The Albuquerque Police Officers Association (APOA) has launched a $70,000 political ad campaign to discredit the Department of Justice (DOJ) mandated reforms saying the police reforms are preventing officers from doing their jobs and combating crime. The Police Union leaders acknowledge that the city is bound by Federal Court Order but the union claims city leaders still have the ability, within that agreement, to push back on policies and procedures that they do not believe work for Albuquerque.

POLITICAL PUBLIC RELATONS CAMPAIGN

The Police Union political ad campaign consists of billboards around the city and testimonials on TV, radio and social media from former Albuquerque Police Department officers. The public relations campaign is urging the public to tell city leaders that crime matters more than the Police reforms mandated by the settlememnt.

The public relations campaign includes providing an email template for people to use and contact civic leaders. The template says APD has made progress with the reforms and says we are “tired of living in a city filled with murder, theft and violence. … I’m urging you to fight for this city, stand up to the DOJ, and help us save the city we love, before it’s too late. ”

APOA Police Union President Shaun Willoughby described the need for the public relations campaign this way:

“You can either have compliance with DOJ reforms or you can have lower crime. You can’t have both. We think it’s time that our city leaders hear from the public that crime matters more because it does. … They want to focus on the growing crime problem, instead of wasting millions of dollars on endless Department of Justice oversight. … This conversation of reform needs to come back to common sense. … Right now, the City of Albuquerque capitulates to everything the DOJ wants and that might not necessarily be the right direction for the City of Albuquerque. … You don’t need enemies when you have friends like the city attorney. … We believe that our community deserves better from this police department. … We believe our community deserves better from this consent decree process.

“[We are asking] for the city of Albuquerque to stand up and support Albuquerque police officers and support common sense reforms that allow our officers to succeed. … . We’re talking about the bureaucracy of police officers being taken off the street because somebody that was not used force on said ‘ow”. And how that impacts this community, our ability to respond to the community and this community’s ability to control crime. Your Albuquerque police officers are terrified that they will lose their job for simply doing their job and it’s not fair.”

The APOA is also using its FACEBOOK page to get the word out with one post saying:

“Are you tired of the growing crime problems facing the city of Albuquerque? Are you tired of break-ins, stolen cars, vandalism, theft and murder being part of everyday living in our community? Then do something! If you don’t speak up and get involved right now, things will get worse. Tell your City leaders that you care more about fighting crime then than wasting millions on endless Department of Justice oversight. Share and make your voices heard because crime matters more.”

This is not the first time the police union has attempted to undercut the reform process. In a February 11 Target 7 news report Shaun Willoughby, President of the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association said:

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

Willoughby is blaming the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) and its mandated reforms for the city’s high crime rates in Albuquerque and it’s a false narrative.

MAYOR KELLER AND CHIEF MEDINA RESPOND TO UNION

When Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina were asked about the campaign they said they don’t understand the unions goal because the city is under a Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) that mandates the police reforms whether anyone likes it or not.

APD Chief Harold Medina had this to say:

“This past weekend, I had a couple of retired officers call me, and they talked to me about it how the perception on social media is that myself, the mayor or somebody could say that we don’t want to cooperate or work with DOJ anymore, and that we want our police department back, and that we’re going to move forward, as we were in the past. That’s not possible. Whether it’s me the chief, or somebody else is the chief or this mayor or another administration, they better understand they have to contend with DOJ and they can’t terminate this. … It’s not a contract. It’s a court order.”

Links to news source and quotes are here:

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/albuquerque-police-union-starts-campaign-to-push-back-against-doj-requirements/6087348/?cat=500

https://www.abqjournal.com/2384284/apd-union-launches-campaign-against-doj-oversight.html

COURT APPROVED SETTLEMENT AGREEMENT

On April 10, 2014, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division, submitted a scathing 46-page investigation report on an 18-month civil rights investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). The 2014 investigation of APD found that APD officers engaged in a pattern and practice of using excessive force and deadly force and violating citizens’ constitutional rights and that a “culture of aggression” existed within the department.

You can read the entire report here.

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

On November 10, 2014, the DOJ Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) was entered into after it was negotiated over a 6-month period. The 106-page negotiated CASA agreement contains 271 mandated reforms. Under the CASA, the assigned Federal Judge is given the power to enforce terms of the agreement and issue orders for compliance and issue sanctions for noncompliance and has contempt of court powers. .

