On June 4, Mayor Tim Keller, Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair, Albuquerque Police Department (APD) command staff, the City’s Attorney office and Ed Harness, the Director of the Civilian Police Oversight Agency in a one hour press conference, touted progress made by APD in implementing the reforms mandated by the federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) with the Department of Justice (DOJ). The reforms deal with excessive use of force and deadly force by APD.

The press conference was held in part in response to the protests over the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis police officer using excessive force resulting death. Protests that are also occurring in Albuquerque. Keller showcased how APD is measuring up to a national effort known as the “#8 Can’t Waite” program targeting 8 specific policy changes, or metrics, that reform advocates say can help reduce police violence by 77%. According to Keller and Nair, APD has already achieved 6 of the “#Eight Can’t Wait” policy changes. What they did not disclose was that the same “counter CASA effect” that is impeding DOJ reforms is also impeding all “#Eight Can’t Wait” metrics.

The link to the one-hour press conference is here:

https://www.facebook.com/MayorKeller/videos/748290332645391

This blog article is a deep dive analysis of the “#8 Can’t Wait” metrics, their application to APD, and how the metrics are embodied or reflected in the DOJ mandated reforms. The article also identifies “the counter casa effect” as the biggest impediment to fully implementing the DOJ reforms and the “#8 Can’t Wait” Metrics .

KELLER AND APD TOUT PROGRESS IN TACKLING EXCESSIVE FORCE AND DEADLY FORCE POLICE POLICY

During the press conference, Mayor Keller said the city is meeting 6 of the 8 metrics that “#8 Can’t Wait” is being advocated to be adopted by all police departments in the country. It was on November 27 , 2014, that the city entered into a federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) mandating 278 reforms. For almost 6 years, APD has been implementing the CASA reforms.

Of the eight policy changes “8 Can’t Wait” is highlighting, APD received a passing grade for the following 6 areas:

1. Having policies banning choke holds and strangleholds;
2. Requiring de-escalation tactics by police;
3. Requiring that officers warn individuals before shooting;
4. Implementing a “duty to intervene” by police on police;
5. Requiring the use of force continuum limiting types of force and/or weapons that can be used to respond to specific types of resistance;
6. Implementing a policy requiring comprehensive reporting of use of force by police officers.

According to the “8 Can’t Wait” effort, APD has not met the metrics in two areas:

1. Banning all shootings at moving vehicles;
2. Require police to exhaust of “all alternatives before shooting.”

APD command staff said that the department has re-written its operating procedures surrounding the “shooting at moving vehicles” and “exhausting all alternatives before shooting.” Both of the shooting policies are under review for possible changes by APD’s policy review board. APD’s policy changes on the use of force and deadly force have been re written and have evolved over the last five years under the watchful eye of the federal Court Appointed Monitor James Ginger and his monitoring team.

Notwithstanding the passage of almost 6 years, APD continues to struggled with the implementation of all the mandated reforms and is still under a federal court ordered consent decree. Federal Court appointed Independent Monitor James Ginger in his 11th “Independent Monitor Reports” noted APD’s struggle to implement and maintain policy changes and he laid blame by stating that APD personnel

“were still failing to adhere to the requirements of the CASA found in past monitoring reports, including some instances moving beyond the epicenter of supervision to mid- and upper management levels of the organization. … Some in APD’s command levels continue to exhibit behaviors that “build bulwarks” [walls] preventing fair and objective discipline, including a process of attempting to delay and in some cases successfully delaying the oversight processes until the timelines for administering discipline had been exceeded. [The] delays prevented an effective remedial response to behavior that is clearly in violation of established policy.”
…

… Since the beginning of the CASA compliance process that there were a few at APD who were overtly resistant to the CASA. [The Monitor] in the past [has] found evidence of a “counter-CASA effect” among some at the supervisory, mid-management, and command levels at APD. Those who knowingly or subconsciously count themselves in this group are beginning to face pressure to change their assessment of the value of the CASA. In some cases [they] have faced reasonably prompt and appropriate corrective efforts from the current executive levels of the APD for behavior that is not congruent with the CASA. … This as an essential way forward if APD is to move into full compliance [with all the CASA mandated reforms]. The remaining issue is that this pressure is neither uniform nor persistent.”

See pages 4 and 303 of 11th Federal Monitors Report with the link to the entire report here:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/file/1274006/download

COUNTER CASA EFFECT IDENTIFIED AS APD SARGEANTS AND LUITENANTS

It was in the Federal Monitors 10th audit report that the “Counter CASA” effect was fully explained. According to the Federal Monitor’s 10th report:

“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:

• Sergeants assessed during this reporting period were “0 for 5” in some routine aspects of CASA-required field inspections;
• 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;”

EVOLUTION OF BLACK LIVES MATTER AND “#EIGHT CAN’T WAITE” METRICS

On August 9, 2014, Michael Brown Jr., an 18-year-old black man, was fatally shot by 28-year-old white Ferguson police officer Darren Wilson in the city of Ferguson, Missouri. A grand jury refused to indict Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department decided not to file civil rights charges. Wilson later resigned.

The killing of Brown by police led to months, and sometimes violent protests. The Ferguson protests became the catalyst for the “Black Lives Matter” movement. The Black Lives Matter created “Campaign Zero”, which is a police reform campaign and which developed the “#8 Can’t Waite” program. “#8 Can’t Waite” is intended to provide swift and identified steps to respond to protests against police brutality without having to increase funding. The “#8 Can’t Waite” includes the banning choke-holds by police, changing reporting systems for use of force incidents by police, and requiring officers to intervene when they witness misconduct by another police officer.

All Police departments have standard operating procedures (SOP’s) on the use of force and deadly force and train their officers on those SOPs. Police Officers who follow the SOPs and training will not be subject to disciplinary action if the officer seriously injures a suspect or a bystander. An officer who violates the guidelines is faced with severe personnel disciplinary action, including suspension or termination.

Extensive media attention and public outrage usually accompanies the most egregious incidents of police where a civilian ends up dead or the police misconduct is so disturbing and obvious as to result in criminal charges against police officers. The best example of this in Albuquerque was the March 14, 2014 killing by APD SWAT Officers of mentally ill, homeless camper James Boyd in the Sandia Foothills.

The entire assault and killing of Boyd were captured on police lapel camera video that was the most critical evidence in the criminal trial of two APD SWAT police officers charged with murder. The jury trial resulted in a dead lock jury and the charges were dismissed by Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez. A civil law suit for wrongful death filed against the City by the Boyd family was settled for $5 million.

“#8 CAN’T WAITE” METRICS IN A NUTSHELL

The essence of “#Eight Can’t Waite” is 8 procedural rules, or metrics, that Campaign Zero claims decrease police violence by 72% . The 8 metrics are:

1. BAN CHOKE-HOLDS AND STRANGLEHOLDS BY POLICE TO SUBDUE SUSPECTS:

The best example as to why police should be banned from the use of choke-holds to subdue a suspect is the July 17, 2014, murder of African American Eric Garner, 43. Garner died after a white officer placed him in a choke-hold during an arrest for selling loose cigarettes. Garner repeated the words “I can’t breathe” 11 times while he was held in a choke hold. A grand jury declined to indict the police officer, or any others involved in the arrest. The city agreed to pay a $6 million civil settlement.

A chock hold is more of a self-defense tactic to get the upper hand in a fight more than it is a way to subdue someone. When police place a person in a choke hold or a stranglehold, its likely a suspect will suffer serious bodily injury, including brain injury caused by the reduced flow of blood to the brain, spinal cord or neck injury or even death. Police officers should not use choke holds as a means to subdue a suspect and they can be trained in other modes of restraint that will reduce serious bodily injury or deaths. For at least 30 years, most municipal police departments prohibit the use of choke holds.

2. REQUIRE THE USE OF DE-ESCALATION TACTICS BY POLICE

The use of de-escalation tactics by police mandates that police officers use their best efforts to secure their personal safety through distance and communication before resorting to force. This does not necessarily mandate the communication be an attempt to merely reason with a suspect that cannot be reasoned with but it does require the officer to use common sense in the approach to “communicate in an effort to de-escalate.”

3. REQUIRE WARNING BY POLICE BEFORE THEY SHOOT AT SOMEONE

Under United States Supreme Court rulings, there is no requirement that police give warnings before they shoot at a suspect. Many in law enforcement argue that such warnings give a suspect time to react and shoot and kill first.

In the 1980s, the United Stated Supreme Court issued the two landmark decisions of Tennessee v. Garner (link: https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-supreme-court/471/1.html ) and Graham v. Connor (link: https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/490/386/ ) that established the framework for determining when deadly force by police officers is reasonable and can be used. Under the Supreme Court rulings, police officers are allowed to shoot under two circumstances:

A. To protect their life or the life of another innocent party. This is commonly referred to as the “defense-of-life” standard. Police are trained that when they draw their gun to discharge in self-defense, it is not to maim someone, but to kill. A common term used for the training is “one to the head, two to the body” meaning shoot for the head with the first shot followed by two shots to the chest of the suspect.

B. The second circumstance is to prevent a suspect from escaping. However, in order to discharge their weapon, the police officer must have probable cause to think the suspect poses a dangerous threat to others.

4. EXHAUST ALL OTHER MEANS BEFORE SHOOTING

What this refers to is that officers must evaluate the use of other reasonably available resources and techniques when determining whether to use deadly force. Deadly force is only to used when there is an imminent threat of death or serious injury to the officer or another person. Alternatives to use of deadly force would include the use of electric stun guns, rubber bullets, flash bang shells, tear gas, “police batons” or police canine to secure a resisting suspect.

https://reason.com/2017/04/06/when-cops-encounter-knives-what-should-t/

5. DUTY OF POLICE OFFERS TO INTERVENE

The “duty to intervene” rule mandates that “by standing or assisting” officers must step in if they observe a fellow officer using excessive force that they believe is not appropriate under the circumstance and formally requires the police officer to report such incidents to supervisors. Many police officers view this as “breaking the blue code of silence”, second guessing, or not backing up the actions of a fellow police officer. The derogatory term used by those opposed to such a policy is that it requires police officers to become “snitches” against a fellow officer and falls into the dangerous philosophy of “your either with me or against me” to avoid any and all accountability for police misconduct.

