget department in the city with the city council approving a $212 million budget for the department. Nearly $32 million is coming from the city’s federal coronavirus relief money. The approved budget funds a total of 1,678 full time positions that includes 578 civilian staff and funding for 1,100 sworn police.

During the February 8, 2021, City Council Public Safety Committee, Interim Chief Harold Medina reported that APD has 957 sworn police. Of the 957 sworn police, Medina reported a mere 371 sworn police are in Field Services responding to calls for service or 39% of the entire sworn force. The 371 sworn police taking calls for service are spread out over 3 shifts and 8 area commands to patrol based on crime rates in the areas. Medina also told the committee that Field Services has 6 area commanders, 18 lieutenants, 53 sergeant’s, 21 bicycle officers for a total of 511 officers assigned to field services. The problem is commanders, lieutenants, sergeant’s, and bicycle officers do not patrol the streets and do not take calls for service.

https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/zero-growth-for-apd

The Fiscal Year 2020-2021 approved general fund budget for APD contains a line item of $29,280,000 for “PD-PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY”. According August 1, 2019 “Staffing Snapshot”, the Compliance Bureau has total staffing of 61 sworn police consisting of 40 Detectives, 1 Deputy Chief, 3 Commanders, 1 Deputy Commander, 6 Lieutenants, and 10 Sergeants. In addition to the $29,280,000 line item allocation, the 2020-2021 APD approved budget includes:

$5.2 million for continued work to comply with the Court Approved Settlement Agreement with the Department of Justice, which is understood to be funding for the Federal Monitor.

$627,000 to acquire electronic control weapons that have an audit trail to monitor usage and compliance with use of force policies.

$594,000 to purchase on-body cameras, as required by the CASA and state law.

Adding the above funding, the resulting total allocated by the City for the CASA reforms is calculated as follows:

$29,280,000 for “PD-PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTABILITY”
$5,200,000
$627,000 to purchase electronic control weapons
$594,000 to purchase on-body cameras

TOTAL: $35,851,000

The link to the 2020-2021 budget is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/mayor/documents/final_fy21-budget-presentation-_09032020.pdf

You can review at all Fiscal Year budgets from FY 2007 to FY 2021 at this link:

https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/budget/annual-budget

EDITOR’S NOTE: Since 2014, the Federal Court Appointed Monitor has been paid thus far $7.5 million for the work of 9 auditing professionals. The monitors contract has been extended and is currently being paid $1.5 million a year.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The late Senate floor leader Republican Everett Dirksen of Illinois cautioning that federal spending had a way of getting out of control, Dirksen reportedly observed, “A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” When it comes to the City’s Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA), the 271 mandated reforms, and the nearly $35 million being spent a year, it is easy to say were talking real money. Money that would go along ways to fund essential services and social services.

FAILURE TO GIVE ESTIMATED COST OF THE EFIT TEAM

It is downright pathetic that the City and the DOJ want to create an External Force Investigation Team (EFIT) without giving the Federal Judge any sort of estimated cost over and above APD’s budget. No cost breakdown is contained in the motion for the EFIT which reflects and element of pure laziness on the part of the City and the DOJ. Both the City and the DOJ could not careless about actual cost thinking that city finances can always be adjusted with budget cuts or finances can be replenished with more taxes.

The estimated minimum cost of such a specialized unit can be easily projected. According to the Motion, an administrator will first be hired and then upwards of 29 additional personnel will have to be hired. EFIT will be established to assist the APD in conducting use of force investigations by APD officers, which is a highly specialized requiring experience. Applicants will have to submit bids to get contracts and the bids will likely be well over and above paid to entry level sworn police officers which is $65,000 a year. The administrator will likely be on the level of an experienced APD Commander who can earn as much as $80,000 a year while experienced APD detectives can be paid upwards of $75,000 a year when you factor in bonus pay. It likely the EFIT bureau will cost at least $2,255,000 a year minimum. (Administrator $80,000 + 29 Investigators @ $75.000 each a year = $2,255,000)

APD MANAGEMENT FAILURE

The findings of the 12th Monitors report is what prompted the city and the DOJ to try and enter into the Stipulated Order to create the Use of Force Investigation Team. After 6 years, it is APD management and negligence that there is still overt resistance to the consent decree by not taking aggressive action to enforce the proper investigation of use of force and deadly force cases.

The Court Approved Settlement Agreement was negotiated to be fully implemented within 4 years and after a full two years of compliance, the case is supposed to be dismissed. At the time, the Federal Monitor said it was definitely doable, even though he had very little working knowledge of APD. It has now been over 6 years since the settlement with the DOJ was negotiated. The $35 million plus line item contained in the 2020-2021 budget for Professional Accountability and the 61 sworn police assigned to enforce the CASA reforms demands should be more than enough to deal with the reforms. If anything, 61 sworn police is excessive and is and top heavy with 1 Deputy Chief, 3 Commanders, 1 Deputy Commander, 6 Lieutenants, and 10 sergeants. It is more likely than not when the 2021-2022 budget is approved, which will effective from July 1, 2021 to June 31, 2022, even more millions will be added to create EFIT and the additional associated costs.

The biggest complaint of all the DOJ consent decrees in the country is implementation and enforcement “go on and on” for years, costing millions in taxpayer dollars. That is exactly what is happening in Albuquerque, and will continue to do so unless the Federal Court puts the brakes on it and denies the Joint Motion for a new police division to hire outside investigators to oversee the work being done by APD’s Internal Affairs unit in reviewing use-of-force complaints against officers. What you will no doubt have is “police who will police the police who police the police” during an ongoing violent crime wave which is a major the point made by the Albuquerque Journal in its Saturday, February 20, editorial. You can read the entire editorial in the postscript to this article.

The single most remarkable understatement made during the entire one-day December 4 status conference hearing was made by Special Counsel for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division Paul Killebrew when he said:

“APD has proven over and over again its agility to avoid the requirements of the CASA.”

Nothing gets past Kilebrew and the DOJ!!!! Notwithstanding his comment, Killebrew felt the “use of force” investigation team should be implemented even with the risk of APD continuing to avoid the CASA. The DOJ is seriously mistaken if it feels a use of force team, especially whose work is done remotely, will be able to avoid APD agility and resistance to the reforms.

For the past 6 years, the CASA has been plagued with inconsistencies, conflicts, and the political turmoil. In the last 6 years there have been 3 United States Attorneys General, 2 Federal Judges assigned to the case, 2 appointed New Mexico United States Attorneys, the City has elected 2 Mayors, there have been 3 police Chiefs, the court has called a “reset” of the process 3 years ago after the current Mayor was elected, the APD has undergone at least 3 reorganizations, the high command of Deputy Chiefs and Area Commanders has changed at least 3 times with reorganizations.

What the City and the DOJ have done is negotiate a stipulated order to create another level of bureaucracy with the creation of a “use of force team.” Even though motion says that the EFIT unit will established on a “temporary basis”, given APD’s failed track record of the past 6 years and millions spent, it’s more likely than not the EFIT will be around for some time. The DOJ and the Keller Administration is essentially throwing in the towel on forcing APD to implement the reforms required under the CASA. The DOJ is giving APD another way out of a problem its management and the police union have created on their very own.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH

There have been only 3 consistent factors relating to the CASA:

1. The reforms mandated by the CASA,
2. The same federal monitor and
3. Resistance to the reforms by APD.

The creation of a new use of force team is nothing more than creating another level of bureaucracy that will be costly. It will almost assuredly guarantee that the CASA will continue for any number of years and beyond the 6 years as was originally envisioned because APD will still have not learned to properly do use of force investigations.

It’s more likely than not APD management, the union and rank and file will continue with their efforts of “noncompliance”, not overtly, but in a manner to avoid detection and once again using “agility to avoid the requirements of the CASA.” As was the case before, APD is simply waiting out another Mayoral Administration. Where there is a will to obstruct the CASA reforms, APD and the Police Union always find a way and the City and the DOJ have failed to learn that lesson after 6 years and millions spent on the reform effort.

The Federal Monitoring Team after 6 years should know without any doubt what needs to be done with use of force investigation and knows where things are lacking. The 300 plus page audits covering each time the 271 reforms and the Monitor’s continuing refrain “it’s not my job” to manage is no longer cutting it. No matter what is said, the public perception is that he and his group have a very strong financial incentive for APD to fail especially when the the Federal Monitor does possess the knowledge what is wrong with APD, what changes need to be made and what actually needs to be done by APD.

OFF THE TOP OF HIS HEAD

A few years ago, it took a year for the parties to negotiate new “use of force” and “deadly force policies”. The police union contributed significantly to the one-year delay in writing the policies objecting to many provisions of the policies as “unworkable” or “unreasonable”. The police union repeatedly objected to the language of the use of force policy and deadly force policy. This was evidenced by the monitors claim that submitted use of force policy was missing key components and the monitor saw 50-plus changes needing to be made to satisfy union objections. In a conversation with this blog publisher, Federal Monitor James Ginger was asked why he could not just write acceptable use of force and deadly force policies. His response was quick and sure and he said he could do it practically “off the top of his head” within less than an hour but said it was not his job and that his job was to audit and report his findings to the court.

The Federal Court should deny the joint motion, reject the hiring of an outside use force team, suspend the CASA and order the Federal Monitor to take over APD’s Internal Affairs Unit and use of force investigations. The monitor needs to be given full authority over Internal Affairs personnel to the extent of being given direct management and control to issue orders and commands as to how use of force investigations are to be conducted. If the Monitor is unwilling to do more than audit and push paper for $1.5 million a year, the Federal Court and the parties need to find some one else to get the job done. Otherwise the city in all likely looking at 6 more years of failed progress and millions more.

_______________________________________________

POSTCRIPT

On Saturday, February 20, the Albuquerque Journal published the following editorial:

HEADLINE: Amid a Crime Wave, APD Gets Another Layer Of Bureaucracy?