Included in the 271 major reforms under the settlement are:

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 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 of 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.
9. 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.
10. 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.
11. APD agreed to revise and update its policies on the mandatory use of lapel cameras by all police officers.
12. 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.
13. 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.
14. 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.
15. 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

OPERATIONAL COMPLIANCE LEVELS

The CASA was negotiated to be fully implemented over a four-year period. It has now been over 6 years. Under the terms and conditions of the CASA, once APD achieves a 95% compliance rate in all 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 parts: primary, secondary, and operational compliance levels.

The 3 compliance levels in the settlement are:

1. PRIMARY COMPLIANCE: Primary compliance is the “policy” part of compliance. To attain primary compliance, APD must have in place operational policies and procedures designed to guide officers, supervisors and managers in the performance of the tasks outlined in the CASA. As a matter of course, the policies must be reflective of the requirements of the CASA; must comply with national standards for effective policing policy; and must demonstrate trainable and evaluable policy components.

2. SECONDARY COMPLIANCE: Secondary compliance is attained by implementing supervisory, managerial and executive practices designed to (and effective in) implementing the policy as written, e.g., sergeants routinely enforce the policies among field personnel and are held accountable by managerial and executive levels of the department for doing so. By definition, there should be operational artifacts (reports, disciplinary records, remands to retraining, follow-up, and even revisions to policies if necessary, indicating that the policies developed in the first stage of compliance are known to, followed by, and important to supervisory and managerial levels of the department.

3. OPERATIONAL COMPLIANCE: Operational compliance is attained at the point that the adherence to policies is apparent in the day-to-day operation of the agency e.g., line personnel are routinely held accountable for compliance, not by the monitoring staff, but by their sergeants, and sergeants are routinely held accountable for compliance by their lieutenants and command staff. In other words, the APD “owns” and enforces its policies.

In the 12th Federal Monitors Report, the most recent, the Independent Monitor found the city at 100% primary compliance for the creation of policies; 91% secondary compliance for training of officers; and 64% operational compliance with police officers and supervisors acting according to procedures and being corrected when they don’t.

It was on Friday, October 6, 2020, that Court appointed Federal Monitor Ginger told the federal court:

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

During the December 4, 2020 status conference hearing, Special Counsel for the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division Paul Killebrew said:

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

During the February 26, 2021 hearing to approve a stipulated order, Paul Killebrew told the court that the order was necessary because after 6 years APD is still not holding officers accountable for using force that is out of policy. Killebrew told the Federal Judge:

“…[W]hat we have is a city that has failed to comply with that court order over and over and over again. It not an option right now to do nothing. If we sit back and wait, using all the tools that we have already been using, I don’t know why we would expect things to change on their own. The sense of the United States when we received the monitor’s report was that additional interventions were required.
…
When we read [the Independent Monitor’s 12th report], we believed that there were likely grounds for contempt, and that we could probably make a good case for a receivership, at least as it regards serious force investigations. This is essentially something short of a receivership, but far more extensive than what is occurring now. What we’re talking about is having external folks assisting Albuquerque investigators in each investigation to ensure that those investigations identify out-of-policy force and to ensure that there is a strong factual record available so that policy violations can be identified and that officers can be held accountable. That is simply a nonnegotiable term of the consent decree. We must have officers held accountable for out-of-policy force, and after six years, we cannot wait for that to happen any longer.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/2363867/judge-signs-off-on-team-of-outside-investigators-to-help-apd.html

POLICE UNION PARTY TO LAWSUITE OPPOSES THE REFORMS

Soon after the entry of the CASA on November 10, 2014, the police union intervened in the lawsuit and became a third party to the case to advocate union interest in city policy. The police union has been at the negotiating table for 6 years over the use of force and deadly force policies and has sat in the court room during all the hearings. It was the police union that was a major contributing cause for a full one-year delay in writing the new policies.