6. BAN SHOOTING AT MOVING VEHICLES

Shooting at moving vehicles can be dangerous to the public. A moving target means that a shot or shots may not hit the intended target. Stray shots that miss a target can kill or injure an innocent bystander or even a fellow police officer. Further, if a fleeing suspect is in fact hit, injured or killed, the vehicle being driven goes out of control and becomes an immediate danger to the public until it crashes or comes to a full stop. Most police departments restrict shooting at moving vehicles and allow it only for self defense when a vehicle is being driven toward an officer and a suspect is not fleeing the officer. The “8 Can’t Wait” calls for the banning of shootings at vehicles altogether.

7. REQUIRE THE “USE OF FORCE CONTINUUM”

The use of force continuum is a specific set of requirements governing what kinds of weapons can be used versus what levels of resistance. The “use of force continuum” describes the escalating series of actions a police officer may take to resolve a situation. The continuum has many levels, and officers are instructed to respond with a level of force appropriate to the situation at hand. The “use of force continuum” allows the officer to move from one part of the continuum to another in a matter of seconds requiring split second decisions that can be reactionary.

https://nij.ojp.gov/topics/articles/use-force-continuum

8. REQUIRE COMPREHENSIVE REPORTING

Under the “#8 Can’t Wait” police procedural rules the comprehensive reporting requirement means that police officers need to report each time they use force or threaten to use force against a civilian. Such reporting in turn requires an officer’s immediate supervisor, such as a Sergeant or a Lieutenant, to review the report and determine if the “use of force” was in fact justified.

A link for more on #8Can’t Waite is here:

https://www.vox.com/2020/6/5/21280402/8-cant-wait-explained-policing-reforms

APD’S CONSENT DECREE RELATES TO TREATMENT OF MENTALLY ILL

On April 10, 2014, the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), issued its report of the 18-month civil rights investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). The DOJ reviewed excessive use of force and deadly force cases and found that APD engaged in a “pattern and practice” of unconstitutional “use of force” and “deadly force” and found a “culture of aggression” within APD.

On November 27, 2014, the City and the Department of Justice entered into the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA). APD is one of 18 municipalities in the United States under a Federal Court consent decree for excessive use of force and deadly force. The link to the CASA is here:

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

What differentiates the DOJ’s investigation of APD from all 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. The deadly encounters have resulted in multi million dollar civil settlements, usually around $5 million. The DOJ’s 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.

The City of Albuquerque entered into its Federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) which mandates sweeping changes and reforms to APD. Over the last 5 years of implementing the mandated DOJ reforms, APD has made significant progress in implementing the reforms under the watchful eye of a Federal Court approved monitor. The reforms apply as much to the treatment of minorities as to the treatment of the mentally ill.

CASA REFORMS IMPLEMENTED

On November 14, 2020, it will be 6 full years that have expired since the city entered into the CASA with the DOJ. Based on a review of the Federal Monitor’s reports and news reports, the City and APD have completed the following 15 mandated reforms under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement:

1.After a full year of negotiations, new “use of force” and “use of deadly force” policies have been written, implemented and all APD sworn have received training on the policies.

2. All sworn police officers have received crisis management intervention training.

3. APD has created a “Use of Force Review Board” that oversees all internal affairs investigations of use of force and deadly force.

4. The Internal Affairs Unit has been divided into two sections, one dealing with general complaints and the other dealing with use of force incidents.

5. Sweeping changes ranging from APD’s SWAT team protocols, to banning choke-holds, to auditing the use of every Taser carried by officers and re-writing and implementation of new use of force and deadly force policies have been completed.

6. “Constitutional policing” practices and methods, and mandatory crisis intervention techniques and de-escalation tactics with the mentally ill have been implemented at the APD police academy with all sworn police having received training.

7. APD has adopted a new system to hold officers and supervisors accountable for all use of force incidents with personnel procedures implemented detailing how use of force cases are investigated.

8. APD has revised and updated its policies on the mandatory use of lapel cameras by all sworn police officers.

9. The Repeat Offenders Project, known as ROP, has been abolished.

10. Civilian Police Oversight Agency has been created, funded, fully staffed and a director hired.

11. The Community Policing Counsels (CPCs) have been created in all area commands and the CPCs meet monthly.

12. The Mental Health Advisory Committee has been implemented.

13. The CASA identified that APD was understaffed. The City and APD are spending $88 million dollars, over a four-year period, with 32 million dollars of recurring expenditures, to hire 322 sworn officers and grow the department to 1,200 officers. As of January 1, 2020, APD has 949 full time police officers, up from 878 sworn police. The expansion thus far is attributed primarily to hiring from other departments and returning to work APD retirees.

14. Under the terms and conditions of the CASA, once APD achieves a 95% compliance rate in 3 compliance areas, and maintains compliance for 2 years, the case can be dismissed. For the purposes of the APD monitoring process, “compliance” consists of three levels: primary, secondary, and operational compliance levels. In the 11th audit report that covered the time period of August 1, 2019 and ended in January 31, 2020, the federal monitor found APD was 100% in primary compliance, no change from 10th report, a 93% in secondary compliance, a change of 14.8% from the 10th report, and 66% in operational compliance, a change of 3%.

Primary Compliance relates mostly to development and implementation of acceptable policies and conforming to national practices. APD is now in 93% Secondary Compliance as of the 11th reporting period, which means that effective follow-up mechanisms are beginning to be taken to ensure that APD personnel understand the requirements of promulgated policies in the areas of training, supervising, coaching, and disciplinary processes to ensure APD personnel understand the policies as promulgated and are capable of implementing them in the field. APD is in 66% Operational Compliance with the requirements of the CASA, which means that 66% of the time, field personnel either perform tasks as required by the CASA, or that, when they fail, supervisory personnel note and correct in-field behavior that is not compliant with the requirements of the CASA.

15. According to the Use of Force Report for the years 2017 and 2018, APD’s “use of force” and “deadly force” is down dramatically , which was one of the primary objectives of the CASA reforms. For related article on use of force reports see:

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/03/27/apd-use-of-force-report-fails-to-report-on-crisis-intervention-incidents-involving-mentally-ill/

SPECIFIC AREAS WHERE MAJOR COMPLIANCE HAS BEEN IDENTIFIED

There are specific areas where major progress has been made by APD implementing the reforms and that actually dove-tail into one or more of the “#Eight Can’t Waite” metrics. Many of these areas were identified during the June 4 press conference. Those areas merit discussion:

1. MULTI-AGENCY TASK FORCE COMPLIANCE

The CASA requires APD to participate in a Multi-Agency Task Force (MATF) under a “memorandum of understanding” (MOU) with other law enforcement agencies to investigate APD officer involved shootings, serious use of force incidents and in custody deaths, and to provide final reports to prosecuting agencies with jurisdiction over any allege criminal conduct by police officers. New use of force “standard operating procedures” have become operative in early 2020. APD Internal Affairs Force Division (IAFD) is assuming responsibility for investigation Level 3 uses of force. The Monitor found operational compliance by APD with the MATF and MOU.

2. MENTAL HEALTH RESPONSE ADVISORY COMMITTEE (MHRAC)

The CASA requires the City and APD to establish a Mental Health Response Advisory Committee (MHRA) comprising of certain members and representatives from various entities or stakeholders including the UNM Psychiatric Department and providers to the homeless and to those who experience mental health crisis. In the 9th Independent Monitors Report (IMR), the Monitor found that the MHRAC continued to be one of the biggest success stories of APD’s community outreach under the CASA. The 10th IMR found operational compliance in this area.

3. BEHAVIORAL HEALTH TRAINING

Under the CASA, the city and APD agreed to ensure that all APD Academy cadets, field officers and 911 emergency operators received behavioral health and crisis intervention training, including initial training of 40 hours and biannual update training. All such training has been completed. The 9th Independent Monitors report found that APD has continued to appropriately and effectively utilize training curricula that addresses field assessment, identification, suicide intervention, crisis de-escalation, community mental health participation and scenario-based exercise and role-playing exercises. The 10th Monitor’s Report found operational compliance with the behavioral health training mandates of the CASA.

There are 3 major programs that have been implemented to deal with the Albuquerque Police Department’s (APD) interactions with the mentally ill and substance abuse defendants. All 3 programs involve the training of police officers. All 3 programs have the potential to reduce or have reduced the use of excessive force and deadly force by APD.

The 3 APD programs are:

A. Project CIT-ECHO

CIT stands for Crisis Intervention Training and ECHO stands for Extension for Community Healthcare Options. In 2014, the CIT-ECHO project was launched by the city with a grant from the Department of Justice (DOJ) Bureau of Justice Assistance to raise awareness of how law enforcement should deal effectively with those struggling with mental health issues. The CIT-ECHO Program consists of weekly video conference workshops with APD and CIT officials.

B. The EPIC Program

The acronym “EPIC” stands for “Ethical Policing Is Courageous.” The EPIC program aims to stem police officer misconduct and use of force and deadly force by police officers. The program uses “hands-on scenarios” and role-playing enactments and demonstrations to teach police officers on how to defuse calls for service that start escalating and that could easily result in the use of excessive force or deadly force.

EPIC focuses on proactively preventing uses of force, rather than just punishing officers when damage is already done, including the killing of a suspect. The primary purpose of the EPIC program is to provide police officers with effective and proper training to learn just how and when to intervene when they themselves see other police officer misconduct. The EPIC program is designed to show police officers how to recognize problematic behavior in fellow officers that may trigger a fellow officer to engage in misconduct.

C. The “LEAD” Program

LEAD stands for “law enforcement assisted diversion” program. The LEAD Program allows APD officers to determine whether the person they’ve arrested needs to go to jail or would better benefit from a trip to a detox facility or a meeting with a case manager who can help them plug into services such as Medicaid, housing vouchers and substance abuse treatment. APD officers are given full discretion to decide to arrest people on low level charges or to rely on the LEAD diversion program. The main goal of the LEAD program is to send people to services before charges are ever filed which is unlike other court diversion efforts such as the Drug Court.