Albuquerque remains in the throes of a crime wave that has held the city in its deadly grip for years. And 2021 is no exception. Homicides in January were at or near record levels. News coverage and neighborhood social media are replete with posts of people hearing gunshots, vehicles being stolen and strangers wandering through yards and driveways, checking for unlocked doors on homes and vehicles.

What might have sounded like good news – just 3.7% of use-of-force complaints sustained in 2018, 1.7% in 2019 – was in essence dismissed by Ginger and used as an exhibit to support his contention IA was just going through the motions. The monitor’s complaints now center on process, so the answer apparently is to police the police who police the police, all at taxpayer expense and at a time the public is fed up with crime. City councilors should ask some hard questions about this new deal.

The link to the Journal editorial is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2361529/amid-a-crime-wave-apd-gets-another-layer-of-bureaucracy.html

On Thursday, February 18, the public relations firm of “Keller & Medina” held a press conference to tell the public “they mean business” when it comes to fighting crime and to discuss enforcement actions by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) over the last 6 months. The public relations “dynamic duo” received news coverage by Channel’s 4, 7, 13 and the Albuquerque Journal as they released information on 6 months of what they referred to as “increased” enforcement efforts.

Links to the news coverage are here:

KOAT

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-trying-to-get-violent-suspects-guns-drugs-off-the-streets/35555491

KOB

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/keller-details-proactive-strategies-to-tackle-crime-in-albuquerque/6017378/?cat=504

KRQE

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/mayor-keller-apd-leaders-to-highlight-results-of-anti-crime-operations/

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL

https://www.abqjournal.com/2361149/apd-touts-1000-arrests-in-anti-crime-efforts.html

According to the media dynamic duo Keller & Medina, they mean business! APD has arrested more than 1,000 people, seized nearly 150 guns and recovered more than 125 stolen vehicles in over 20 operations over the past six months. Interim Chief Medina had this to say:

“Since starting our anti-crime operations, we have successfully taken repeat, at times violent, offenders into custody and dangerous weapons out of their hands. … Not only are we bringing these individuals to justice, but also we are seeing the positive effects on our overall crime”

APD spokeswoman Rebecca Atkins chimed in and said the increased enforcement operations have “clearly” impacted crime in the city by recovering more weapons and arresting more repeat offenders than in the past view years. Atkins said the most recent operation, APD’s 22nd, resulted in 56 felony arrests, 31 for warrants, 4 stolen vehicles and 7 guns and 17 misdemeanor arrests, five for warrants.

When asked about the number of narcotics officers the department has right now, compared to past years, Interim Chief Medina said:

“I think it’s right around four right now. That is way less than we had 20 years ago. 20 years ago we had basically three teams of narcotics.”

STUNNING ADMISSION

It is a stunning admission by Medina that APD has only 4 narcotics officers, presumably doing under cover work. FBI statistics over the past 8 years have shown that narcotics trafficking has increased in Albuquerque significantly to the point it is being called and opioid crisis by the United States Attorney. On February 10, 2021, Medina said half of all the officer-involved shootings last year involved people on meth. In 2016, 17 and 18, it was more than 70%. On February 12, 2021 as a matter of sure coincidence with a day before story that meth usage is connected to police shootings, it was reported that a random traffic stop on the West Side in the early morning of February 11, a BCSO Deputy seized duffel bags stuffed with 160 pounds of methamphetamine.

Links to news coverage are here:

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-multiple-shootings-and-crime-linked-to-meth/35474658

https://www.abqjournal.com/2358459/apd-confrontations-often-fueled-by-meth-use-ex-interim-chief-medina-says-solution-is-to-address-lifestyle-and-root-causes.html

https://www.abqjournal.com/2359161/bcso-traffic-stop-yields-more-than-160-lbs-of-meth.html

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/us-attorney-general-blames-mexican-lsquosuperlabsrsquo-for-new-mexicorsquos-growing-violent-crime/5846804/

BREAKING ANOTHER RECORD IN HOMICIDES

The media couple’s presentation was done with the backdrop that the city has had yet another major spike in homicides breaking yet another record. Medina disclosed that APD is investigating 20 homicides in the metro since the start of the new year. By this same time last year, there had been 10 homicides. Only one suspect has been arrested in the 20 murders according to recent reports.

DEVIL IN THE STATISTICS

The cities record breaking number of murders for the last 3 years and now continuing in 2021 are only a small part of the city’s overall violent crime problem. The crime statistics that gage the success or failure of the city’s programs must include not just actual murders but the arrest rates and high violent crime rates. For that reason, those statistics merit review.

HOMICIDES SPIKE DURING THE LAST 3 YEARS

In 2018, during Mayor Tim Keller’s first full year in office, there were 69 homicides. In 2019, during Mayor Keller’s second full year in office, there were 82 homicides. Albuquerque had more homicides in 2019 than in any other year in the city’s history. The previous high was in 2017 when 72 homicides were reported in Mayor Berry’s last year in office. The previous high mark was in 1996, when the city had 70 homicides. The year 2020 ended with 76 homicides, the second-highest count since 1996. The decline dropped the homicide rate from 14.64 per 100,000 people in 2019 to about 13.5 in 2020.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1534762/homicide-numbers-high-despite-pandemic.html?amp=1

HISTORICALLY LOW HOMICIDE CLEARANCE RATES

For the past three years during Mayor Keller’s tenure, the homicide clearance percentage rate has been in the 50%-60% range. According to the proposed 2018-2019 APD City Budget, in 2016 the APD homicide clearance rate was 80%. In 2017, under Mayor Berry the clearance rate was 70%. In 2018, the first year of Keller’s term, the homicide clearance rate was 56%. In 2019, the second year of Keller’s term, the homicide clearance rate was 52.5%, the lowest clearance rate in the last decade. In 2020 the clearance rate has dropped to 50%. Of the 75 homicides thus far in 2020, half remain unsolved. There are only a dozen homicide detectives each with caseloads high above the national average.

On Friday October 23, 2020 the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) released its “Use of Force” report covering a four-year time period from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. The link to the entire use of force report is here:

http://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/2016-19-albuquerque-police-department-annual-use-of-force-report.pdf

The Use of Force report has upwards of 56 bar graphs and charts and 8 maps in the 73-page report. Below are the combined totals in the top 8 blogger “consolidated” categories for the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. The calculations for the 7 categories are based on the raw numbers gleaned from the various bar graphs in the report.

Civilian deaths in 4 years involving APD shootings: 19
Number APD arrests: 58,251
APD “use of force” incidents (Empty hand, TAZER, gun discharge): 2,395
APD “show of force” incidents (Handgun, rifle, TAZER): 1,087
APD firearm discharges: 65
Number of times APD officers displayed a hand gun: 524
Number of times APD officers displayed a rifle: 212
Times APD used “electronic control weapon” (TAZER): 365
Estimated total “calls for service” generating “case numbers” 312,000 to 375,000
(Combined number of cases generated by all 6 area commands)

ARRESTS

The number of arrests for the four years of 2016-2019 are as follows:

2016: 14,022 total arrests made
2017: 13,582 total arrests made
2018: 15,471 total arrests made
2019: 15,151 total arrests made

FOUR YEAR TOTAL OF ARREST MADE BY APD: 58,226

Editor’s Note: Statistics for 2020 not reported in Use of Force report.

VIOLENT CRIME

In 2018 during Mayor Keller’ first full year in office, there were 6,789 violent crimes, 3,885 Aggravated Assaults and 491 Non-Fatal Shootings.

In 2019, the category of “Violent Crimes” was replaced with the category of “Crimes Against Persons” and the category includes homicide, human trafficking, kidnapping and assault. In 2019 during Keller’s second full year in office, Crimes Against Persons increased from 14,845 to 14,971, or a 1% increase. The Crimes Against Person category had the biggest rises in Aggravated Assaults increasing from 5,179 to 5,397.

2020 VIOLENT CRIME STATS

On Monday, September 21, 2020, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) released statistics that revealed that overall crime in the city is down slightly across all categories in the first six months of 2020 as compared with the first six months of 2019. Crimes against persons are all violent crimes combined and include murder, deadly weapons assault and injury and rape. The decreases in “violent crime” from 2019 to 2020 was a decrease by only 21 crimes or a 0.28%. Over a two year, it decreased 4%. According to the FBI statistics released, there were 7,362 crimes against persons reported in the first six months of 2020 and there were 152 more in the second quarter than in the first.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

In 2017, Candidate Tim Keller campaigned to get elected Mayor on the platform of implementing the Department of Justice (DOJ) mandated reforms, increasing the size of APD, returning to community-based policing and a promise to bring down skyrocketing crime rates. Mayor Keller no doubt sincerely thought he could do a better job than his predecessor and he could actually make a difference. The truth is, he has not and crime in the city has only become worse since Tim Keller has taken office, especially in terms of violent crime.

Mayor Tim Keller and Interim APD Chief Harold Medina have pushed the “peddle to the metal” and are going full throttle with their public relations campaign to convince the general public and the media that what they have done recently is having a major effect on reducing crime. Keller ostensibly felt that it was so important that he even found a razor to look clean shaven and put on a tie for the cameras as he talked with a smile on his face and a grin in his voice. Truth is that the 1,000 arrests made in the last 6 months in the enforcement efforts are nothing more than a drop in the city’s blood filled crime bucket, especially in view of the fact that the city is once again experiencing another spike in homicides with 20 murders in 6 weeks and only one arrest.