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

The Federal Monitor revealed that the group of “high-ranking APD officers” were APD sergeants and lieutenants. Because sergeants and lieutenants are part of the police bargaining unit they remained in their positions and could not be removed by the APD Chief. Federal Monitor Ginger referred to the group as the “counter-CASA effect.” Ginger described the group’s attitude as “certainly ambivalent” to the reform effort and the CASA. According to the transcript of the proceeding, Dr. Ginger told the Judge:

“The ones I’m speaking of are in critical areas and that ambivalence, alone, will give rise to exactly the sort of issues that we’ve seen in the past at the training academy. … So while it’s not overt, you know, there’s nobody sabotaging computer files or that sort of thing, it’s a sort of a low-level processing, but nonetheless, it has an effect. … It’s a small group, but it’s a widespread collection of sworn personnel at sergeant’s and lieutenant’s levels with civil service protection that appear to be, based on my knowledge and experience, not completely committed to this process … It is something that is deep-seated and it’s a little harder to find a quick fix or solution to it, but I think, in the long term, by having this foundation with new leadership and a new direction from the top down, we should be able to get through this and survive it.”

The entire 53-page transcript of the conference call can be read here:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1GzUumHhiD3Mw2_dLg_czXml_T6-3QI2w/view

The 10th Federal Monitor’s report provided specific examples where APD, after 4 years of implementing the reforms, are still resisting the reform effort.

“Some members of APD continue to resist actively APD’s reform efforts, including using deliberate counter-CASA processes. For example:

• Spin up of “new” FRB processes will require persistent and candid review, assessment, oversight and support at the field level. “

On November 2, 2020, the Federal Court Appointed Monitor said for at least the 4th time in his reports that the “Counter Casa” effect was interfering with APD accomplishing the implementing the CASA reforms. According to the 12th report:

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

“APD’s compliance efforts have exhibited serious shortfalls during the … reporting period. These range from critical shortfalls in management and oversight … significant and deleterious failures relating to oversight and discipline; and executive-level failures regarding oversight, command and control, discipline, supervision, and training.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Peter Simonson, executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and a member of the advocacy group for police reforms “APD Forward” had this to say about the police unions political ad campaign:

“The only unfortunate thing is that so far the department has failed to demonstrate that it can hold officers accountable when they violate internal policies and the union bears a portion of the blame for that… . They have found ways to undermine various measures that are required under the consent decree and they have found ways to undermine accountability itself. This is just another example of that.”

It is downright disgusting and disingenuous for the Police Union to say that the union is not trying to get the city to end the reform process, especially 7 months before the November 2, 2021 municipal election where Mayor Tim Keller is seeking a second term. Four years ago, the police union endorsed Keller and the union is now saying it does not know who it will be endorsing this year. WINK, WINK, many of the union members and police union advocates are supporting Sheriff Manny Gonzalez for Mayor with a few working on his campaign. There is little doubt that once again APD and the union are attempting to run out the clock on another Mayor, this time the Keller Administration, knowing full well the municipal election is on November 2, 2021.

It’s more likely than not the police union’s $70,000 public relations campaign will fail, as it should. A major mistake the union has now made is that as a party to the lawsuit it should be taking its grievances to the Federal Court, and not the “court of public opinion”. Both the union attorneys are more than capable of filing pleadings in support or opposition of the CASA, present evidence under oath to the Judge and make argument in a court of law as to how the CASA reforms should be changed. With their $70,000 ad campaign, the police union may have bought a Contempt Proceeding for interference with a court order in a case that they are a party. No one knows if the Union attorneys had anything to do with the ad campaign or if they approved of it, especially with the Union spending $70,000 to disparage a Federal Court order.

APD has been struggling for over 6 years with trying to implement the DOJ consent decree reforms. After six years and millions spent, APD still has a long way to go to be compliant under the settlement before the case can be dismissed. The police union and rank and file have essentially done whatever they could do, and at different times, to interfere with the reform efforts.

The biggest failure made clear in Federal Court Monitor’s 12th report filed on November 2 relates to “Operational Compliance”. Operational Compliance is defined as “managements adherence and enforcement to APD policies in the day-to-day operation of APD” . Operational compliance is where line personnel are routinely held accountable for compliance by their sergeants, and sergeants are routinely held accountable for compliance by their lieutenants and upper command staff. In other words, APD “owns” and enforces its own policies and without expecting the Federal Monitor to do it for them.

APD police sergeants and lieutenants, who are management but allowed to be part of the police union, 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.