4. FIELD TRAINING OFFICER PROGRAM

The CASA requires APD to provide academy graduates with 16 weeks of field training following the academy. The Casa also states requirements for the training of field training officers and the training provided to cadets. The 9th and the 10th Independent Monitors Reports found 100% compliance with requiring cadets to complete 16 weeks of field officer training ensuring that the recruits are trained in multiple area commands, on different shifts and establishing a mechanism for confidential feedback.

5. STAFFING STUDY

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 10th Independent Monitor’s Report found that the staffing study analysis has become less relevant because of the sure passage of time. You can review the 2015 staffing report at this link:

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

6. RECRUITMENT AND SELECTION

Under the CASA, APD is required to develop a comprehensive recruitment and hiring program and a strategic recruitment plan that clearly identified goals of recruitment efforts. The recruitment plan must include specific strategies for attracting a diverse group of applicants. In response to the CASA mandates, APD is undertaking an aggressive expansion of APD and to recruit 100 police officers a year for 4 years with the goal of having 1,200 sworn police. The Keller Administration is spending $88 million dollars over a 4 year period along with $33 million in none recurring expenditures to grow the department and to implement the DOJ reforms. There are currently 61 sworn police assigned to compliance for the CASA.

The CASA has mandates relating to the recruitment of new cadets and lateral hires from other law enforcement departments. According to the CASA, APD’s hiring and selection process must be based on objective minimum standards that comport with best practices and applicable anti-discrimination laws. Under the CASA, all APD recruits must undergo psychological, medical, polygraph, and drug testing and be subject to background investigations dealing with credit history, employment history, prior use of lethal force and less lethal force and force training and complaint history. An annual recruitment report is also mandated under the CASA. Independent Monitor Reports 9 and 10 found that APD has been in operational compliance with the recruitment and selection requirements of the CASA.

7. PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS AND PROMOTIONAL POLICIES

The CASA has requirements for APD’s performance evaluation and promotional policies. The requirements are that:

“APD shall develop a fair and consistent performance evaluation system that reviews particular areas relating to constitutional policing, community policing and more.”

The performance evaluation system under the CASA must be formal and supervisors must be held accountable for failing to timely complete performance evaluations. Supervisors are required to meet with reporting officers, discuss the evaluations and develop work plans. Independent Monitor Reports 9 and 10 found that APD has been in operational compliance for the past two years with the performance evaluations and promotional policies of the CASA.

ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

Both Mayor Tim Keller and CAO Sarita Nair mislead when they tout APD’s success with the DOJ reforms but then failed to disclose that the “Counter CASA Effect” is interfering with implementing the DOJ reforms. By extension, the Counter Casa Effect is also interfering either directly or indirectly all the “#Eight Can’t Waite” metrics.

In his 10th and 11th reports, the Federal Court appointed monitor made it clear that there are many within APD that are overtly resistant to reforms. The Monitor has found evidence of a “counter-CASA effect” among some at the supervisory, mid-management, and command levels at APD. Notwithstanding, both Mayor Keller and CAO Nair have refused to take aggressive action and remove those in the chain of command that are resistant to police reforms.

The following portion of Federal Monitors 10th report merits emphasis by repeating:

“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:
• Sergeants assessed during this reporting period were “0 for 5” in some routine aspects of CASA-required field inspections;
• 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;”

APD sergeants and lieutenants, even though they are part of management with supervisory authority over sworn police officers, are not “at will” employees and they are allowed to join the police union. Including sergeants and lieutenants in the union bargaining unit creates a clear conflict within management and sends mixed messages to rank and file sworn police officers.

APD police sergeants and lieutenants are on the front line to enforce personnel rules and regulations, standard operating procedures, approve and review work performed and assist in implementing DOJ reforms and standard operating procedures policies. They are where the “rubber meets the road” when it comes to police reforms. The point that has been repeatedly made by the Federal Monitor is that “until the sergeants are in harness and pulling in the same direction as the chief, things won’t get done as quickly”. In other words, without the 100% support of the sergeants and lieutenants to the CASA mandated reforms, there will be little or no progress made with police reforms.

Mayor Keller and CAO Sarita Nair should have demanded from the very beginning of the Keller Administration that the management positions of APD sergeant and lieutenant be removed from the APOA Union bargaining unit. It is more than likely they did not and will not because the police union became extremely active in Keller’s campaign for Mayor in 2017 and endorsed him. The police union will likely do the exact same thing next year as Keller seeks a second term.

Sergeants and lieutenants need to be made at will employees and removed from the police union bargaining unit in order to get a real buy in to management’s goals of police reform and the CASA. APD Police sergeants and lieutenants cannot serve two masters of Administration Management and Union priorities that are in conflict when it comes to the CASA reforms and the #8 Cant’s Waite metrics . Until sergeants and lieutenants are removed from the union and made at will employees, do not expect the CASA reforms or the #8 Can’t Waite” metrics to be accomplished any time soon.

Mayor Tim Keller is now at a crossroad. The very lucrative two year Police Union Contract that provided for substantial raises and longevity pay increases will soon expire. Mayor Keller can order his administration to seek removal of sergeants and lieutenants from the bargaining unit and refuse to sign another contract with the police union until that is done, or just slam the door on any such discussion and continue to give the Police Union any and all it wants as far as concessions. Mayor Keller should begin the discussions by making it clear he will not seek, nor does he want, the APOA Union endorsement at least until the Court Approved Settlement Agreement reforms are 100% implemented and the case is dismissed, and all causes of action, with prejudice.

________________________________

POSTSCRIPT

Below are links to previous blog articles on the CASA and the Federal Monitors Audit Reports:

https://www.petedinelli.com/2020/06/01/rage-across-america-over-george-floyd-murder-including-albuquerque-apds-response-reflect-doj-reforms-are-working-what-are-we-failing-to-hear/

https://www.petedinelli.com/2020/05/06/federal-monitor-files-11th-compliance-audit-report-of-apd-reforms-counter-casa-effect-still-problematic-order-100-operational-compliance-within-6-months-or-replace-chief-or-deput/

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/11/07/10th-federal-monitors-compliance-report-counter-casa-affect-alive-and-well-within-apd-remove-to-dismiss-union-from-case-remove-sergeants-and-lieutenants-from-police-unio/

https://www.petedinelli.com/2020/01/13/city-moves-to-be-released-from-portions-doj-consent-decree-and-monitoring-commentary-intent-and-purpose-of-decree-accomplished-dismiss-case/

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/08/23/apoa-police-union-is-counter-casa-affect-within-apd-remove-sergeants-and-lieutenants-from-union-kudos-to-apd-chief-michael-geier-on-reforms/

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/08/19/convoluted-federal-monitors-third-outcomes-measures-and-analysis-report-red-flag-for-another-4-million-contract-trump-doj-has-all-but-ended-federal-police-reform-dismiss-abq/

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/05/08/ninth-apd-federal-monitors-report-filed-negotiate-dismissal-of-casa/

On June 4, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham, with protests over race-related issues intensifying around New Mexico and the nation, said it’s time to address the “ugly truth” of racism embedded in core institutions. During a press conference announcing a Council for Racial Justice Lujan Grisham said:

“We have a tendency to wrap ourselves in that particular cloak and pretend sometimes that we don’t have the kind of inequalities, institutional racism and hatred that exists. We have institutional racism embedded in every construct in American society. The fact you might not see it every day means you’re not looking for it every day. It exists.”

The Governor announced at a news conference with African American community leaders that she wants to identify policy changes to deal with racism and will create a Council for Racial Justice and appoint a racial justice czar within the Governor’s office. The council has yet to be appointed, but it will include former state Treasurer James Lewis and House Majority Leader Sheryl Williams Stapleton, D-Albuquerque. Other members will include state Cabinet secretaries, law enforcement officials and leaders from the state’s African American, Native American, Hispanic and Asian American communities.

Lujan Grisham said all New Mexico leaders, including herself, must start by listening more and talking less. During the press conference, Alexandria Taylor of the New Mexico Coalition of Sexual Assault Programs said black New Mexicans were hurting after the high-profile deaths of several African Americans in recent months and said:

“It is time for us to come together, not be further divided.”

Donna Maria Davis, the pastor of the Grant Chapel A.M.E. Church in Albuquerque, said the commitment to addressing structural inequalities has to be sustained in order for it to make a difference and said:

“We can’t afford to be not racist. … We have to be anti-racist. [younger New Mexicans should be included on the council]. They deserve a life that’s worth living and not a life that’s full of fear.”

Below are links to related news coverage on the Council for Racial Justice:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1463093/gov-lujan-grisham-to-hold-news-briefing-on-racism-systemic-injustice.html

https://www.koat.com/article/gov-lujan-grisham-to-address-racism-and-systemic-injustice-in-nm/32771815

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/gov-lujan-grisham-forms-council-to-shed-light-on-racial-problems/5751291/?utm_campaign=thumbnails&utm_source=zetaglobal&utm_medium=onsite

ROLE OF LAW ENFORCEMENT

The Governor’s reaction and creation of the Council for Racial Justice is no doubt in reaction in part to the protests and demonstrations around the United States and in New Mexico that have been ignited with the killing of 46-year-old George Floyd. The governor suggested expanded conflict de-escalation training for New Mexico law enforcement recruits and an overhaul of probation and parole rules could be among the changes pursued in the coming months.

The Governor acknowledged that expanded conflict de-escalation training for law enforcement is not the only thing that must be addressed. Racial profiling is also problematic. New Mexico has a 2009 bias-based profiling law that bans law enforcement from investigating someone based on their race, ethnicity, gender or sexual orientation. The state law requires that law enforcement agencies develop policies and training protocols dealing with racial profiling.

Notwithstanding the state law a few New Mexico cities have faced allegations of racial police practices. The Hobbs Police Department has faced claims from several former officers alleging police officials targeted enforcement efforts at black and Hispanic communities in the city. In addition, New Mexico has placed either first or second in the nation for its rate of deadly shootings by law enforcement officers in recent years.