Links to two related blog articles are here:

Interim APD Chief Medina Admits Mayor Keller’s 4 Violent Crime Reduction Programs Are Failures; Neither Have Answers, No Solutions To Stopping City’s Rising Crime; Medina Resorts To Plagiarism

City’s 2020 Mid-Year Crime Rates Reflect Small Decline; Violent Crime Remains High; Arrests Made Are Fraction Of Crimes Committed; Dr. Keller Has Failed To Find A Vaccine For High Crime Rates

Since being sworn in on December 1, 2017, Mayor Tim Keller made it known that building a homeless shelter was one of his top priorities. City Hall had deemed that a 24-hour, 7 day a week temporarily shelter for the homeless as critical toward reducing the number of homeless in the city. The city owned shelter was projected to assist an estimated 300 homeless residents and connect them to other services intended to help secure permanent housing. The new facility would have served all populations of men, women, and families. Further, the city wanted to provide a place anyone could go regardless of gender, religious affiliation, sobriety, addictions, psychotic condition or other factors.

The city facility was to have on-site case managers that would guide residents toward counseling, addiction treatment, housing vouchers and other available resources. According city officials, the new homeless shelter would replace the existing West Side Emergency Housing Center, the former jail on the far West Side. The west side facility is unsustainable costing over $1 million in transportation costs a year for the homeless. The goal was for the new homeless shelter to provide first responders an alternative destination for the people they encounter known as the “down-and-out” calls.

On November 5, voters approved a general obligation bond package of $128 million which included $14 million for the city operated 24-7 homeless shelter. The actual cost was to be $32 million. The City asked the 2020 New Mexico Legislature for an additional $14 million to complete phase two of the project, but the funding request failed.

Notwithstanding Mayor Keller’s desire for a city run shelter, and the bond approval, there were many critics of the proposal. The critics included downtown business organizations such as the Greater Albuquerque Business Association (GABA) and neighborhood associations that mounted strong opposition. Critics argued against mixing populations and argued that a large facility would unduly burden any one neighborhood or business area of the city. Bernalillo County officials, homeless service providers and residents of neighborhoods surrounding potential locations seriously questioned the city’s efforts for a one centralized shelter.

KELLER ABANDONS SINGLE GATEWAY CENTER CONCEPT

On Wednesday, May 7, 2020, Mayor Tim Keller conducted one of his daily briefings on the City’s response to the Corona Virus. However, he dedicated most of the briefing to report on the “Gateway Center.” Participating in the briefing were Chief Operating Officer (COO) Lawrence Rael and City Council President Pat Davis. The FACEBOOK video link to the press briefing is here:

https://www.facebook.com/MayorKeller/videos/290814465247439/UzpfSTEwNTQ4MTY4OTY6MTAyMjAwNDA5NDYxMDgwMTQ/

In a surprise announcement, Keller said that the city was abandoning the development concept of a single, 300-bed homeless shelter. He announced the city will be proceeding with a “multi-site approach” to the city’s homelessness crisis. Mayor Tim Keller went so far as to state that the 300 bed Gateway Center was “off the table”.

Keller said the corona virus crisis has highlighted the need for an alternative to the city’s existing shelter, which is the former jail 20 miles from downtown and he said:

“The coronavirus has also shown us how important this is. … The amount of funding and logistics we have to deal with going back and forth to the West Side … is extremely hard.”

MULTI-SITE APPROACH

When the city abandoned plans to build one large homeless shelter, city officials said the new multi-site approach could mean a series of “smaller facilities” throughout the community. Ostensibly, there would be no single resource hub in one large facility as was originally proposed with the 300 bed Gateway Center.

City Family and Community Services Director Carol Pierce offered insight into what the city means when it refers to small shelters and had this to say:

“We’re often talking 100 to 150 beds of emergency shelter that could be defined as a smaller shelter.”

CITY MAKES OFFER TO BUY LOVELACE HOSPITAL COMPLEX ON GIBSON

In an attempt to buy the first Gateway location, the city made an offer to buy the former Lovelace hospital on Gibson Boulevard in Southeast Albuquerque for $13 million.

The Loveless facility is a 529,000-square-foot building and upwards of 50% of it is said to be vacant. The facility has a 201 bed capacity, but remodeling could likely increase capacity significantly. According to one news report, an estimated $10 million in upgrades in the Lovelace Hospital Complex, including remodeling for specific tenants, improving common areas and the parking lot and installing a 540-ton cooling unit out back were made by investor owners. Parts of the building date back to 1950 and what was then known as the Lovelace Clinic, and as a result the need for any asbestos remediation is subject to speculation and has not been reported on by the news media.

https://www.abqjournal.com/774956/medical-center-at-old-lovelace-hospital-might-expand-to-other-uses.html

According to one report and analysis released by the city, the cost to purchase the Lovelace Hospital Complex would be $14 million in acquisition and renovation costs. It was in 2007 Lovelace Medical Center closed down. It was later purchased by local private investors.

On Thursday, December 17, 2020 Mayor Tim Keller did not give a specific answer when asked how many emergency shelter beds the city may include at the Lovelace facility if purchased. Keller called the planning “fluid” since the city has not yet acquired the property. Other city officials said the Lovelace site may have other uses beyond shelter beds, including behavioral health services and medical care.

A link to news source material quoted is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1527950/city-official-smaller-shelter-means-100-150-beds.html

DONATION TO CHARITABLE FOUNDATION

The investors who purchased the former Lovelace Hospital on Gibson were Jimmy Daskalos and Nick Kapnison. Nick Kapnison is one of the owners of “Nick and Jimmy’s” Restaurant, Mikinos Creek Restaurant and Papa Fillipes. Mr. Nick Kapnison is a highly respected businessman and community activist.

The Albuquerque Journal reported that Nick Kapnison donated $3,500 to Mayor Keller’s Charitable Foundation. The Charitable Foundation has raised $250,000 from private donors for city initiatives.

The Mayor’s Charitable Foundation has given the City $20,000 to provide housing vouchers for the homeless.

The link to the Journal report on the donations is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1421506/familiar-businesses-back-abq-foundation.html

LAWSUIT FILED AND SETTLED

The city’s attempted purchase of the Lovelace property was in serious jeopardy. The facility and property became embroiled in a highly contested lawsuit between the two former business partners who owned the property, Nick Kapnison and Jimmy Daskalos.

Daskalos and his wife sued Kapnison and the city last October to try and stop the sale. It was alleged that Kapnison violated the parties’ previous agreement, was selling the property over their objections, and that he was accepting too low a price. The lawsuit contended that a 2020 appraisal had valued the property at $18.5 million.

According to a news report, the city entered into a $13 million purchase agreement for the property with Nick Kapnison. Jimmy Daskalos sued both the City and Kapnison to stop the purchase. Daskalos and his wife alleged breach of contract. They claimed Kapnison sold the Gibson Medical Center against their wishes, that he violated the terms of a “power of attorney” given to him and offered the property at less than a “commercially reasonable” price in violation of his fiduciary responsibilities. Mr. Kapnison denied the accusations.

Court pleading file reveal the Daskaloses still owed Kapnison $4.5 million as part of a 2020 buyout agreement terminating the Kapnison and Daskalos long time business relationship. That debt was secured by the Gibson Medical Center and other property.

The city filed a counterclaim against Daskalos. The denied the Daskalos allegations, contending in its response and counterclaim that Kapnison had the legal authority to negotiate the sale in that he had a power of attorney. The city also disputes the claim that the purchase price is far below the property’s value. Soon after the city filed a counterclaim, the city entered in to settlement negotiations.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1534612/citys-planned-shelter-site-embroiled-in-lawsuit.html

On February 18, 2021 it was reported that the Keller Administration agreed to pay another $2 million to buy the former Lovelace hospital for its long-awaited Gateway Center. The settlement raised the total purchase price to $15 million and resolved the city’s involvement with the litigation. over the property’s ownership.

The link to the news story reporting on the settlement is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2360797/city-settles-lawsuit-over-old-lovelace-hospital.html

KELLER’S CHARTIABLE FOUNDATION

On January 7, 2019, Mayor Tim Keller announced the creation of the One Albuquerque Foundation. It’s a foundation formed by the city to collect donations from the general public to support city initiatives and projects. According to the city’s website page:

“… the endowment Fund raises funds in support of and to supplement measurable city priorities, including the housing voucher program for people experiencing homelessness, recruiting and retaining public safety officers, expanding opportunities for young people in Albuquerque, and equipping our workforce with the skills they need to succeed. Additional funding for these priorities will accelerate progress and help scale significant investments the City is already making go much farther, much faster.”

On February 7, 2020 the Albuquerque Journal reported that the Albuquerque One Foundation has raised nearly $250,000. Records provided by the city pursuant to a request for public records show most of the money is not coming from individual citizens but rather a cross section of well-known businesses and individuals. The donations that make up the $250,000 are not small donations from people but are in the thousands made by a few.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1421506/familiar-businesses-back-abq-foundation.html

All told, 35 entities and individuals donated $248,250 to the fund. A breakdown of the large donations included Nick Kapnison, owner of Nick and Jimmy’s Restaurant, Mikinos Creek Restaurant and El Patron Mexican Restaurant for a donation of $3,350. Restaurants must maintain a license to do business with the city and are subject to the zoning and code enforcement regulations including health code inspections.

Mayoral spokeswoman Jessie Damazyn at the time confirmed that many contributions made to the One Albuquerque Foundation came in response to face-to-face requests made by Mayor Tim Keller himself to meet with donors. Damazyn did not say exactly how many of the existing donors Keller met with personally to solicit contributions, but said that he had talked with “nearly all” of those on the list of 35 as well as many others “in contexts from coffees to community events to speaking engagements about how they can play a role from volunteering to donating.”

A link to a related blog article is here:

https://www.petedinelli.com/2020/02/22/mayor-keller-needs-to-knock-it-off-fundraising-for-his-charitable-foundation-abq-journral-weighs-in-inspector-general-needs-to-review/

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The size and scope of the shelter component at the Lovelace facility is likely to be a major source of contention with area neighborhood residents objecting to its use for the homeless. The city planning department reports the property’s zoning does not impose a bed cap, which no doubt is problematic for the neighborhood. The City could decide to unilaterally fill the facility with the original 300 beds as proposed for the original 24 – 7 homeless shelter facility.