Only until APD becomes in complete compliance will APD be able to fight crime without violating people’s civil rights and thereby allow the dismissal of the DOJ consent decree. One thing for certain is that only APD management, the police union and all APD police officers can make the consent decree actually work and have the court dismiss it sooner rather than later.

The City of Albuquerque and the Department of Justice need to file a Motion for Contempt of Court, either individually or jointly, and seek sanctions against the APOA Union for intentional interference with the Court Approved Settlement Order with its political ad campaign and the CASA reforms. Two sanctions sought should be the removal of all APD Sergeants and Lieutenants from the bargaining unit and dismissing the APOA Union as a Third Party to the federal lawsuit. Otherwise, the disruptive nonsense of the union will continue.

The 2021 Albuquerque Municipal election for Mayor and City Council officially started on March 1. It was the first day candidates can declare to seek public finance beginning an 8-month election process. Election day is Tuesday, November 2, 2021. On the ballot this year will be the office for Mayor and the 5 odd numbered city council districts of the 9 city council seats. The council seats up for election are City Council seats 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9.

Thus far, there are 4 candidates for Mayor and 10 candidates for city council in the various council districts. The postscript to this blog contains a listing of those known to be running as well as the time frames to collect $5 qualifying donations and petition nominating signatures from registered Albuquerque voters.

The city is facing any number of problems that are bringing it to its knees. Those problems include the coronavirus pandemic, business closures, high unemployment rates, exceptionally high violent crime and murder rates, continuing mismanagement of the Albuquerque Police Department, failed implementation of the Department of Justice reforms after a full six years and millions spent, declining revenues and gross receipts tax, high unemployment rates, increasing homeless numbers, lack of mental health programs and little economic development.

QUESTIONS AND ISSUES

Before signing any petitions or donating to candidates, voters should know where candidates stand on the issues they care about and what they will do if elected. A few questions and issues candidates for Mayor need to think about and disclose their positions on include the following:

CITY PERSONNEL AND SERVICES:

1. Should the current Chief Administrative Officer, City Attorney, Chief of Police, Fire Department Chief, Chief of Staff, Chief Operations Officer and all other current department directors be replaced and if so with whom?
2. Are you in favor of a state “right to work statute” that would impact or eliminate city employee unions?
3. Should city unions be prohibited from endorsing candidates for municipal office?
4. Are you in favor of privatizing city services or work such as public safety, the 311 call center operations, the bus system or the maintenance and repair work done at city facilities such as the Bio Park?

APD AND CRIME:

1.What is your position on the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree and mandated reforms?
2. The city and APD have been working under a federal court approved settlement agreement for 6 years after the Department of Justice found a “culture of aggression” and the use of deadly force. The city has spent millions a year on the reforms and the city is no closer to the dismissal of the case. Is it time to have APD placed in receivership of the federal court or should the case just be dismissed?
3. What would you do to enhance civilian oversight of APD and the implementation of the Department of Justice mandated reforms?
4. Should the APD Chief, Assistant Chief, Deputy Chiefs and APD command staff be replaced with a national search and replaced by “outsiders”?
5. Should a national search be conducted for a new law enforcement management team to assume control of APD and make changes and implement the DOJ consent decree mandated reforms?
6. Should the function of Internal Affairs be removed from APD and civilianized under the city Office of Inspector General, the Internal Audit Department and the City Human Resources Department?
7. What are your plans for increasing APD staffing levels and what should those staffing levels be?
8. Since 2010, there have been 41 police officer involved shootings and the city has paid out $50 million to settle deadly force and excessive use of force cases. Should the City return to a “no settlement” policy involving alleged police misconduct cases and require a trial on the merits or a damages jury trial?
9 What are your plans or solutions to bringing down high property and violent crime rates in Albuquerque?
10. Should APD personnel or APD resources be used in any manner to enforce federal immigration laws and assist federal immigration authorities?
11. Should APD and the Bernalillo County Sherriff’s Office be abolished and consolidated to form one regional law enforcement agency, combining resources with the appointment of a governing civilian authority and the appointment of a Superintendent of Public Safety?