The governor also alluded to Albuquerque’s history with police use-of-force issues that led to a 2014 settlement agreement after the U.S. Department of Justice found the Albuquerque Police Department had a pattern of violating people’s rights through the use of excessive force.

APD AND THE DOJ

The Albuquerque Police Department is one of the 18 municipalities in the United States under a Federal Court consent decree for excessive use of force and deadly force. On April 10, 2014, the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), issued its report of the 18-month civil rights investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). The DOJ reviewed excessive use of force and deadly force cases and found that APD engaged in a “pattern and practice” of unconstitutional “use of force” and “deadly force” and found a “culture of aggression” within APD.

What differentiates the DOJ’s investigation of APD from all 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. The 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.

In November, 2014, the City of Albuquerque entered into its Federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) mandating sweeping changes and reforms to APD. Over the last 5 years of implementing the mandating DOJ reforms, APD has made progress in implementing the reforms under the watchful eye of a Federal Court approved monitor. The reforms apply as much to the treatment of minorities as to the treatment of the mentally ill.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

In his speech, “The Other America,” from 1953, the Reverend Martin Luther King said the following:

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. In the final analysis, the riot is the language of the unheard. What is it that America has failed to hear? … In a sense, our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our winter’s delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these occurrences of riots and violence over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”

Sixty-seven years later, we are still asking “What is it that America has failed to hear?” The words of Dr. King have been proven true once again with the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Officer and the protests that have ensued across the country.

We must finally do something about ending racism once and for all for ourselves and for the sake of our future generations. As individuals, we must, in some manner, make it very clear to all who we interact with, our families and friends alike, and people we work with that racism is not tolerated on any level and it must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

Our law enforcement community must understand with complete clarity that police brutality, excessive use of force and deadly force based on racial profiling and the presumption of guilt because of a person’s color and not evidence will not be tolerated. No Hispanic, no African American and no person of color should ever feel uncomfortable talking to any police officer or feel they cannot call the police to ask for help or to report a crime. Police must recognize that performing their motto to “serve and protect” is not determined by skin color.

Out of crisis and chaos can come opportunity. Once again, we have an opportunity to look within ourselves and acknowledge the racism in this country is very real, very pervasive and tearing our communities and our country apart. We must look within ourselves and our communities and finally do something about it to end racism once and for all.

As citizens of a free country, we must seize this opportunity and reach out to virtually all communities of color more than ever before and work together to end racism in this country and for our future generations. As individuals, we must, in some manner, make it very clear to all who we interact with at work and in our daily lives, our families and friends alike, that racism is not and will not be tolerated on any level and it must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

On June 3 AND June 4, political commentator Joe Monahan on his political blog “New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan”, posted two excellent article summarizing the final outcome of the 2020New Mexico midterms and the resulting long term political repercussions. As usual, Mr. Monahan provides a number of revelations that only he is able to provide because of his news sources developed over 30 years in the business.
The link to the full blog is: http://joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com/

Following are excerpts from Mr. Monahan’s June 3 and 4 blog articles. The Postscript to this article contains final vote results of the federal races and Bernalillo County races.

WEDNESDAY, JUNE 3 NEW MEXICO POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN

HEADLINE: Dr. No Bites The Dust As The Conservative Senate Coalition Crumbles; Papen Also Ousted; Herrell Trounces Chase For Congress Nod, Ronchetti Takes GOP Senate Primary; Leger Fernandez Wins; Appears Headed To Congress

We had one prediction right about Primary Election 2020–that most of the excitement would be near the bottom of the ballot not the top. It wasn’t only exciting, it was jaw dropping news that we delivered (exclusively) to the state via our KANW-89.1 FM broadcast in the late night hours Tuesday. . .

There was much more action but we were on the air well past midnight and now it’s much later (or earlier) so for now we’ll let you catch up with the rest of the results at the Secretary of State and the Bernalillo County Clerk sites:

https://electionresults.sos.state.nm.us/

https://bce.sks.com/

THURSDAY JUNE 4 NEW MEXICO POLITICS WITH JOE MONAHAN

Who will take over the chairmanship of the powerful Senate Finance Committee now that John Arthur Smith has been defeated?

Gun control, a roll back of the Martinez-Richardson tax cuts, an increase in the minimum wage, more resources to combat child abuse and a focus on the Navajo Reservation where the coronavirus has raged. And, of course, a repeal of that outdated abortion law that coalition Democrats defeated and which was partly responsible for their defeats. Do you think that measure may now pass?

You can E-mail your news and comments to Joe Monahan at newsguy@yahoo.com.

The link to New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan is here:

http://joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com/

_________________________________

POSTSCRIPT

FINAL ELECTION VOTE RESULTS

Following are the election vote results in Federal Offices. (**** denotes party nominee)

UNITED STATES SENATOR

DEMOCRAT

BEN R LUJAN (DEM), 196,460 100% ****

REPUBLICAN

ELISA MARIA MARTINEZ (REP), 39,443 26.20%
MARK V RONCHETTI (REP), 84,645 56.23% ****
GAVIN S CLARKSON (REP) 26,453 17.57%

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE – DISTRICT 1

DEMOCRAT

DEB HAALAND (DEM) 74,316 100% ****

REPUBLICAN

MICHELLE GARCIA HOLMES (REP) 22,057 48% ****
JARED R VANDER DUSSEN (REP) 18,542 40.35%
BRETT KOKINADIS (REP) 5,353 11.65

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT 2

DEMOCRAT

XOCHITL TORRES SMALL (DEM) 47,056 100% ****

REPUBLICAN

YVETTE HERRELL (REP) 26,650 47.74% ****
CLAIRE CHASE (REP) 18,786 31.54%
CHRIS MATHYS (REP) 14,132 23.72%

UNITED STATES REPRESENTATIVE DISTRICT – DISTRICT 3

DEMOCRAT

TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ (DEM) 34,356 41.15% ****
LAURA M MONTOYA (DEM) 5,652 6.77%
MARCO PETER SERNA (DEM) 6,970 8.35%
JOSEPH L SANCHEZ (DEM) 10,810 12.95%
VALERIE E PLAME (DEM) 20,526 24.59%
JOHN BLAIR (DEM) 3,651 4.37%
KYLE J TISDEL (DEM) 1,524 1.83%

REPUBLICAN

HARRY B MONTOYA (REP) 14,658 34.84%
KAREN EVETTE BEDONIE (REP) 11,837 28.13%
ALEXIS M JOHNSON (REP) 15,580 37.03% ****
ANGELA GALE MORALES (write in) (REP) 0%

FOLLOWING ARE THE ELECTION VOTE RESULTS IN BERNALILLO COUNTY OFFICES (**** denotes primary winner.)

BERNALILLO COUNTY TREASURER

DONNY ALBERT DANIELS (DEM) 3,357
NANCY MARIE BEARCE (DEM) 28,624 ****
PATRICK J PADILLA (DEM) 15,098
BERNADETTE M SANCHEZ (DEM) 25,520

BERNALILLO COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 2

STEVEN MICHAEL QUEZADA (DEM) 5,979 ****
FRANK A BACA (DEM) 4,592

BERNALILLO COUNTY COMMISSIONER DISTRICT 3

ADRIAN NEAL CARVER (DEM) 4,611
MARCOS A GONZALES (DEM) 4,201
ADRIANN BARBOA (DEM) 6,250 ****

Bernalillo County Commissioner DISTRICT 4

Democratic (candidate unopposed and party nominee for general election)

Wende Schwingendorf

REPUBLICAN

E TIM CUMMINS (REP) 3,642
SEAN N KESANI (REP) 1,353
GEORGE WALTON BENSON (REP) 6,202 ****
TINA M TOMLIN (REP) 1,799

SECOND JUDICIAL DISTRICT JUDGE, DIVISION 6

DANIEL E RAMCZYK (DEM) 35,928 ****
EDWARD L BENAVIDEZ (DEM) 33,629

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. In the final analysis, the riot is the language of the unheard. What is it that America has failed to hear? … In a sense, our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our winter’s delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these occurrences of riots and violence over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”

The Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. “The Other America,” 1953.

Sixty-seven years later, we are still asking “What is it that America has failed to hear?” The murder of George Floyd has ignited protests across the country, with the peaceful protests overshadowed by the violent protests. George Floyd was murdered by someone who took an oath to “protect and serve” the public. The resulting protests are a pressure cooker that has blown up in our faces. A pressure cooker filled with frustration and anger over the racial injustice and inequities endured for decades by African Americans at the hands of law enforcement.

George Floyd is now another name on the extensive litany of unarmed African Americans killed by police. It must stop. Justice must be served for the murders and people of color must feel safe within our country. Rather than seek to unite the country and try to heal the wounds of racism, Trump stokes division and violence showing he is not fit to be President.

DISPROPORTIONATE KILLINGS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS BY POLICE

Data collected by the Washington Post on the use of lethal force by police officers since 2015 indicate that, relative to the proportion of the population, African Americans represent the minority killed the most by police. According to the US Census estimates, Blacks make up 12% of the population. However, from 2015 – 2019 they accounted for 26.4% of those that were killed by police under all circumstances. In other words, Blacks were the victims of the lethal use of force by police at nearly twice their rate in the general population. Whites do make up the majority of victims of police use of lethal force at 50.3% from 2015 – 2019, but whites make up the majority of the population at 61% while the black population is 12%.

SHAMEFUL LITANY OF UNARMED AFRICAN AMERICANS KILLED BY POLICE

George Floyd is now part of the alarming litany of unarmed African Americans killed by police in the last 6 years. Following is a list of the high-profile deaths of blacks in the U.S. since 2014 involving police arrests, encounters or police investigations:

Freddie Gray: Six Baltimore officers were involved in the arrest and in-custody death of Freddie Gray, a 25-year-old black man who died after being injured in a Baltimore police van, touching off weeks of protest.

Sam Dubose: A judge in July, 2015, dismissed charges against Ray Tensing, a white former University of Cincinnati officer who fatally shot Sam DuBose, an unarmed black motorist, during a 2015 traffic stop.