The zoning for the Gibson Lovelace facility does allow an overnight shelter as a “conditional use,” something the city could, and would, consider pursuing if necessary. “Conditional use” permits often generate controversy and oppositions and require a public hearing. Conditional uses are granted only if there are no significant adverse impacts to surrounding areas.

If the purchase of the Lovelace facility goes through as is anticipated now that the civil case is settled, the Keller Administration will likely unilaterally fill the facility with the original 300 beds. It that happens, it will be viewed justifiably as nothing more than a “baite and switch” scheme where Mayor Tim Keller first wants a single facility, changes his mind for multiple smaller facilities only to turn around to change his mind again.

On Thursday, December 17, when Mayor Tim Keller did not give a specific answer when asked how many emergency shelter beds the city may include at the Lovelace facility if purchased Keller called the planning “fluid”. It’s more likely than not Keller knew what his end game and goal was all along, but did not disclose it to the public. This coming from a Mayor who has promised transparency and ethics in government.

WHAT DID KELLER DISCUSS AND WHEN DID HE DISCUSS LOVELACE PURCHASE?

The propriety of Mayor Tim Keller scheduling meetings to solicit private denotations for his charitable foundation from those who do business with the city or who interact with city departments and who want to talk with him is so very, very wrong on so many levels with respect to ethical conduct and the appearance of impropriety. The solicitations by Mayor Keller during city business smacks of “pay to play” at worst and at best gives the appearance of impropriety and the exertion of political influence to compel donations from those who do business with the City of Albuquerque, either by contract or being regulated by city departments.

Large donations made in the political world more likely than not come with the expectations of at least access to the elected official or a candidate and even commitments to be performed. What is very disturbing is that Keller had his office arranged the meetings, had the private conversations, but nothing was disclosed as to what was discussed, how the donation amounts were determined nor what commitments, if any were made, by Keller to the donors or the donors to Keller. No one knows for certain what private conversations nor commitments Keller had regarding the Lovelace hospital purchase.

It is a pathetic practice for any government entity and its elected Mayor to solicit donations from the general public to carry out its duties and responsibilities to the public. In the eyes of many city hall insiders, observers and a few city hall confidential sources, Keller engaged in unethical conduct with his Charitable Foundation, but his top Administration Officials have gone along with it without any objection because he is “the Mayor” and always gets what he wants very much like a spoiled child.

With the purchase of Lovelace Hospital for his Gateway Center, what Timmy wants, Mayor Keller gets.

On Thursday, February 11, The Albuquerque Journal and Friday, February 12, KOB Channel 4 did remarkable stories that are worth noting. They are worth noting not for what was actually reported on but for revealing that Mayor Tim Keller’s 4 violent crime reduction programs initiated in 2019 are failures. They also revealed that Interim APD Chief is way over his head, does not know what he is doing and he is part of the problem.

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STORY

On February 11, the Albuquerque Journal headline on the Metro & NM section blared above the fold “APD: Many Shot By Officers Were On Meth”; “Interim Chief Says Solution Is To Address Root Causes”. In the Journal story, APD highlighted the frequency of meth use among those who get into confrontations with police, many of which end up fatal. Medina said he and APD wanted to “raise awareness.”

The Albuquerque Journal story highlighted that the ratio was 3 out of the 6 people shot to death by APD in 2020 had meth in their system. In 2019, the ratio was one out of four. In 2018, when New Mexico ranked worst in the nation for fatal police shootings, it was 5 out of 7, or more than 70%. In both 2016 and 2017, 83% of those killed by APD had meth in their system. Between 2011 and 2015, the number stayed between 50% and 60%.

According to the Albuquerque Journal story:

“Compared with other places nationally, according to the data, Albuquerque had a higher frequency of meth usage connected to police shootings. In San Diego, 32% of those shot or killed by police between 1993 and 2012 had used meth. In San Bernardino, 31% of those shot or killed by police from 2010 to 2015 had used meth. And, in the state of Georgia, 20% of those killed by police from 2012 to 2017 had meth in their system.”

In the Journal story, Interim Chief Harold Medina said that it’s not just about decreasing officer-involved shootings, but also addressing the “lifestyle” and root causes, such as drug use, that lead to deadly encounters. According to Medina:

“We’re looking at the system as a whole – how do we reduce crime and where do we combine our resources to make sure that we’re getting to the root problem. … It’s something that’s impacting us as a community in all aspects and us as a department, so that’s why we’re taking a clear look at this and trying to get more information out. … There are no easy answers or solutions to this and, as a community … we have to have these discussions in order for us to ensure that families have resources. … .”

Medina added he has had family affected by meth use and said:

“If I struggle to get some of my loved ones the assistance they need, as deputy chief of police, what is available out there for the general public?”

In the Journal story, Barron Jones, senior policy strategist with the American Civil Liberties Union, said the trends speak to the need for police to find ways to better de-escalate and, meth or no meth, “keep these people alive.” He then goes on to state:

“I applaud the city in its efforts trying to address this now, but this problem didn’t just spring up yesterday or the last two or three years. … Now that they’re starting to have conversations about it, we can move forward to address it. … .”

The link to the entire Albuquerque Journal article is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2358459/apd-confrontations-often-fueled-by-meth-use-ex-interim-chief-medina-says-solution-is-to-address-lifestyle-and-root-causes.html

160 POUNDS OF METH SEIZED AT TRAFFIC STOP

On February 12, as a matter of sure coincidence with the day before story that meth usage is connected to police shootings, it was reported that a random traffic stop on the West Side in the early morning of February 11, a BCSO Deputy seized duffel bags stuffed with 160 pounds of methamphetamine. The meth was found stashed in brand-new duffel bags in an SUV stopped with price tags still attached.. Erica Gutierrez, 29, and Rodney Rodriguez, 68, both from California, were booked into the Metropolitan Detention Center and charged with distribution of a controlled substance. Given the sure volume of meth seized and the violent nature of drug dealers, the Sheriff’s Deputy did a remarkable job as the incident did not escalate into another shooting involving law enforcement.

A link to a full report is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2359161/bcso-traffic-stop-yields-more-than-160-lbs-of-meth.html

CHANNEL 4 REPORT

On Friday, February 12, KOB Channel 4 telecast a report entitled “Interim APD chief says pandemic, drugs contributing to crime in Albuquerque.”

Following are the relevant portions of the Channel 4 report by the news station on its web page:

“ALBUQUERQUE, N.M.-

The Albuquerque Police Department has opened up 20 homicide investigations in 2021. Interim APD Chief of Police Harold Medina spoke with KOB 4 about the crime crisis.

“It’s realistic that chiefs aren’t going to be around like they were in the past for decades,” Medina said. “Their short-term goals have to be tied in to long-term sustainable goals that are based on the department’s needs, and are going to be sustained by the department.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/interim-apd-chief-says-pandemic-drugs-contributing-to-crime-in-albuquerque/6011104/?cat=500

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

It’s truly amazing that Interim Chief Harold Medina is only now acknowledging that drugs are leading to increases in crime. What is shocking is when he tells the Journal:

“We’re looking at the system as a whole – how do we reduce crime and where do we combine our resources to make sure that we’re getting to the root problem”.

It is shocking in that after 24 years with law enforcement, and the past 3 years as Deputy Chief, Medina should have already known this and its basic law enforcement.

He also told Channel 4 that “he believes dealing with crime goes beyond the police department … and the community [needs to] comes together”

ACLU Senior Policy Strategist Barron Jones said it best with a little sarcasm:

“I applaud the city in its efforts trying to address [the root causes of crime] now, but this problem didn’t just spring up yesterday or the last two or three years. … Now that they’re starting to have conversations about it, we can move forward to address it. … .”

PAST STRATEGY’S HAVE FAILED

Interim APD Chief Harold Medina tells Channel 4 that he’s “working on new strategies to help combat crime.” What happened to the old strategies? Mayor Keller, APD and the city can only hope Medina’s “new” strategies will be far more effective than those that Medina has worked on during the past 3 years when he was Deputy Chief for Field Services. A discussion of those strategies are in order:

APD AND KELLER’S FAILED PROGRAMS

In 2019, in response to the continuing increase in violent crime rates, Mayor Keller scrambled to implement 4 major crime fighting programs to reduce violent crime:

1. The Shield Unit

In February 2018 the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) created the “Shield Unit”. The Shield Unit assists APD Police Officers to prepare cases for trial and prosecution by the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office. The unit originally consisted of 3 para legals. It was announced that it is was expanded to 12 under the 2019-2020 city budget that took effect July 1, 2019.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1325167/apd-expands-unit-that-preps-cases-for-prosecution.html

2. Declaring Violent Crime “Public Health” issue

On April 8, 2019, Mayor Keller and APD announced efforts that will deal with “violent crime” in the context of it being a “public health issue” and dealing with crimes involving guns in an effort to bring down violent crime in Albuquerque. Mayor Keller and APD argue that gun violence is a “public health issue” because gun violence incidents have lasting adverse effects on children and others in the community that leads to further problems.

3. The “Violence Intervention Plan” (VIP program)

On November 22, Mayor Tim Keller announced what he called a “new initiative” to target violent offenders called “Violence Intervention Plan” (VIP). The VIP initiative was in response to the city’s recent murders resulting in the city tying the all-time record of homicides at 72 in one year. Mayor Keller proclaimed the VIP is a “partnership system” that includes law enforcement, prosecutors and social service and community provides to reduce violent crime. According to Keller vulnerable communities and law enforcement will be working together and building trust has proven results for public safety. Mayor Keller stated:

“… This is about trying to get these people not to shoot each other. …This is about understanding who they are and why they are engaged in violent crime. … And so, this actually in some ways, in that respect, this is the opposite of data. This is action. This is actually doing something with people. …”

4. The Metro 15 Operation program.

On Tuesday, November 26, Mayor Tim Keller held a press conference to announce a 4th program within 9 months to deal with the city’s violent crime and murder rates. At the time of the press conference, the city’s homicide count was at 72, matching the city’s record in 2017. Before 2017, the last time the City had the highest number of homicides in one year was in 1996 with 70 murders that year. Keller dubbed the new program “Metro 15 Operation” and is part of the Violence Intervention Program (VIP) program. According to Keller and then APD Chief Michael Geier the new program would target the top 15 most violent offenders in Albuquerque. It’s the city’s version of the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.