THE ECONOMY:

1.What strategy would you implement to bring new industries, corporations and jobs to Albuquerque?
2. Albuquerque’s major growth industries include health care, transportation, manufacturing, retail and tourism with an emerging film industry. What programs would you propose to help or enhance these industries?
3. Do you intend to keep the current Director of the City’s Economic Development Department and support staff?
4.The current budget for the Economic Development is $7.5 million out of a $1.2 Billion Budget, would you be in favor of more than tripling the budget to allow for investment grants?
5. To what extent should tax increment districts, industrial revenue bonds and income bonds be used to spur Albuquerque’s economy?
6. What financial incentives do you feel the city can or should offer and provide to the private sector to attract new industry and jobs to Albuquerque, and should that include start-up grants or loans with “claw back” provisions?
7. What sort of private/public partnership agreements or programs should be implemented to spur economic development?
8. What sort of programs or major projects or facilities, if any, should the city partner with the State or County to spur economic development?
9. What programs can the city implement to better coordinate its economic development with the University of New Mexico and the Community College of New Mexico (CNM) to insure an adequately trained workforce for new employers locating to Albuquerque?
10. Are you in favor of the enactment of a gross receipt tax or property tax dedicated strictly to economic development, programs or construction projects to revitalize Albuquerque that would be enacted by the City Council or be voter approved?
11. What programs can Albuquerque implement to insure better cooperation with Sandia Labs and the transfer of technology information for economic development.
12. On September 6, 2019, a $29 million infrastructure bond tax package was approved by the Albuquerque City Council at the Mayor’s request to be financed by the City’s Lodger’s Tax. The lodger tax bond package was labeled as a “Sports – Tourism Lodger Tax ” because it was to be used for a number of projects around the city labeled as “sports tourism opportunities.” The lodger tax is paid by those staying at hotels and vacation rentals in the city and by ordinance is to be used to promote tourism, not athletics facilities for general population use. Do you feel that this was appropriate?

PLANNING AND DEVELOPMENT:

1.What is your position on the rewriting of the comprehensive zoning code which was an attempt to bring “clarity and predictability” to the development regulations and to attract more “private sector investment”? Critics say it has essentially “gutted” sector development plans by the development community and it has repeal all sector development plans designed to protect neighborhoods and their character.
2. Should the City of Albuquerque seek the repeal by the New Mexico legislature of laws that prohibit city annexation of property without county approval?

EDUCATION:

1.Should the City of Albuquerque have representation or be included on the Albuquerque School board, the University of New Mexico Board of Regents and the Community College of New Mexico Board?
2. What should the City do to help reduce high school dropout rates?
3. Should the City of Albuquerque advocate to the New Mexico legislature increasing funding for early child care development programs and intervention programs with increased funding from the permanent fund?
4. What education resources should or can the City make available to the Albuquerque school system?

POVERTY AND THE HOMELESS

1. What should be done to reduce the homeless population in Albuquerque?
2. What services should the City provide to the homeless and poor if any?
3. Should the City continue to support the “coming home” program?
4. Should the city be more involved with the county in providing mental health care facilities and programs?
5. The city has purchased the 530,000 square foot Gibson Medical Center for $15 Million. Should the facility be converter to one, single 24/7 homeless shelter facility for 300 or more homeless as a centralized facility or should the city use a “multi-site approach” to the city’s homelessness crisis and have a number of smaller shelters that would only house up to 50 to 75 people?

TAXATION AND PROJECT FINANCING:

1.Are you in favor of increasing the city’s current gross receipts tax or property taxes to pay for essential services and make up for lost gross receipt tax revenues caused in part by the repeal of the “hold harmless” provision and that has mandated budget and personnel cuts during the last 7 years?
2. Do you feel that all increases in gross receipts taxes should be voter approved?
3. The City has borrowed over $63 million dollars over the past two years to build “pickle ball” courts, baseball fields and the ART bus project down central by bypassing voters and using revenue bonds as the financing mechanism to pay for big capital projects. Do you feel revenue bonds is an appropriate funding mechanism for large capital projects?
4. Are you in favor of constructing an outdoor soccer stadium costing $60 Million to $80 or a multipurpose arena funded by use of bonding and where should it be built?