Philando Castile: St. Anthony, Minnesota, officer Jeronimo Yanez was acquitted of manslaughter in the fatal shooting of Philando Castile, a black motorist who had just informed the officer that he was carrying a gun.

Terence Crutcher: In Oklahoma, a jury found white Tulsa police officer Betty Jo Shelby not guilty of first-degree manslaughter in the 2016 death of Terence Crutcher, 40, who was shot shortly after Shelby arrived to find Crutcher’s SUV stopped in the middle of the road.

Alton Sterling: Federal prosecutors announced they would not seek charges against two white police officers who were involved in a deadly encounter with Alton Sterling in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. The killing was captured on cellphone video and circulated widely online, sparking demonstrations across the city.

Jamar Clark: Two white officers, Mark Ringgenberg and Dustin Schwarze, were trying to arrest the 24-year-old when he was shot once in the head. He died a day later. Some witnesses said Clark was handcuffed when he was shot, but federal and state probes concluded that he was not. Investigators said Ringgenberg felt Clark’s hand trying to grab his weapon and shouted to Schwarze, who then shot Clark.

Jeremy McDole: McDole was a 28-year-old Black-American paraplegic who was shot and killed by police in Wilmington, Delaware. McDole was in a wheelchair at the time of the shooting. Police were dispatched after a 911 call about a man with a gun. The incident escalated when police, standing 25 to 30 feet away with their guns drawn and pointing at McDole, repeatedly instructed McDole to raise his hands. When McDole started reaching for his waist area, police opened fire and killed him. According to police, a .38-caliber pistol was found on McDole after the shooting. Relatives of McDole have stated that he was unarmed. Video footage taken on a cellphone showed McDole shuffling in his chair and moving his hands with no gun clearly showing while officers ordered him several times to put his hands up.

William Chapman II: Former Portsmouth, Va., police officer Stephen Rankin was sentenced to two and a half years in prison for fatally shooting William Chapman II while responding to a shoplifting call outside a Walmart on April 22, 2015.

Walter Scott: Former North Charleston, S.C., patrolman Michael Slager was sentenced to 20 years in prison for shooting of Walter Scott, 50. Slager had stopped Scott for a broken brake light. Slager claimed he opened fire because he felt threatened after the motorist tried to take his stun gun during a struggle. A bystander captured the encounter on video and the judge found that Slager had obstructed justice by lying to investigators. Slager, 36, is one of the few U.S. police officers in recent years to receive prison time for an on-duty shooting. In a a cellphone video, Walter Scott appears to be running away from patrolman Michael Slager. The video appears to show Slager shooting a fleeing Scott several times in the back.

Eric Harris: Former Tulsa County volunteer sheriff’s deputy Robert Bates, 74, was sentenced to four years in prison for second-degree manslaughter in the death of Eric Harris, 44, who was unarmed and restrained. Bates, who is white, has said he confused his stun gun with his handgun and shot Harris. That shooting led to the temporary suspension of the reserve deputy program after a report found poor training of the volunteer officers, a lack of oversight and cronyism.

Tamir Rice: Tamir Rice, 12, was fatally shot by a white Cleveland police officer in a recreational area. Officers were responding to a report of a man waving a gun. The boy had a pellet gun tucked in his waistband and was shot after the officers’ cruiser skidded to a stop, just feet away from the child.

Akai Gurley: Rookie New York City police officer Peter Liang was convicted of manslaughter in the death of 28-year-old Akai Gurley. Liang, an American of Chinese descent, said he was patrolling a public housing high-rise with his gun drawn when a sound startled him and he fired accidentally. A bullet ricocheted off a wall, hitting and killing Gurley.

Michael Brown: Michael Brown, an unarmed black 18-year-old, was fatally shot by a white officer, Darren Wilson, in in Ferguson, Mousori. A grand jury declined to indict Wilson, and the U.S. Justice Department opted against civil rights charges. Wilson later resigned. The death of Brown led to months of sometimes violent protests and became a catalyst for the Black Lives Matter movement.

Eric Garner: Eric Garner, 43, died after a white officer placed him in a chokehold during an arrest for selling loose cigarettes. Garner repeated the words “I can’t breathe” 11 times while lying face down on the sidewalk. A grand jury declined to indict that officer, or any others involved in the arrest. The city agreed to pay a $6 million civil settlement.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/list-police-related-deaths-usa-1.4438618

Breonna Taylor: In mid-March, police officers barged into Breonna Taylor’s home in Louisville, Kentucky, in the middle of the night and discharged a spray of bullets that struck and killed the 26-year-old EMT. Taylor, 26, and her boyfriend, Kenneth Walker, were in bed when they heard the officers enter at around 12:40 a.m. According to the search warrant, police believed a suspected drug dealer named Jamarcus Glover, who did not live with Taylor and had already been arrested elsewhere, was keeping drugs or money at her house.

Ahmaud Arbery: Arbery was a 25-year-old black man who was out jogging and was chased by armed white residents of a South Georgia neighborhood. After police officers found Arbery bleeding out in the middle of the Satilla Shores neighborhood, the then-police chief John Powell sent a frantic text message wrote in all caps saying “GUNSHOT – 219 SATILLA DR – OFFICER CALLED THE SCENE OF CONSTRUCTION SITE WITH MALE TRESPASSING. … OFFICER ARRIVED AND HEARD SHOTS FIRED.” There was no mention of a burglary in the text message, even though Arbery’s mother said the day of the shooting she was told her son was shot by a homeowner in the middle of him burglarizing a home. Video released months after the shooting showed Arbery was shot and killed during a struggle over a shotgun pulled on him by Travis McMichael. According to the original police report, Greg McMichael said he and his son saw Arbery running past their home, got their guns, got in their trucks and tried to find him in the neighborhood. The men followed behind a running Arbery for more than four minutes. Initially, Police chose to believe Greg McMichael rather than investigate the incident as a murder.

https://www.news4jax.com/news/georgia/2020/05/29/text-messages-show-how-glynn-county-police-chief-reacted-shortly-after-ahmaud-arbery-shooting/

TRUMP’S HISTORY OF RACISM

President Trump’s use of military force to quell protesters angry and frustrated over the racial injustice and inequities endured by African Americans at the hands of law enforcement should come as no surprise to anyone. Trump has a well-documented history of racism years before he was elected, while he was running and since being elected President.

President Trump’s racism dates back to 1973 when his housing management company was the target of a Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division civil lawsuit over allegations that he and his father as real estate developers were keeping black and Puerto Rican people out of their apartments.

It was in 1989 that Donald Trump purchased newspaper ads calling for the death penalty for the “Central Park Five,” four black men and one Latino man accused of rape who were later exonerated by DNA evidence and released after being exonerated as not committing the crime. During the 2016 presidential election, Trump still insisted the “Central Park Five” were guilty.

For at least eight (8) years, Donald Trump was front and center of the “birther movement” and questioned former President Barack Obama’s American citizenship thereby questioning Obama’s legitimacy as President of the United States. In 2011, Trump called on President Obama to release his birth certificate and went as far as to offer to give $5 million to one of Obama’s charity of choice if he released his college records and passport.

In 2015 when Donald Trump announced his bid for the presidency, he said “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending the best. They’re not sending you, they’re sending people that have lots of problems and they’re bringing those problems with us. They’re bringing drugs. They’re bring crime. They’re rapists… And some, I assume, are good people.”

During the Presidential election, Trump said “I will build a great wall – and nobody builds walls better than me, believe me – and I’ll build them very inexpensively. I will build a great, great wall on our southern border, and I will make Mexico pay for that wall. Mark my words.”

In May 2016 during the presidential campaign, Trump suggested United States Federal Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who was born and raised in the United States and who oversaw the class action lawsuit against Trump University, was biased against Trump due to his “Mexican” heritage claiming American born Curiel was from Mexico.

During a campaign stop, Trump looked over a crowd and ask out loud to the crowd of supporters “where’s my African American” as if to show he had support of African Americans.

On January 27, 2017, just seven days after being sworn in as President, January Donald Trump signed an executive order halting all refugee admissions and temporarily barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries arguing it was needed to combat terrorism. The move sparked numerous protests and legal challenges.

In August 2017, after a 20-year-old white man drove his car into a crowd at a white nationalist rally in Charlotesville, Virginia, killing one anti-racist protester and injuring 19 others, President Trump said that there was “blame on both sides” regarding the deadly violence that was instigated by white supremacists.

President Trump during a ceremony in the White House to honor the World War II Navajo Code talkers, one from New Mexico, took the opportunity to call Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren “Pocahontas”.

During the football season, Trump proclaimed that professional football players, who were predominantly African American and who “took a knee” during the national anthem to protest the treatment of African Americans should be fired.

The New York Times reported in December, 2017 that President Trump said in a June meeting about immigration that Haitians “all have AIDS”, a statement denied by the White House.

On December 24, 2017, The New York Times reported that President Donald Trump described Nigerians as people living in huts and that they would not want to return to them. He reportedly told members of congress that African countries where “shit hole” countries and said 40,000 had come from Nigeria and would never “go back to their huts” once they had seen America.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

WHAT ARE WE FAILING TO HEAR?

Sixty-seven years later, we are still asking “What is it that America has failed to hear?” The words of Dr. King have been proven true once again with the murder of George Floyd by a Minneapolis Police Officer and the protests that have ensued across the country.

We must finally do something about ending racism once and for all for ourselves and for the sake of our future generations. As individuals, we must, in some manner, make it very clear to all who we interact with, our families and friends alike, and people we work with that racism is not tolerated on any level and it must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

Our law enforcement community must understand with complete clarity that police brutality, excessive use of force and deadly force based on racial profiling and the presumption of guilt because of a person’s color and not evidence will not be tolerated. No Hispanic, no African American and no person of color should ever feel uncomfortable talking to any police officer or feel they cannot call the police to ask for help or to report a crime. Police must recognize that performing their motto to “serve and protect” is not determined by skin color.