Links to news coverage are here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1394576/city-launches-violence-intervention-program.html

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/mayor-keller-touts-new-plan-to-tackle-violent-crime/5561150/?cat=500

MEDINA PLAGERIZES FORMER CHIEF GEIER’S GUN VIOLENCE PLAN

On February 12, 2021, Interim Chief Harold Medina told Channel 4:

“One of the things that I’ve implemented as interim chief is we have an 8:45 call every morning that includes all the commanders, all the deputy chiefs, and we discuss what occurred the previous 24 hours. … I even created a new process where we get a 24-hour overall crime report broken down by area command.”

SURPRISE, SURPRISE! If this sounds at all familiar, it should be. It’s essentially former APD Chief Geier’s “Gun Violence Plan”. After being fired by Mayor Tim Keller, Chief Michael Geier told the Albuquerque Journal that he and a commander created a violence reduction plan that included scheduling regular meetings and brainstorming sessions for officers to talk with their supervisors about patterns in fatal shootings and shootings with injury in their area commands and come up with plans to address it.

Geier told the Journal that Medina never embraced the gun violence plan and that Medina went so far as to not instruct his officers to follow it through. Geier said the program was delayed in launching by six weeks, and those under Medina’s command had to undergo remedial training on the project again because they still didn’t understand it. Medina told Geier it was too confusing.

In a memo to Medina, Geier wrote the startling comment that he felt like it’s “almost as if you made an effort to make this program fail … [and your] behavior has “bordered on insubordination.” Geier wrote Medina that he intended to move him from the field services bureau. “I plan on discussing this with [CAO] Sarita [Nair] at our weekly update meeting this coming Friday, September 4th. I expect you to handle your new position as a professional so as to renew my faith and trust in you.” The mistake Geier made was to tell Medina what he was going to do because Medina could not move fast enough to tell Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair what Gieier was up to and the two of them orchestrated Geier’s firing by Mayor Tim Keller. Rumor has it that Medina even suggested a walk in the park Keller had with Geier.

MEDINA’S ACKNOWLEGEMENT OF PROGRAM FAILURES

On December 10, 2020, Interim Chief Harold Medina said that there were encouraging signs that APD’s anti-crime operations, such as the Violence Intervention Program (VIP), were having an impact on the city’s violent crime. In support of his argument, Medina pointed out that Albuquerque has had a slight dip in all four violent crime categories of homicide, rape, robbery and aggravated assault. Medina had this to say:

“When we started these anti-crime operations in the fall, we wanted to shift gears from reactive to proactive. … One of the things we recognize in crime that’s occurring in the city is … it seems like every time we arrest someone for a violent crime, that individual had a warrant out for their arrest when we took that individual into custody.”

A link to source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1525709/apds-anti-crime-operations-made-more-than-500-arrests.html

It turns out that Medina spoke way too soon on the success of the 4 programs to reduce violent crime. As of January 31, there were 15 homicides, in the month of January, 2021. The 15 homicides are 2 more than the deadliest month in Albuquerque over the past 5 years. The record was 13 killings in each of the months of September and April of 2019 with 2019 being the record for the highest homicide total in recent history. The 15 homicides do not include one homicide classified as self-defense and do not in include vehicular homicides.

Links to news sources are here:

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/violent-week-in-albuquerque-continues/5995016/?cat=500

https://www.abqjournal.com/2354217/apd-investigating-fatal-stabbing-and-suspicious-death-at-separate-abq-hotels.html

BACKING OFF ON CLAIMS OF REDUCED CRIME

On January 28, Interim Chief Harold Medina held a press briefing to address the increase in homicides. He was forced to back off on APD’s original assessment that violent crime was down and said:

“It’s apparent now that we’re starting to fall in line with a lot of issues that other major cities in the United States are seeing. … We’re in uncharted territory in a lot of ways … but we wanted to assure the public we’re going to continue conducting operations and making modifications to what trends we’re seeing out there.”

Interim Chief of Police Harold Medina pointed out that crime “is not a straight line” and that APD has been in this position before. Medina said:

“… We’re going to be going through peaks and valleys and that’s where we need to make quick adjustments as a department. … These are a lot of the steps we are doing to make sure that we’re communicating amongst one another as quickly as possible to get on these trends and see how we can devote resources to the problem.”

“I think the key is how we come out of this and how we develop programs and processes that are going to have long-term effects. … It’s really difficult for us right now because we’ve put together some programs that were showing promise. We were getting good results. We were doing well, and now we’ve seen this peak, and it’s really difficult to gauge because these programs. We’re not going to have an assessment until this pandemic is over.”

MEDINAS “REVELATION” THAT HOMICIDES ARE NOT RANDOM

During the January 28 press briefing, APD Interim Chief Harold Medina said the homicides are not “random” and involve drugs or domestic violence which is the reason many of the victims are women. Medina also went on to lay blame on staffing shortages and the pandemic by saying:

“The number one question is, ‘Should people feel safe?’ … We’re seeing trends in robberies that are related to narcotics and they are escalating to the point where we have homicides that occur as a result of this. … We need a lot more detectives in Homicide so they can devote the time. We have limited resources but we are giving two additional detectives to homicide.”

Links to news sources and quotes are here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2353936/apd-battles-surge-of-homicides-across-abq.html

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/albuquerque-facing-troubling-homicide-trend/5993736/?cat=500

DAILY 49 VIDEO

On January 30, APD Interim Chief Harold Medina addressed APD sworn personnel in a 4-minute internal message. The recorded message to all law enforcement personnel is referred to as the “Daily 49 Video”. The number 49 is code talk for police officer.

The recorded “Daily 49 Video” messages are not for release to the general public. In the recorded message, Medina says that APD cannot focus exclusively on fighting crime because it is being forced to divert resources to comply with Department of Justice mandated reforms. The video can be viewed in the entirety at this link:

https://www.facebook.com/abqraw/videos/1137832919984382

The most relevant portion of Medina’s recorded statement to APD sworn personnel is as follows:

“I wish, and those of you who know me … know that I would love to sit here and say that we’re going to focus on crime and crime alone. But the reality is that’s not where the Albuquerque Police Department is at this time, and we must change the culture for the good of the community and for the good of our officers. So we’re going to have to make sure that we’re open to ensuring that we move forward on all fronts, the compliance front and the crime front, and it’s a very delicate balancing act, and when we’re able to I intend to give more resources to Investigations.

We recognize the Field [of patrol officers] is short and I’m going to ask commanders in the field to make sure their people are getting information to us on which calls we shouldn’t be dispatching to. So there’s a lot of moving parts to this. We’re well aware of them, we’re committed, and everybody recognize that this is a tough time for law enforcement across the nation.”

When Medina says “we must change the culture” he is ostensibly referring to the DOJ consent decree to change the APD “culture of aggression” found by the DOJ in 2014. What was most surprising is Medina instructed APD Commanders to decide what calls will not be responded to by the police.

HOMICIDE UNIT’ S LONG-STANDING PROBLEM

During the February 12, 2021 Channel 4 interview, Interim Chief Medina said he did not have details about how many of the homicides thus far have been solved. He did say APD has leads in half of the homicides committed in the week of February 8. On February 12, Medina also told KOB Channel 4 that the homicide unit has 14 detectives and said he eventually wants to add two more detectives to the unit. Based on APDs past history, no one should be optimistic that the homicides will be solved.

For the past three years the homicide clearance percentage rate has been in the 50%-60% range. According to the proposed 2018-2019 APD City budget, in 2016 the APD homicide clearance rate was 80%. In 2017, under Mayor Berry the clearance rate was 70%. In 2018, the first year of Keller’s term, the homicide clearance rate was 56%. In 2019, the second year of Keller’s term, the homicide clearance rate was 52.5%, the lowest clearance rate in the last decade. In 2020 the clearance rate dropped to 50%. Of the 75 homicides in 2020, half remain unsolved. There are only a dozen homicide detectives each with caseloads high above the national average.

On January 29, 2021, Interim Chief Harold Medina held a press conference to discuss the continuing spike in murders in the city. What Medina said in part during the press conference merits repeating:

“I think the key is how we come out of this and how we develop programs and processes that are going to have long-term effects. … It’s really difficult for us right now because we’ve put together some programs that were showing promise. We were getting good results. We were doing well, and now we’ve seen this peak, and it’s really difficult to gauge because these programs – we’re not going to have an assessment until this pandemic is over. … We need a lot more detectives in homicide so they can devote the time. We have limited resources but we are giving two additional detectives to homicide” ”

During the last 3 years, the city has had a record-breaking number of murders. In 2018, there were 69 homicides. In 2019, there were 82 homicides.

Albuquerque had more homicides in 2019 than in any other year in the city’s history. The previous high was in 2017 when 72 homicides were reported. The previous high mark was in 1996, when the city had 70 homicides. The year 2020 ended with 76 homicides, the second-highest count since 1996. The decline dropped the homicide rate from 14.64 per 100,000 people in 2019 to about 13.5 in 2020.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1534762/homicide-numbers-high-despite-pandemic.html?amp=1

Based on the city’s high violent crime and murder rates, APD is failing is failing in its primary mission of combating crime and keeping the city safe. As the Deputy Chief of Field services, Medina was interictally involved with the programs being administered.

One can only wonder what the hell Deputy Chief Medina was doing as Deputy of Field Services for 3 years, other than planning his “coup de tate” of former Chief Geier, but then again that is the only success Medina has had since returning to APD.

Over 3 years ago on December 28, 2017, it was reported the APD homicide unit was overwhelmed with only 11 detectives when the City reached a record high of 75 murders. APD management, which Medina was the Deputy of Field Services, did nothing to increase the size of the unit.