OTHER ISSUES

1. What is your position on the mandatory sick leave initiative known as the “Healthy Workforce” ordinance mandating private businesses to pay sick leave to employees?
2. Should the City and the City Attorney’s office enforce the increase in the minimum wage and mandatory sick leave initiatives?
4. If you qualify to be a public finance candidate, will you truly be a public finance candidate or do you intend to rely upon measured finance committee’s set up to promote your candidacy?
5. Should major capital improvement projects such as the Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) project, be placed on the ballot for voter approval?
6. What is your position on the ART Bus project and should the line be dismantled and should historic Route 66 be restored to its original number of lanes and the ART Bus platforms dedicated to new uses ?
7. Should Albuquerque become a “sanctuary city” by City Council resolution or by a public vote or not at all?

CONCLUSION

The city cannot afford a mayor nor city councilors who makes promises and offers only eternal hope for better times that result in broken campaign promises. What is needed are city elected officials who actually know what they are doing, who will make the hard decisions without an eye on their next election, not make decisions only to placate their base and please only those who voted for them. What’s needed is a healthy debate on solutions and new ideas to solve our mutual problems, a debate that can happen only with a contested election. A highly contested races reveal solutions to our problems.

Voters are entitled to and should expect more from candidates than fake smiles, slick commercials, and no solutions and no ideas. Our City needs more than promises of better economic times and lower crime rates for Albuquerque and voters need to demand answers and hold elected officials accountable.
_________________________________

POSTSCRIPT

CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR

DEMOCRAT INCUMBENT MAYOR TIM KELLER
DEMOCRAT SHERIFF MANNY GONZALES
NICHOLAS BEVINS
PATRICK BEN SAIS

From April 17 to June 19, 2021, publicly financed candidates for Mayor must gather both 3,000 signatures from registered voters within the City and the $5.00 qualifying donations. Each name and signature on the nominating petition is reviewed and compared to the voter registration rolls. If the person who has signed the petition name is not on the voter registration rolls, it is disqualified. Therefore, far more than 3,000 signatures are needed to take into account disqualified signatures. Consequently, as many signatures above the 3,000 requirement is recommended for a “buffer” in order to ensure the minimum number of nominating signatures are secured.

LATER TIMES FOR PRIVATELY FINANCE CANDIDATES FOR MAYOR

The time for privately financed candidates for Mayor to collect signatures is much later from publicly finance candidates. That time is from June 8 to August 10, 2021. Privately Finance Candidates for Mayor must also gather 3,000 signatures from registered voters within the City.

CANDIDATES FOR CITY COUNCIL

On the November ballot this year will be the 5 odd numbered city council districts of the 9 city council seats. The council seats up for election are City Council seats 1, 3, 5, 7, and 9. Thus far, the candidates for City Council the November 2, 2021 municipal election are:

DISTRICT 1: Albuquerque’s Central West Side.

Incumbent City Councilor Lan Sena announced announced on April 25, she is seeking a full term after having been appointed by Mayor Keller to fill out the term of the late City Councillot Ken Sanchez.

District 3: Southwest part of Albuquerque.

Incumber City Councilor Klarissa Peña is making it known she will be seeking another term.

DISTRICT 5: Northwest part of Albuquerque

INCUMBENT CITY COUNCILOR CYNTHIA D. BORREGO is making it known she will be seeking another term.
PHILLIP RAMIREZ

DISTRICT 7: Mid-heights including uptown and parts of the near northeast heights.

Tammy Fiebelkorn
Mauro Walden-Montoya

DISTRICT 9: Far Southeast Heights and Foothills.

Andrew Lipman
BYRON K POWDRELL
ROB GILLY, JR.
RENEE GROUT

From May 31 to July 5, 2021, publicly financed candidates for City Council must gather 500 qualifying signatures from registered voters within the district the candidate wishes to represent. From May 31 to July 5, 2021, or approximately 4 weeks, publicly finance candidates for City Council can collect the $5.00 donations. There are varying number of $5.00 donations for each council district.

PRIVATELY FINANCED CANDIDATES FOR CITY COUNCIL NOMINATING SIGNATURES

The time for privately financed candidates for City Council to collect signatures is from July 6 to August 10, 2021. Privately Financed Candidates for City Council must gather at least 500 signatures from registered voters within the district the candidate wishes to represent.