Out of crisis and chaos can come opportunity. Once again, we have an opportunity to look within ourselves and acknowledge the racism in this country is very real, very pervasive and tearing our communities and our country apart. We must look within ourselves and our communities and finally do something about it to end racism once and for all. As citizens of a free country, we must seize this opportunity and reach out to all communities of color more than ever before and work together to end racism in this country and for our future generations. As individuals, we must, in some manner, make it very clear to all who we interact with at work and in our daily lives, our families and friends alike, that racism is not and will not be tolerated on any level and it must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

WHO TRUMP IS REFLECTS RACISM IN AMERICA

Trump has made it clear he is interested only in a “law and order” approach to the protests over the murder of George Floyd. His answer is to militarize the response to the protests that will inflame his base and that has resulted in violence and chaos in the streets. Trump could care less about the underlying issues of racism and police brutality that have sparked the protests. Trump is deaf and blind when it comes to racial injustice, and will never hear, much less understand it.

President Trump promotes hostility, mistrust and violence. He seems to thrives on it and enjoy it. Trump promoted violence when running for President, he has done it at his rallies and he is doing it again after the killing of George Floyd. He repeatedly uses harsh rhetoric to trash journalists and political opponents during campaign rallies creating and inflaming an extremely divisive political environment of hostility, mistrust and violence.

Trump blames the media for the “anger” in this country, refusing to take any responsibility for it himself. What Trump does best is to stoke violence which is what makes him so dangerous. His cult like right-wing extremists’ supporters respond favorably to all he does raising fears that they may act amid the violence and tension surrounding public health closures, amid the ongoing global pandemic and now the protests over the killing of George Floyd.

Just when you think things cannot get any worse, Trump makes it worse stoking violence. Trump has decided to start a real war, a civil war, with American citizens to deal with the civil unrest by declaring himself “Your President of law and order” and demanding National Guards be activated to quell the protesters. Extremists are more than happy to participate in violent civil disorder and to watch as the country is burned to the ground. Trump has confirmed he is totally unfit, incompetent and totally unprepared to be President by ordering the military to deal with the protests over the killing of George Floyd.

America hears loud and clear that Trump stands for racism and hate that can no longer be tolerated in the White House. Come November 3, we must all let him hear loud and clear he is not fit to be our President.

On Monday, May 26, around 8 p.m., African American George Floyd, 46, was arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. Arresting Police Officer Derek Chauvin took Floyd to the ground on his stomach to subdue him while another Police officer watched. The take down suppression lasted for almost a full 9 minutes, during which time George Floyd begged for his life saying at least 14 times “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.” Paramedics were called and when they arrived, Floyd was none responsive and was dead. The killing and the video sparked protests in Minneapolis and other major cities across the country.

TRUMP’S COMMENTS AND TWEETS AFTER FLOYD MURDER

In his characteristic, combative style, Trump soon took to Twitter as the protests increased across the country. He then made it worse by threatening to call out the military to quell the protests if the Governors did not act.

“WHEN THE LOOTING STARTS, THE SHOOTING STARTS”

On Friday, May 29, President Donald Trump tweeted amid unrest in Minneapolis that “when the looting starts, the shooting starts”. Trump’s tweet was flagged by Twitter as violating rules against glorifying violence. The tweet was the same language used by a Miami police chief in 1967 who believed that violent protests should be met with deadly force. About 13 hours after Trumps Tweet, he took to Twitter again to claim that he wasn’t suggesting the shooting of rioters. Instead, he said he was referring to gun violence that has been spurred by the unrest.

https://www.splcenter.org/hatewatch/2020/05/29/trump-tweets-when-looting-starts-shooting-starts-extremists-will-respond

https://kstp.com/politics/trumps-tweet-about-rioters-echoes-1960s-miami-police-chief-may-29-2020/5745055/

READY TO UNLEASH “THE MOST VICIOUS DOGS”

On Saturday, May 30, Trump in a series of tweets hours after hundreds of demonstrators had massed outside the White House and confronted officers in riot gear, Trump belittled them, doubted their allegiance to Floyd’s memory, and said they were only out “to cause trouble” and were “professionally managed.” He offered no evidence to back his assertions. Trump seemed to invite supporters to make their presence felt: “Tonight, I understand, is MAGA NIGHT AT THE WHITE HOUSE???” Trump claimed Secret Service agents were “just waiting for action” and ready to unleash “the most vicious dogs, and the most ominous weapons, I have ever seen” if protesters angered by his response to George Floyd’s death had crossed the White House’s security fence.

Following are the series of tweets:

Donald J. Trump ✔@realDonaldTrump May 30, 2020

….good practice.” As you saw last night, they were very cool & very professional. Never let it get out of hand. Thank you! On the bad side, the D.C. Mayor, @ MurielBowser, who is always looking for money & help, wouldn’t let the D.C. Police get involved. “Not their job.” Nice!

https://www.chicagotribune.com/nation-world/ct-nw-trump-tweets-minneapolis-protests-20200530-73wkifkif5bn5dntjo5hzzbmra-story.html

“MAGA LOVES BLACK PEOPLE”

On Saturday, May 30, President Donald Trump said he was not sure if there would be more protesters or supporters at the White House but claims his supporters, whom he refers to as MAGA, “love black people.” When Trump was asked if he was calling on his supporters to protest, he said, “I don’t care.”

The comments made by Trump as he left the White House to head to Florida for the SPACE X rocket launch included: .

“MAGA says, make America great again. These are people that love our country. I have no idea if they’re going to be here. I was just asking, but I have no idea if they’re going to be here. But MAGA is making America great again. By the way. They love African American people. They love the black people. MAGA loves black people. I heard that MAGA wanted to be there. A lot of MAGA was going to be there. I have no idea if that’s true or not, but they love our country. Remember that MAGA, just an expression, but MAGA loves our country.”

https://thesocietypages.org/toolbox/police-killing-of-blacks/

On May 30, at the SPACE X rocket launch in Florida, and after a huge backlash to his earlier comments, Trump tweeted:

“The death of George Floyd in the streets of Minneapolis was a grave tragedy. It should never have happened. It has filled Americans all over the country with horror, anger, and grief. “

TRUMP GOES BALLISTIC ON GOVERNORS

CNN obtained an audio recording of President Trump where he told the nation’s governors in a video teleconference call on Monday, June 1, to aggressively target violent protesters he said would only respond to a show of force. Trump was agitated and distress after 3 nights of violent protests in dozens of cities across the country, including outside of the White House. CNN reported that on Friday night the protest outside the White House caused him and his family to retreat to the underground bunker in the White House.

The President told the governors in the call from the basement White House Situation Room:

“You have to dominate or you’ll look like a bunch of jerks, you have to arrest and try people … It’s a movement, if you don’t put it down it will get worse and worse … The only time its successful is when you’re weak and most of you are weak. … [the] whole world was laughing at Minneapolis over the police station getting burned … So bad a few nights ago that the people wouldn’t have minded an occupying force. … I wish we had an occupying force in there.”

On the phone call, Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker told Trump the nation was craving a steady hand from the top and told Trump:

“Rhetoric coming out of the White House is making it worse, people are experiencing real pain. … We’ve got to have national leadership calling for calm and legitimate concern for protestors.”

Trump fired back “I don’t like your rhetoric that much either. You could have done much better on coronavirus.”

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/politics/donald-trump-race-police/index.html

TRUMP THREATENS TO DEPLOY MILITARY

Soon after his telephone conference call with the country’s governors, President Trump declared himself “your president of law and order.” He went on to say:

… If a city or state refuses to take the actions necessary to defend the life and property of their residents, then I will deploy the United States military and quickly solve the problem for them. … I am mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military, to stop the rioting and looting to end the destruction and arson and to protect the rights of law abiding Americans, including your Second Amendment rights … . “

Trump said he would call out and mobilize “thousands and thousands “ of soldiers to keep the peace.

As Trump vowed to return order to American streets using the military, peaceful protesters just outside the White House gates were dispersed with tear gas, flash grenades and rubber bullets. Trump addressed the nation from the White House Rose Garden.

According to White House senior defense officials, between 600 and 800 National Guard members from 5 states were sent to the nations capital to provide assistance. While he was addressing the nation in the White House Rose Garden, military vehicles and military police accompanied by law enforcement, rolled unto Pennsylvania Avenue and clashed with protesters at Lafayettee Park.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/politics/donald-trump-national-address-race/index.html

TRUMP ENJOYS STOKING VIOLENCE AND HATRED

Trump has an extensive history promoting violence.

On January 23, 2016, Donald Trump said at a rally in Sioux Center that his supporters are so loyal that he would not lose backers even if he were to shoot someone in the middle of downtown Manhattan.

“I could stand in the middle of Fifth Avenue and shoot somebody, okay, and I wouldn’t lose any voters, okay? It’s, like, incredible.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/trump-says-he-could-shoot-somebody-still-maintain-support-n502911

On February 21, 2016, Trump told a crowd of his supporters in Cedar Rapids that he would pay their legal fees if they engaged in violence against protesters and said:
“If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously, OK? Just knock the hell out of them … I promise you I will pay for the legal fees. I promise, I promise.”

http://time.com/4203094/donald-trump-hecklers/

On March 9, 2016, as a protester was being escorted out of a Trump rally in Fayetteville, North Carolina, he was sucker-punched by another attendee.

At a Las Vegas campaign rally in March, 2016 Trump said security guards were too gentle with a protester and said “He’s walking out with big high-fives, smiling, laughing. … I’d like to punch him in the face, I’ll tell you.”

In yet another campaign rally in March, 2016 in Warren, Michigan, Trump said of a protester “Get him out. …Try not to hurt him. If you do, I’ll defend you in court. Don’t worry about it.”

In July 2017 during a speech to police officials, Trump encourage law enforcement officials to be more violent in handling arrested offenders when he said:

“When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just seen them thrown in, rough. I said, ‘Please don’t be too nice … When you guys put somebody in the car and you’re protecting their head you know, the way you put their hand over [their head]”, with Trump mimicking the motion … “like, don’t hit their head and they’ve just killed somebody, don’t hit their head. … You can take the hand away, OK?’”