During an October, 2019 City Council meeting, APD management said it was working on new strategies to ease the workload on APD homicide detectives. During the City Council meeting, APD Commander of Criminal Investigations Joe Burke had this to say:

“I would say in the long term if I was looking at a long-term solution—I believe we need two homicide units. I think the best practices around the nation normally have two homicide units. Detectives should be balancing between three to five investigations and we’re nearly double that.

… We absolutely need detectives in criminal investigations. … I was happy when I went over at the end of July and was briefed on the status of the unit that there’s a plan in place within the executive staff that when cadets are graduating from the academy that we’re going to get a certain percentage specifically for the criminal investigations bureau.”

https://www.petedinelli.com/2020/09/04/53-murders-and-counting-52-clearance-rate-apd-adds-one-sergeant-to-homicide-unit-as-solution/

On November 21, 2019 when the number of homicides hit 72, it was again advocated that the Homicide Investigation Unit be increased from 11 detectives to at least 25 detectives. Further, given the units low clearance rate and past performance, more was needed to be done then with respect to recruiting and training. At the very least, APD needed to ask for temporary assignment of personnel from other agencies such as the Bernalillo County Sherriff’s Department or the State Police to help clear out the cases.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/11/21/city-matches-homicide-record-high-of-72-murders-mayor-keller-forced-to-defend-policies-makes-more-promises-asks-for-more-money/

On New Year’ s Eve, December 31, 2019, the City hit a new all-time record of 80 reported homicides, again with an embarrassing clearance rate. It was advocated to increase the Homicide Unit from 11 to at least 25 detectives, and still nothing was done by Medina.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/12/26/all-time-low-apd-clearance-rate-charging-and-jailing-an-innocent-child-for-murder-can-lead-homicide-unit-to-water-but-refused-to-be-trained/

FINAL COMMENTARY

It is as if Interim Chief Medina is attempting to act and sound intelligent so that Mayor Tim Keller will appoint him permanent APD Chief. What his comments did show painfully is he has learned very little over his 24 years of service with the Albuquerque Police Department and has absolutely no idea how to make programs work.

The comments and actions of Interim APD Chief Harold Medina in the recent reports are nothing short of embarrassing. At a minimum, the comments should disqualify Harold Medina him from being appointed permanent APD Chief. Notwithstanding, Medina is one of 3 finalists for APD Chief and City Hall insiders say it is more likely than not Medina will get the appointment.

Maybe Keller will dust off the press release he used when he appointed Geier chief 3 years ago and again say he conducted a national search and guess what, the most qualified person has always been right before our eyes.

On November 12, 2014, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed its action against the City of Albuquerque seeking to remedy a pattern or practice of excessive force and deadly force by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD).

In response to the litigation, the City and the DOJ agreed to a Court-Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA). The settlement requires the City to implement comprehensive reforms at APD. The reforms were negotiated to be fully implemented in 4 years and after 2 years of 95% compliance in 3 levels of compliance, the case was to be dismissed. It has now been over 6 years, 2 Mayors, 3 Chiefs, 3 United States Attorneys for New Mexico and APD still has failed to implement all the reforms.

The reforms are intended to address deficiencies in the areas of use of force, crisis intervention, deployment of specialized units, supervision, management, misconduct investigations, and data collection and analysis.

On February 4 and February 11, Channel 7 broadcast highly critical reports of the DOJ consent decree in its Target 7 reporting. Both reports singled out the Federal Monitor and the reform process under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) as the reason for the city’s high crime rates.

Based on information from informed sources, Channel 7 reporters were contacted and asked by the APD Police Union or police union supporters to report what is happening in other cities with consent decrees asserting that the consent decrees are responsible for increases in crime in the cities and police officers cannot do their jobs.

FEBRUARY 4, 2021 TARGET 7 REPORT

On February 4, 2021 Channel 7 did its first Target 7 investigation report. The link to the entire Target 7 February 4 report is here:

https://www.koat.com/article/2021-starting-out-as-violent-year-in-abq/35356633

The February 4 Target 7 report boldly proclaims that it “wanted to know why APD wasn’t making progress” with all the reforms after “paying the Federal Monitor $7.5 Million and expending another $20 Million on the reforms” allocated to APD to implement the reforms for training, staffing and equipment over six years. The February 4, Target 7 report and the police union blame the DOJ reforms and the Federal Monitor for the 6- year delay in implementing the reforms mandated by the settlement.

A detailed analysis of the February 4, Target 7 report outlining misinformation in the report can be found here:

“Target 7 Searches For Scandal On Federal Court Monitor & Finds Nothing; Fails To Report APD Management And Police Union Reason For Costly Delay; “News You Can’t Trust”:

https://www.petedinelli.com/2021/02/10/target-7-searches-for-scandal-on-federal-court-monitor-finds-nothing-reports-millions-spent-on-reforms-fails-to-report-apd-management-and-police-union-reason-for-costly-delay/

FEBRUARY 11, 2021 TARGET 7 INVESTIGATIVE REPORT

On February 11, 2021 Target 7 did a second report. The transcript of the entire report can be reviewed at the below link with the headline “Violent Crime has increased 53% since city signed DOJ settlement agreement”:

https://www.koat.com/article/violent-crime-has-increased-53-since-city-signed-doj-settlement-agreement/35484856

ANALYSIS OF TARGET 7 FEBRAURY 11 REPORT

The Target 7 February 11 report is riddled with misleading or false statements and failures to disclose relevant information. The February 11 report failed to identify that the APD Police Union has been and continues to be the biggest reason for the 6-year delay in implementing the reforms.

THE HEADLINE

The Headline “Violent Crime has increased 53% since city signed DOJ settlement agreement” is as misleading as it gets. The headline is true as to the crime rates but steps over the line of responsible journalism. It essentially says that the DOJ consent decree is the reason for the increase in violent crime which is false.

NATIONAL TREND IN VIOLENT CRIME

The February 11 Target 7 report states:

“For the past six years, a court-ordered agreement with the Department of Justice has forced the Albuquerque Police Department to make court-ordered changes to the way it does business.

“The city says that you can’t blame the increase in crime on the court-ordered changes. “There are a lot of factors behind that not the least of which is a severely understaffed department,” said City Attorney Steve Aguilar. “But, APD and this department have proven it can fight crime.” … “

The Target 7 report is accurate when it says “violent crime, murders, rapes, robberies and aggravated assaults have increased 53 percent, according to the latest FBI crime statistics.” However, the word “latest” is the operative word. What Target 7 left out is that it’s a national trend that violent crime has increased and the city’s increase in crime has nothing to do with the DOJ reforms.

On August 8, 2020 a syndicated news column reported:

” … Homicides and gun violence are on the rise. Murders have spiked in 36 of the 50 biggest American cities that were studied during a newly released Wall Street Journal analysis of crime stats. On average, the nation’s homicide rate is up 24% so far this year compared to the same period in 2019. But in certain cities the murder rate is much higher. In Chicago homicides are up 52%. In San Antonio it’s 34%. Phoenix has seen a 32% rise in murders, Philadelphia 31% and Houston 27%. Gang activity is most frequently blamed for the rise as gang members are also feeling the economic pinch of isolation and turf wars have ignited, playing out on near-empty street corners. This year’s recent huge jump in gun sales may have also played a part in the rising inner-city death toll.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1484278/the-good-and-very-bad-of-pandemicera-crime-rates.html

In yet another column, FBI statistics reveal that Albuquerque has the dubious distinction of having a crime rate about 194% higher than the national average. The FBI has never reported that Albuquerque’s high crime rates are attributed to the CASA reforms nor that APD officers can not do their jobs of fighting crime because of the reforms.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1491404/state-city-leaders-play-politics-with-public-safety.html

THE DOJ INVESTIGATION

The Target 7 Report states:

“In 2014, the DOJ sued APD after 20 people were shot and killed by Albuquerque police officers in a span of four years.”

The cursory statement totally downplays, to the point of being misleading, the seriousness of what was found by the DOJ. For that reason, a short summary of what the DOJ investigation found is in order.

On April 10, 2014, the DOJ Civil Rights Division, released a scathing 46-page investigation report on an 18-month civil rights investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). The DOJ reviewed all fatal shootings by officers between 2009 and 2012 and found that officers were not justified in using deadly force in the majority of those incidents.

The link to the entire investigation report is here:

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/04/10/apd_findings_4-10-14.pdf

According to a DOJ press release issued on April 10, 2014:

“The investigation examined whether APD engages in an unconstitutional pattern or practice of excessive force, including deadly force, as well as the cause of any pattern or practice of a violation of the law. The department found reasonable cause to believe that APD engages in a pattern or practice of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. The department specifically found three patterns of excessive force:

The department also found systemic deficiencies of the APD which contribute to these three patterns, including: deficient policies, failed accountability systems, inadequate training, inadequate supervision, ineffective systems of investigation and adjudication, the absence of a culture of community policing and a lack of sufficient civilian oversight.”

https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/justice-department-releases-investigative-findings-albuquerque-police-department

THE DOJ REFORMS

The Target 7 report states:

“The city reached a settlement and agreed to make about 300 policy changes to the department.”

The CASA actually mandates 271 major reforms. A link to the CASA is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/mental-health-response-advisory-committee/documents/court-approved-settlement-agreement-final.pdf

Among the 271 reforms agreed to by the City and APD are:

The city agreed to a complete re write of APD’s Use of Force and Deadly force Policies. 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 implement new use of force and deadly force policies are mandated. The CASA mandates the teaching of “constitutional policing” practices and methods as well as mandatory crisis intervention techniques and de-escalation tactics with all and especially the mentally ill. Stricter training and restrictions on the use of nonlethal force is required under the CASA, and it requires more training and controls over the use of Tasers by officers along with quarterly audits of their use.