During a rally in Montana ahead of the 2018 midterms, Trump praised Republican Greg Gianforte for body slamming a reporter while running for his congressional seat in 2017 and said “any guy who can do a body slam, he is my type!”

https://www.petedinelli.com/2018/10/26/trumps-shooting-off-his-mouth-is-going-to-get-someone-killed-political-serial-bomber-targets-trump-critics/

On October 25, 2018, the very a day after CNN and 9 prominent Democrats, including Barack Obama and Joe Biden and critics were the targets of a pipe bomber, there was no denunciation of the violence. Instead, Trump in a TWEET blamed the media for much of the “anger” in society by saying:

“A very big part of the anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”

Trump told his supporters at one of his pre-2018 mid-term rallies:

“I just cannot state strongly enough how totally dishonest much of the media is. Truth doesn’t matter to them. They only have their hatred & agenda. This includes fake books, which come out about me all the time, always anonymous sources, and are pure fiction. Enemy of the People!”

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

A few months ago, as the pandemic worsened, President Donald Trump declared himself a “wartime president”. His appointed Surgeon General even said “This is going to be our Pearl Harbor moment, our 9/11 moment”. After two months of the economy being shut down and his reelection in jeopardy, Trump realized he was losing the war with the pandemic because of his mishandling of it. Trump has now decided to start a real war, a civil war, with American citizens who are demanding the end of murders at the hands of those who take and oath to serve and protect.

There is no doubt that President Trump promotes hostility, mistrust and violence and he thrives on it and enjoys it. Simply put, Trump is a racist and is incapable of understanding the anger and the frustration of African Americans at the violence they have endured at the hands of law enforcement. He promoted violence when running for President, he does it at his rally’s and he is doing it again after the killing of George Floyd.

Trump has already begun a campaign of promoting civil disobedience during the pandemic by tweeting on April 17 “LIBERATE VIRGINIA and and save your great 2nd Amendment. It is under siege!”, “LIBERATE MICHIGAN!”, “LIBERATE MINNISOTA!” There is nothing that would satisfy Trump supporters more than to blow up our democracy and simply watch as Trump lets the country burn to the ground.

President Trump has repeatedly used harsh rhetoric to trash journalists and political opponents during campaign rallies creating and inflaming an extremely tense and divisive political environment of hostility, mistrust and violence. Trumped has blamed the media for the “anger” in this country, refusing to take any responsibility for it himself.

What Trump does best is to stoke violence which is what makes him so dangerous. His cult like right-wing extremists’ supporters respond favorably to all he does raising fears that they may act amid the violence and tension surrounding public health closures amid the ongoing global pandemic and now the protests over the killing of George Floyd. When Trump says “I am mobilizing all available federal resources, civilian and military, to stop the rioting and looting to end the destruction and arson and to protect the rights of law abiding Americans, including your Second Amendment rights”, many of his supporters could easily take it to mean it as call for vigilantism.

Vigilantism is not as far fetched as it sounds. In Albuquerque, it was reported on KUNM in the morning on June 2, that the night before, members of a New Mexico “militia,” armed with long guns, confronted peaceful demonstrators downtown. Another local Albuquerque TV news station reported and showed on the June 1 evening news at least 3 civilians armed with rifles had showed up but APD had already left the scene at the time of the news report.

Just when you think things cannot get any worse, Trump encourages and stokes violence. He makes violence more likely with his daily tweeting and self-absorbed, self-center arrogance. After over 3 years of constant daily news coverage and twitters from Trump creating crisis, after crisis, after crisis of his own making, the United States is now faced with not only a major pandemic, over 117,000 dead, a 25% unemployment rate and now protests where he stokes violence revealing a man who is totally unfit, incompetent and totally unprepared to be President.

Trump’s telephone conference with the Governor’s reflects that he is interested only in a “law and order” approach to the protests. His answer is to militarize the response to the protests and essentially declare a civil war that will inflame his base and give rise to violence and chaos in the streets. Trump could care less about the underlying issues of racism and police brutality that have sparked the protests. Trump is deaf and blind when it comes to racial injustice, and will never hear, much less understand it.

The only thing our “Racist In Chief” will hear are voters on November 3 telling him and his family to get the hell out of the White House and out of Washington. Even then, Trump will say the election was rigged. Trump will have to be dragged out of the White House bunker no doubt while clutching a bag of Mc Donald’s Big Macs in one hand and a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken in the other.

On Monday, May 26, around 8 p.m., African American George Floyd, 46, was arrested in Minneapolis, Minnesota for passing a counterfeit $20 bill. The video of George Floyd being arrested is extremely difficult to watch. The video clearly shows he did not actively resist arrest. Floyd did not have a weapon on him when the arrest was made and he was handcuffed. Police Officer Derek Chauvin took Floyd to the ground and he was subdued with his stomach and face on the ground.

Officer Chauvin placed his knee on Floyd’s neck and he used his full body weight to suppress George Floyd’s head and body to the ground. The take down suppression lasted for almost a full 9 minutes, during which time George Floyd begged for his life saying at least 14 times “I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.” Paramedics were called and when they arrived, Floyd was none responsive and was dead. Police Officer Chauvin has been charged with murder and with manslaughter and arrested.

You can view the video here:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/05/29/george-floyd-arrest-video-minneapolis-dp-orig.cnn

RAGE ACROSS AMERICA, INCLUDING ALBUQUERQUE

Across the country where peaceful protest over the killing, started in city’s large and small, burst into violent protests, looting and vandalism. Mayors and Governors have taken action to deal with the protestors including calling out the National Guard.

STATES CALLING UP NATIONAL GUARD

Fifteen states, including the states of Minnesota, Georgia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Colorado, Ohio and Utah have called out their National Guard forces to respond to the violent unrest that’s broken out amid demonstrations against black Americans’ deaths in police custody.

Kentucky Democrat Gov. Andy Beshear called in the National Guard to help “keep the peace” in Louisville, where protests have focused on the death of Breonna Taylor, shot by officers who entered her apartment to serve a no-knock warrant. Georgia Republican Gov. Brian Kemp authorized the deployment of the Georgia National Guard to “protect people & property in Atlanta”.

Wisconsin Democrat Gov. Tony Evers authorized at least 125 National Guard members to go to Milwaukee to help police and protect infrastructure.

Colorado Democrat Gov. Jared Polis granted the mayor of Denver’s request for National Guard support as well. Ohio Republican Governor Mike DeWine has activated the national guard. Texas Republican Governor, Greg Abbott has sent more than 1,500 state troopers to a number of cities in the state in response to the ongoing protests, including Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/05/30/george-floyd-protests-live-updates/

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/may/30/george-floyd-protests-minnesota-governor-riots-looting-police

CITY CURFEWS IMPOSED

The list of city governments adopting curfews as a result of rioting related to the Floyd killing includes Minneapolis, Louisville, Columbia, Columbus, Denver, Portland, Milwaukee, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Atlanta. All have announced curfews. The Mayor of LA said the city’s curfew will go from 8pm to 5am, an announcement that comes as tensions are already escalating before nightfall while large crowds of demonstrators gather. In the City of Atlanta, Mayor Keisha Bottoms has signed an Executive Order establishing a curfew for May 29, 30 and 31 that begins each day at 9:00 p.m. ends at sunrise 5/31/2020.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2020/may/30/george-floyd-protests-minnesota-governor-riots-looting-police

ALBUQUERQUE’S PROTEST

Albuquerque has not been spared the violent protests over the Floyd killing. On Thursday, May 28, a peaceful demonstration during the day devolved into acts of vandalism, property destruction and gunfire during the evening.

During a Friday morning press conference APD Chief Michael Geier gave a summation of what happened. According to Geier, a crowd of 400 people were involved in the initial Albuquerque protest. The protest started at Central and Wyoming around 6 p.m. The protesters dispersed after marching along Central as they waved signs and chanted through a loudspeaker.

According to Chief Geier, around 10 p.m., a second “more aggressive” group showed up at Central and Wyoming with “different intentions.” The Chief reported that the majority of officers stayed back to avoid a confrontation as undercover officers watched members of the group spray painting bus stations, vandalizing civilian vehicles and even surrounding a female officer’s vehicle before breaking the windows while she was inside. Geier said the situation escalated even further as a group of people drove around the area and repeatedly fired off gun shots.

At this point, APD intervened and stopped the suspected vehicle at Mesilla and Central. Four people were taken into custody. As police collected evidence from the vehicle, a group of protesters surrounded them, leading dozens of officers clad in riot gear who were staged nearby and an armored vehicle, to move in.

Within the hour, a large crowd of protesters gathered on Mesilla, just north of Central, to face off against a line of officers clad in riot gear and wielding batons. The protesters waved signs and yelled “I can’t breathe” and “fuck the police” as they paced a few feet from the officers. The riot police began to load onto city buses as APD’s helicopter shined a spotlight at the gathering and told the crowd to disperse in between blasts of a siren.

APD police fired three gas canisters into the crowd while they were retreating. One protester began throwing the canisters back at the officers as the crowd ran back toward Central. According to Deputy Chief Harold Medina, someone in the area drove away in the vehicle that police had initially stopped containing the 4 shooting suspects. APD officers followed the vehicle, alongside a couple of car loads of protesters, to the university area, where it was abandoned. Police tried to arrest the driver when he got into another vehicle, but a group of protesters came to his defense. Officers let the man go to prevent another confrontation.

The links to the local news coverage are here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1460985/local-leaders-defend-apd-response-to-protest-ex-mayor-we-stand-with-those-grieving-around-the-nation.html

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/demonstrators-gather-in-albuquerque-to-protest-george-floyds-death/

https://www.dailylobo.com/article/2020/05/apd-uses-tear-gas-against-protesters-after-george-floyd-demonstration

MAYOR KELLER AND APD CHIEF MICHAEL GEIER ISSUE STATEMENTS

On Saturday, May 30, Mayor Tim Keller issued and emailed to residents the following statement:

Fellow Burqueños,

Your Mayor,
Tim Keller

APD Chief Michael Geier made the following statement on behalf of the Albuquerque Police Department:

“The death of Mr. Floyd is deeply disturbing and should be of concern to everybody in our country. On behalf of our department and the city of Albuquerque, I would like to offer our sympathies and condolences to the Floyd family. Those officers’ actions are inconsistent with the training and protocols of our department. APD has worked tirelessly to build trust between law enforcement and the community we are sworn to protect.