The agreement mandates that APD adopt a new system to hold officers and supervisors accountable for all use of force incidents with personnel procedures implemented and outlining details how use of force cases would be investigated. It requires far more reporting by officers and field supervisors and also requires detailed reviews of those reports up the chain of command within the department. Sergeants and lieutenants are required to be much more involved in field supervision and review of use of force by officers.

The city agreed to the creation of a Police Oversight Board (POB) as a civilian review agency that independently reviews citizen complaints, serious uses of force and officer-involved shootings by APD. The civilian agency also monitors, reviews and make recommended changes to APD policy on use of force. The city agreed to the creation of Police Civilian Advisory Councils (CPCs), one in each of the 6 APD area commands, designed to increase community interaction. The City agreed to create a new “Use of Force Review Board” to oversee all internal affairs investigations of use of force and deadly force.

COMPARING APPLES TO ORANGES

The Target 7 report compares the increase in crime in Albuquerque to other cities with consent decrees:

“There could have been other factors for the increase. But police union leaders don’t think so.
…
The police union says that’s not the case and they suggest similar agreements are not working in other cities.
…
Target 7 pulled crime data from the FBI for seven other cities that have had similar agreements with the Department of Justice. When compared to the first three years before the agreement to the three years that followed, only two small cities — East Haven, Connecticut and Warren, Ohio had a decrease in violent crime. Both of those cities had a 17 percent reduction.

Seattle – 15%
New Orleans – 25%
Los Angles – 61%
Cleveland – 10%
Phoenix – 17%”

Target 7’s report is very misleading or false on 3 levels:

FIRST: The increases in violent crime in the 5 cities listed can be attributed to the national trend in violent crime that was previously discussed in this article. Target 7 and the police union make the assumption without any supporting and definitive data that the increases are because of consent decrees. FBI statistics reveal that Albuquerque has the dubious distinction of having a crime rate about 194% higher than the national average. The FBI has never made the link that the cities consent decree is the cause of the rise in crime or that the reforms are keeping police from doing their jobs.

(See above: NATIONAL TREND IN VIOLENT CRIME INCREASES).

SECOND: Most importantly, all consent decrees are each tailored to what happened with law enforcement in those cities. The consent decrees in the cities of Seattle, New Orleans, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Phoenix all dealt with racial profiling and to some extent “systemic racism” and the targeting of minorities and use of excessive force and deadly force on minority suspects. That is not what has happened in Albuquerque.

Albuquerque’s consent decree is totally and significantly different than the other consent decrees. In Albuquerque, APD’s use of force cases reviewed involved persons suffering from acute mental illness and who were in crisis. The DOJ investigation of APD did not deal with “racial profiling” nor systemic racism as it did in the 7 cities listed by Channel 7 in its report. The DOJ investigation found APD’s policies, training, and supervision were insufficient to ensure that officers encountering people with mental illness or in distress do so in a manner that respected their rights and in a manner that was safe for all involved.

THIRD: Pointing out that violent crime has increased in the cities that have consent decrees is nothing more than a red herring by the police union. It is a tried-and-true tactic used by police unions to interfere with the reform process of consent decrees. On June 6, 2020, the New York Times published a news article on line entitled “How Police Unions Became Such Powerful Opponents to Reform Efforts”. The New York Times article discusses that as demands for police reform have mounted across the country in the aftermath of police violence or shootings resulting in death, unions have emerged as significant roadblocks to police reforms and change. According to the NY Times article, the greater the political pressure for police reform, the more defiant police unions become in resisting police reforms. The unions are aggressively protecting the rights of members accused of misconduct. The article reports that unions can be so effective at defending their members that cops with a pattern of abuse can be left untouched, ostensibly undisciplined and they remain on the force. A link to a related Dinelli blog article is here:

“NY Times: “How Police Unions Became Such Powerful Opponents to Reform Efforts”; This Sounds WAAAY Too Familiar! Dismiss Police Union As Party To Federal Lawsuit”

https://www.petedinelli.com/2020/10/15/ny-times-how-police-unions-became-such-powerful-opponents-to-reform-efforts-this-sounds-waaay-to-familiar-dismiss-police-union-as-party-to-federal-lawsuit/

TARGET 7 REPORT ON APD STAFFING LEVELS

The February 11, Target 7 Report states in part:

“Since the agreement started, the number of officers has grown from 903 to 962, according to FBI and city payroll records.”

The Target 7 report is seriously inaccurate as to APD’s past staffing levels and it is not up to date as far as APD’s current staffing levels.

In December of 2009, APD had 1,100 sworn police. At the time, APD was the best trained, best equipped, best funded and had the highest staffing levels in its history. Eight years later in December, 2017, a full 3 years after the agreement started, APD was funded for 1,000 sworn officers but it had only 853 sworn police officers, a total loss of 247 sworn police since 2009.

On August 1, 2019, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) issued what it entitled “Staffing Snapshot” providing a report on the number of sworn police officers APD had at the time and where they have been assigned. According to the report, APD as of August 1, 2019 had a total of 972 sworn officers with 600 officers in the field patrolling 6 area commands and neighborhoods.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/apd-staffing-numbers-how-many-officers-are-in-your-neighborhood-/5449523/?cat=500

On January 9, 2021, APD payroll showed that APD staffing dropped from 972 sworn to 953 sworn officers with only 48 cadets in the academy. An APD spokesman said at the time there were 51 cadets that were expected to graduate in mid-March. The number of APD retirements will likely approach 30 to 40. APD will likely be short by at least 200 of the 1,200 promised by Mayor Tim Keller once retirements are factored in.

On Monday, February 8, 2021, during a meeting of the City Council’s Public Safety Committee, Interim Police Chief Harold Medina told the committee that APD has 957 officers, 20 less than it had it had two years ago. Medina further made the shocking disclosure that APD has only 371 police officers assigned to the field service bureau that respond to calls for service in the 6 area commands when in 2019 there were 600 sworn police officers responding to calls for service. Medina also told the city council committee that Field Services has 53 sergeants, 18 lieutenants, 6 area commanders, 21 bicycle officers and 32 crisis intervention officers, for a total of 511 officers. The problem is that the sergeants, the 6 area commanders, the bicycle officers and crisis intervention officers do not patrol the streets of Albuquerque taking calls for service.

https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/zero-growth-for-apd

THE PROMISED 1,200 SWORN POLICE

According to the Target 7 February 11 report:

“After completing a DOJ-mandated staffing study, the city has said it needs 1,200. It is more than 200 shy of that goal.”

This statement is false. It was candidate for Mayor Tim Keller who successfully argued and convinced city voters the city needs 1,200 officers.

The CASA originally required APD to conduct a staffing study to determine what level of sworn officers were required to carry out its functions. On December 11, 2015, the 62 page “Albuquerque Police Department Comprehensive Staffing Assessment and Resource Study” was released by the Alexander Weiss Consulting, LLC. The Alexander Weiss staffing report states:

“Based on our analysis the APD will be adequately staffed at the level of 1,000 sworn personnel.”

(See: Alexander Weiss Report, page 5)

The link to the Alexander Weiss staffing report is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/monthly-reports/comprehensive-staffing-assessment-and-resource-study.pdf

The Wiess staffing report found that an APD staffing level of 1,000 sworn police was sufficient to deal with the city’s calls for service provided that certain calls, such as auto wrecks and false alarms, were no longer responded to by APD.

APD ON BRINK OF A CATASTROPHIC FAILURE

Quoting the Target 7 February 11 Investigation report:

“According to a recent report issued by a court-appointed monitor, APD is not close to ending the agreement and the city is in the process of negotiating an extension with the monitor.”

This is a complete understatement of just how bad APD’s present status is on implementing the reforms.

On Friday, October 6, 2020, Federal Monitor Ginger told the Federal District Court Judge overseeing the DOJ reform effort:

“We are on the brink of a catastrophic failure at APD. … [The department] has failed miserably in its ability to police itself. … If this were simply a question of leadership, I would be less concerned. But it’s not. It’s a question of leadership. It’s a question of command. It’s a question of supervision. And it’s a question of performance on the street. So as a monitor with significant amount of experience – I’ve been doing this since the ’90s – I would have to be candid with the Court and say we’re in more trouble here right now today than I’ve ever seen.”

APD POLICE UNION IS THE COUNTER CASA EFFECT

It was on September 10, 2018, at a status telephone conference call held with the US District Court Judge that Federal Monitor Dr. James Ginger first told the federal court that a group of “high-ranking APD officers” within APD were trying to thwart the reform efforts.

The Federal Monitor revealed that the group of “high-ranking APD officers” were APD sergeants and lieutenants who are all allowed to be members of the police union under the union contract despite being management. The APD police union contract with the city violates state law by allowing management positions of lieutenants and sergeants to join the collective bargaining unit, yet the city has allowed it for many years. A link to a related blog article citing state law is here:

https://www.petedinelli.com/2020/12/15/apd-police-union-contract-violates-state-law-by-allowing-management-positions-of-lieutenants-and-sergeants-into-bargaining-unit-empower-apd-chief-to-immediately-terminate-cops-for-cause/

In his 10th report Federal Monitor Ginger referred to the group as the “Counter-CASA effect” and stated:

“Sergeants and lieutenants, at times, go to extreme lengths to excuse officer behaviors that clearly violate established and trained APD policy, using excuses, deflective verbiage, de minimis comments and unsupported assertions to avoid calling out subordinates’ failures to adhere to established policies and expected practice. Supervisors (sergeants) and mid-level managers (lieutenants) routinely ignore serious violations, fail to note minor infractions, and instead, consider a given case “complete”.

“Some members of APD continue to resist actively APD’s reform efforts, including using deliberate counter-CASA processes. For example … Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) disciplinary timelines, appear at times to be manipulated by supervisory, management and command levels at the area commands, letting known violations lie dormant until timelines for discipline cannot be met.”