Like APD, most agencies today are taught to teach their officers to de-escalate critical situations and avoid the use of force if possible. We will not tolerate these actions and denounce this type of police brutality. The senseless misconduct demonstrated in this unfortunate incident should not define other police departments across the nation. APD denounces the behavior of the Minneapolis officers and we will continue to build the trust we’ve established in the community we proudly serve.”

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/demonstrators-gather-in-albuquerque-to-protest-george-floyds-death/

APD AND THE DOJ

The Albuquerque Police Department is one of the 18 municipalities in the United States under a Federal Court consent decree for excessive use of force and deadly force. On April 10, 2014, the Civil Rights Division of the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), issued its report of the 18-month civil rights investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). The DOJ reviewed excessive use of force and deadly force cases and found that APD engaged in a “pattern and practice” of unconstitutional “use of force” and “deadly force” and found a “culture of aggression” within APD.

What differentiates the DOJ’s investigation of APD from all 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. The 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.

In November, 2014, the City of Albuquerque entered into its Federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) mandating sweeping changes and reforms to APD. Over the last 5 years of implementing the mandating DOJ reforms, APD has made progress in implementing the reforms under the watchful eye of a Federal Court approved monitor. You can review a listing of the major reforms under the CASA in the postscript below to this article. The reforms apply as much to the treatment of minorities as to the treatment of the mentally ill.

A PEACEFUL PROTEST FOLLOWED BY VIOLENCE

On Sunday, May 31, thousands of people showed up in Albuquerque to honor the life of George Floyd. A candlelight vigil was held for George Floyd at the Albuquerque Peace and Justice Center around 5 p.m. where Mayor Tim Keller was among those who spoke. Hours later the crowd grew to thousands in downtown and started marching down Central Avenue. The march ended around 10:00 pm without any violence or vandalism with the crowd dispersing.

The peaceful Sunday night erupted into chaos overnight as rioters fired shots at police, broke windows at several buildings and set multiple fires. There were also reports of some looting. According to an Albuquerque Journal Report:

“Officers reported that someone fired shots at them in front of the Kimo Theater on the 400 block of Central. The aggression toward police didn’t stop there. Protesters taunted officers, shouting profanities at them. At one point, one man threw what appeared to be a Molotov cocktail toward police, though it didn’t hit anyone. A helicopter circled above after midnight ordering the group of 80 to 100 to disband or be arrested as two columns of police in riot gear, one at Second and Central and the other at Third and Central tried to break up the crowd. The riot police on Third and Central threw perhaps as many as six canisters of teargas at the group. Many in the crowd coughed as some tried to throw the canisters back at police. Protestors scattered south of Central, although many of them were throwing objects at officers. “At this time there are no reports of injuries,” Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Gilbert Gallegos”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1461497/rioters-set-fires-break-windows-in-downtown-abq.html?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=breaking-news-alert&fbclid=IwAR3BmdHW4pIhofYpCrEyaMTXcWbWOC6bn50h5HFitZEdmb-auittOl52J0g

Links to TV news station coverage are here:

https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-comes-out-to-march-for-george-floyd/32724610

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/hundreds-of-protestors-march-in-support-of-black-lives-matter-in-downtown-albuquerque/5747382/?cat=500

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/george-floyd-honored-with-vigil-march-down-central/

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

No doubt many will say that the APD needs to be far more aggressive with the use of force and even deadly force when peaceful demonstration devolved into acts of vandalism, property destruction and gunfire during the evening. That will only make things even worse. If that does happened, it will result in further violence and even more violent protests in the city. It can very easily result in the death of both protesters and police officers. Instead, the city is seeing its Police Department exhibit a remarkable amount of restraint and professionalism that so far has resulted in no one getting killed.

DOJ REFORMS ARE WORKING

One thing is for certain, how APD is handling protests is evidence that all of the training and all the reforms that were mandated by the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) have in fact changed APD for the better. The reforms are working. The Albuquerque Police Department and the officers of APD are commended and credited for the manner and approach they are taking in handling the protests. Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Michael Geier thus far are setting the right tone and example. Both are saying what is needed to be said. They to are commended for their words and actions. Cool heads by APD are prevailing during the crisis that is likely preventing the loss of life.

WHAT ARE WE FAILING TO HEAR?

In his speech, “The Other America,” from 1953, the Reverend Martin Luther King said the following:

“I think America must see that riots do not develop out of thin air. In the final analysis, the riot is the language of the unheard. What is it that America has failed to hear? … In a sense, our nation’s summers of riots are caused by our winter’s delay. And as long as America postpones justice, we stand in the position of having these occurrences of riots and violence over and over again. Social justice and progress are the absolute guarantors of riot prevention.”

Sixty seven years later, we are still asking “What is it that America has failed to hear?” The murder of George Floyd has ignited protests across the country, with the peaceful protests overshadowed by the violent protests. It is happening in Albuquerque. George Floyd was murdered by someone who took an oath to “serve and protect” the public. George Floyd is now another name on the extensive litany of unarmed African Americans killed by police. It must stop. It must not ever happen here. Justice must be served for the murders and people of color must feel safe within our community.

We must finally do something about ending racism once and for all for ourselves and for the sake of our future generations. As individuals, we must, in some manner, make it very clear to all who we interact with, our families and friends alike, and people we work with that racism is not tolerated on any level and it must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

Out of crisis and chaos can come opportunity. Once again, we have an opportunity to look within ourselves and acknowledge the racism in this country is very real, very pervasive and tearing our communities and our country apart. We must look within ourselves and our communities and finally do something about it to end racism once and for all. As a free country, we must seize this opportunity and reach out to all communities of color more than ever before and work together to end racism in this country and for our future generations. As individuals, we must, in some manner, make it very clear to all who we interact with at work and in our daily lives, our families and friends alike, that racism is not and will not be tolerated on any level and it must be condemned in no uncertain terms.

Our law enforcement community must understand with complete clarity that police brutality, excessive use of force and deadly force based on racial profiling and the presumption of guilt because of a person’s color and not evidence will not be tolerated. No Hispanic, no African American and no person of color should ever feel uncomfortable talking to any police officer or feel they cannot call the police to ask for help or to report a crime. Police must recognize that performing their motto to “serve and protect” is not determined by skin color.

APD must seize this opportunity and reach out to all of Albuquerque’s communities of color more than they have ever before. APD must, in some manner, make it very clear to all minorities that racism within the department is not tolerated on any level, and neither is police brutality and racial profiling. No Hispanic, no African American and no person of color should ever feel uncomfortable talking to an Albuquerque Police Officer or feel they cannot call APD asking for help or to report a crime. Until that happens, Mayor Keller’s “One Albuquerque” is nothing but an empty public relations slogan.

___________________________

POSTSCRIPT

COURT APPROVED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT (CASA)

The DOJ Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) was negotiated over a 6-month period after the DOJ released its investigation report finding that APD engaged in a “pattern and practice” of unconstitutional “use of force” and “deadly force” and finding of a “culture of aggression”.

Major reform mandates under the settlement include:

1. 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.

2. The CASA mandates the teaching of “constitutional policing” practices and methods as well as mandatory crisis intervention techniques and de-escalation tactics with the mentally ill.

3. The City agreed that APD would overhaul and rewrite all of its “use of force policies” and “deadly force” policies, recruitment procedures, training, internal affairs procedures and implement field supervision of officers.

4. 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.

5. 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.

6. Under the CASA, 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.

7. The CASA broadens and removes obstacles to the types of civilian complaints Internal Affairs and the civilian oversight agency can review.

8. The CASA provides for the appointment of a Federal Court Monitor selected by agreement of the parties with the City to pay for the auditing services of the federal monitor. The primary duties and responsibilities of the federal monitor is to report directly to the federal judge on APD’s compliance with the mandatory reforms.

9. 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.

10. Under the agreement, officers who point their firearms at a person, but don’t fire, must fill out a use of force report that will be reviewed by field supervisors. That review is separate from a city civilian police oversight agency that will be independent of the department and will review police use of force incidents as well as civilian complaints.

11. 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. A new chain of command for the review of Internal Affairs reports of officer-involved shootings was created that reviews the Internal Affairs Reports and makes recommendations on discipline or asks for further investigation of an incident, and the board makes recommendations on discipline to the APD Chief. The Use of Force Board is required to make quarterly reports after reviewing all use of force reports to identify trends and policy changes.

12. APD agreed to revise and update its policies on the mandatory use of lapel cameras by all police officers.

13. Under the CASA, the City agreed to abolish the Repeat Offenders Project, known as ROP, within three months of signing the agreement for the reason that members of the unit were involved in a number of the controversial shootings investigated by the DOJ.

14. The agreement provides that if the city fails to implement the reforms or shows bad faith in the implementation of the CASA, the DOJ has the option of filing a federal lawsuit against the city over the city’s unconstitutional policing practices found by the DOJ investigation.

15. Certain types of hand-to-hand techniques are barred under the CASA unless the officer is in a situation that require the use of lethal force if it were available. Neck holds, sometimes called choke-holds, are explicitly forbidden to be used by officers except in situations where lethal force would be authorized.

16. A major change in the CASA bans APD officers from firing their weapons at moving vehicles in all but life-threatening situations.

The CASA provides that it is “designed to ensure police integrity, protect officer safety, and prevent use of excessive force, including unreasonable use of deadly force, by APD.” The settlement agreement requires APD to strive and use its best efforts to come in compliance with all requirements within four years, and if that were to occur, the case would be dismissed.

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

For a related blog article see:

City Moves To Be Released From Portions Of DOJ Consent Decree And Monitoring; Commentary: Intent And Purpose Of CASA Accomplished, Dismiss Case