In the 12th Monitors report, Ginger states:

During the reporting period we encountered system-wide failures related to the oversight of force used by APD officers and supervisory and command review of those uses of force. The monitoring team has been critical of the Force Review Board (FRB), citing its past ineffectiveness and its failing to provide meaningful oversight for APD’s use of force system. The consequences are that APD’s FRB, and by extension APD itself, endorses questionable, and sometimes unlawful, conduct by its officers.
…

Still evident are systemic failures that allow questionable uses of force and misconduct to survive without being addressed in any meaningful way”.

In his 12th Monitor’s Report, Dr. Ginger also finds:

1.“… [When] … Internal Affairs … allow union representatives … and … officers to respond to salient, and reasonable, fact-finding questions by simply reading a Garrity statement [invoking the right to remain silent] … into the record, as opposed to answering questions posed, there are serious and near terminal problems with process, policy enforcement, and outcome factors.”

2. APD Internal Affairs routinely permits officers and union representatives to hijack internal fact-finding.

3. “[There] are strong under currents of Counter-CASA effects in some critical units on APD’s critical path related to CASA compliance. These include supervision at the field level; mid-level command in both operational and administrative functions, [including] patrol operations, internal affairs practices, disciplinary practices, training, and force review). Supervision, [the] sergeants and lieutenants, and mid-level command, [the commanders] remain one of the most critical weak links in APD’s compliance efforts.”

4. Many of the instances of non-compliance seen in the field are a matter of “will not,” instead of “cannot”! The Monitor … report[s] … he see actions that transcend innocent errors and instead speak to issues of cultural norms yet to be addressed and changed by APD leadership.

5. Supervision, which includes Lieutenants and Sergeants in the union, “needs to leave behind its dark traits of myopia, passive resistance, and outright support for, and implementation of, counter-CASA processes.”

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The most troubling and likely reason for the Target 7 investigation reports was to give the APD Police Union and the union president an opportunity to “vent” their anger at the mandated reforms and the reform process. Informed sources have confirmed that it was the police union or its supporters who contacted Channel 7, provided the station with information and then asked Channel 7 to report it.

The obvious goal of the Channel 7 stories was to try to discredit the reform process in order to deflect the fact that the union and its membership have been identified by the Federal Monitor as the biggest impediment to the reform process.

In the February 11 Target 7 report Shaun Willoughby, President of the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association said in a self-righteous and angry tone:

“The whole [reform effort] system is set up to fail and the taxpayers and the people that live in this community like me and my family are the ones that are taking the brunt [of violent crime]. … Really look at this process. … It is absolutely out of control. … The entire department and the processes within it are out of control. Your officers are running out the door. Really look at every single state or agency that’s been involved in this process. … What is happening? Did it bring harmony and trust with the community? I don’t think so.”

These statements alone by Willouby evidence that it was Willouby or one of his supporters who contacted Channel 7 to do the smear reports of the DOJ reforms and the process.

NOT THE FIRST TIME, NOR THE LAST TIME

It was on January 28, 2021, KOAT TV asked APD Union President Shaun Willoughby to react to the number of homicides in January, 2021. Not at all surprising, Willoughby blasted the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree reforms for the city’s violent crime and murder rates and told Channel 7:

“This should be no surprise to anybody in this community. We had a staggering number of homicides last year we had record-breaking number of homicides the year before. … Violent crime increases at an alarming rate in this community. We have for the last six years and I’ll be the first to tell you it’s not getting better and anybody that says it is not telling you the truth. … the department has become more reactive to crime, than proactive. … We’re focused on the DOJ consent decree instead of fighting crime.”

https://www.koat.com/article/2021-starting-out-as-violent-year-in-abq/35356633

On February 15, the Albuquerque Journal reported that the city and the DOJ have agreed to hiring an outside team of investigators to assist APD internal affairs with police use of force investigations. A stipulated order has been negotiated between the city and the DOJ to hire a “Use of Force Investigation Team” and a hearing must be held by the court to approve it. The order says that the city should try to return full responsibility to the internal investigators within nine months but that the time could be extended if needed.

A link to the full Albuquerque Journal report is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2359745/city-doj-agree-on-outside-team-to-help-oversee-apd.html

The outside use of force team was also reported on by this blog on February 11:

“City Agrees To Hire “Outside” Use of Force Investigators To Review APD’s Use Of Force Cases; Where There Is A Will To Obstruct, APD And Union Will Find A Way”

https://www.petedinelli.com/2021/02/11/city-agrees-to-hire-25-outside-use-of-force-investigators-to-review-apds-use-of-force-cases-where-there-is-a-will-to-obstruct-apd-and-union-will-find-a-way/

The Stipulated Order provides:

“For each use of force investigation, EFIT shall evaluate the quality of IA force personnel’s investigations and immediately notify APD and APD’s legal counsel of any deficiencies or misconduct by IA force personnel related to their investigations. … APD shall promptly address these deficiencies or misconduct through corrective action or discipline, consistent with the (Court Approved Settlement Agreement), APD policy, and the (Collective Bargaining Agreement).”

The order says that the city will try to return full responsibility to the internal investigators within 9 months but that the time could be extended if needed. Part of the order mandates that APD increase its Internal Affairs Force Division from 14 to 25 investigators.

A link to the Motion and the Stipulated Order is here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1DO2UyAGKf5Srw50Y9DcYCmuX3WzESukC/view

In the Albuquerque Journal February 15 article, Shaun Willoughby, president of the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association, characterized the proposed “Use of Force Team” as a “Knee-jerk” reaction and said it was a reaction to the criticism by the Federal Monitor in his last report, which is the 12th report filed. According to Willoughby:

“I don’t think we need it. … Could we do better? Yes. Could we invest more? Yes. Is this a challenge? Yes, it is. We’re an understaffed police department, with a crime rate that is unprecedented in one of the most challenging processes in bureaucracies that this police industry has to offer. …”

Willouby added that Internal Affairs detectives are unhappy about the plan and some want to transfer back to the field. He said they feel like they’re being punished even though they were not given adequate training to do what they needed to do.

WHAT LIKELY IRKS THE POLICE UNION

The police union leadership have said in the past and in open court that the mandated reforms under the consent decree are interfering with rank-and-file officer’s ability to perform their job duties. According to Willoughby, police officers are afraid to do their jobs for fear of being investigated, fired or disciplined. The police union has never articulated in open court and in clear terms exactly what it is about the reforms that are keeping rank and file from “doing their” jobs.

It’s likely what the police union feels is interfering with its membership from doing their jobs includes one or more of the following:

1. The mandatory use of lapel cameras by APD.
2. APD police can no longer shoot at fleeing cars.
3. APD police can no longer use choke holds to subdue suspects.
4. APD police need to use less lethal force and not rely on the SWAT unit.
5. APD police must use de-escalating tactics.
6. All APD officers must be trained in crisis intervention.
7. APD management must now hold all subordinate police officers accountable for all levels of violations of standard operating procedures.
8. The mandatory “paper work” associated with any degree of use of force is too cumbersome.
9. APD Police officers are required to intervene when they witness and are concerned about other officers use of force.
10. Mandatory notification to superiors for investigation by police officers who witness another officer’s “excessive use of force” or violations of CASA reforms.
11. Management must hold police accountable for violation of standard operating procedures.

The police union and critics of the Federal Monitor have said that the monitor is “nitpicking” when the monitor points out specific incidents of APD management’s failure to enforce standard operating procedure. The policies are APD’s policies, not the monitors. Answering the charge of “nitpicking”, why bother having the policies if officers are not going to follow them and management refuses to enforce them.

The consent decree was negotiated to be fully implemented during a 4-year period and then after two years of compliance dismissed. Over 6 years have now elapse and APD is still struggling to implement the all 271 mandated reforms agreed to by the City and APD in 2014. What the union has been doing for the last 6 years is disrupting the reform process. Instead of fighting the consent decree, the police union should have embraced the reforms and help implement them. Only then will APD be able to fight crime.

POLICE UNION PRESS CONTACTS UNDERMINE CASA REFORMS

After the DOJ initiated the federal lawsuit against APD and the City, the APOA Police Union intervened almost immediately to become a party to the federal lawsuit in order to advocate for union interests in city policy. The City, instead of opposing the intervention to the lawsuit agreed to it and the Federal Court went along with it. Allowing the union to intervene and become a party to the lawsuit was a major tactical mistake by the city, but it is now a tactical mistake for the union to continually contact the press and complain.

By becoming a party to the federal lawsuit, the union is subject to the jurisdiction of the federal court as is anyone who appears to represent the union or participates with the court proceedings. The union leadership always appears at court hearings and has been at the negotiating table. For a full year, the union representative was involved with the drafting new “use of force” and “deadly use of force” policy.

Once a party becomes part of litigation, a party’s first amendment rights are curtailed to an extent and any conduct to obstruct or interfere with court proceedings is strictly prohibited. It’s referred to as “litigating your case in the press” to influence a court or jury with public opinion pressure. In lieu of first amendment rights, a party to a lawsuit has the ability to make objections known to the courts through motions filed with the court outlining their concerns and arguing in open court before the judge.

Federal courts do have the authority to issue “gag orders” to the parties as well as initiate contempt of court proceeding for direct or indirect violations of court orders. The Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) is a court order. The union contributed to the one-year delay in writing the policies objecting to many provisions of the policies. If the police union has any real objections, criticisms or concerns about the reforms, it should instruct its attorney to file a motion before the court and scheduled a hearing to take testimony and evidence. The attempt by the union to litigate the CASA in the press by contacting the press is totally inappropriate and is likely unethical conduct.

The union and its attorneys would be wise to curtail the obvious union attempts to disparage or undermine in the press or obstruct the implementation of the DOJ reforms in the press, otherwise they risk the real possibility of the Federal Court, the DOJ or the City seeking contempt of court action or ask for a “gag order”.

Given the union’s past actions, it’s not likely they will ever listen to reason, especially when you have a union president who is attracted to TV camera lights like a moth to a light bulb on a hot summer night.