Saturday, April 17 was the first day that candidates for Mayor and City Council seeking public financing were allowed to start circulating nominating petitions for signatures and allowed to solicit the $5.00 qualifying donations for public financing. The commencement time for privately finance candidates to collect nominating petition signatures for Mayor is June 8 and for City Council it is July 6.

Saturday, April 17 was the first day that candidates for Mayor and City Council seeking public financing were allowed to start circulating nominating petitions for signatures and allowed to solicit the $5.00 qualifying donations for public financing. The commencement time for privately finance candidates to collect nominating petition signatures for Mayor is June 8 and for City Council it is July 6.

City Clerk records reveal that there is one more candidate for Mayor, 3 more candidates for City Council and a measured finance committee set up for the re election of Mayor Tim Keller.
The link to the city clerks web site is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2021-candidates

ONE MORE CANDIDATE FOR MAYOR, MAYBE TWO

RADIO TALK SHOW HOST EDDY ARAGON

According to the City Clerk’s records radio talk show host Eddy Aragon has submitted his candidate registration paperwork to run for Mayor. Aragon also ran for Mayor four years ago but failed to get on the ballot and collect the $5.00 qualifying donations for public finance because of a last-minute entry. Just recently, Aragon ran against State Republican Party Chairman Steve Pierce for Republican Party chairman proclaiming the party needed a new generation of leader. Aragon is an extreme, right wing conservative and staunch supporter of President Trump. Aragon is known for his sharp tongue approach on his radio programs that alienates both friends and foes alike. Aragon has essentially bought into the Sean Hannity approach to promoting right wing conservatism. Aragon has been extremely critical of Mayor Tim Keller and Keller’s progressive agenda at the city, and that is likely to get worse even if Aragon does not run.

NEWS UPDATE: ARAGON OUT

On April 27, “New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan” has reported that Republican talk show host Eddy Aragon is not running for Mayor:

Radio talk show host, Republican and avid Trump backer Eddy Aragon told us Monday he will not be launching a mayoral candidacy, after speculation that he might:

“I don’t have the motivation to run. I have a business to attend to but I will continue to point out the wrong direction the NMGOP is taking including the role of Steve Pearce and Jay McCleskey. Republicans are backing Democrat Gonzales and that is traitorous. Not to mention that the current crime wave has happened under Gonzales’ watch.”

FORMER COUNTY COMMISSONER LONNIE TALBERT

It has been reported that former Bernalillo County Commissioner and Commission Chairman Lonnie Talbert has said “he’d “definitely consider … if it were the right opportunity at the right time.” Talbert is a bank executive and president with Southwest Capital Bank. Talbert recently termed out after eight years representing the county’s northeast district on the commission.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2383801/several-vying-for-abq-mayors-office.html

FOUR MORE FOR CITY COUNCIL

District 1

On Sunday, April 25 District 1 City Councilor LAN SENA announced that she is running for her first full term to the City Council. She represents Albuquerque’s Central West Side. She was appointed to the City Council in March 2020, by Mayor Tim Keller. To date there are no others running in District 1.

DISTRICT 5

CYNTHIS BORREGO: On April 29, City Councilor Cynthia Borrego filed her Candidate Registration form with the City Clerk and is listed as seeking public financing. JOSHUA MARTINEZ is listed as her Treasurer. Borrego has yet to make a formal announcement, but her registration and collection of $5 qualifying donations to the city confirms she is running for a second 4 year term.

DAN LEWIS: April 18 former Albuquerque City Councilor Dan Lewis for the District filed his intent Listed as the thee Treasurer for the Lewis campaign is ELLIS MCMATH. Listed as an Alternate contact is MEGAN MCMILLAN who ostensibly is a political campaign consultant who works for Jay McClusk in that the contact email is for MCCLESKEY MEDIA. Jay McClusky in the former campaign manager for former Governor Susana Martinez and former Republican Mayor RJ Berry and is the go to guy for Republican candidates. Jay McClusky is known as a “slash and burn” political consultant.

PHILLIP RAMIREZ has submitted his candidate registration paperwork to run for City Council District 5. District 5 is the Northwest part of Albuquerque. Democrat City Councilor Cynthia D. Borrego is the incumbent and she was elected to City Council in November 2017. Ramirez was one of 5 candidates in 2017 who initially ran against Councilor Borrego, but Ramirez failed to qualify for the ballot.

Listed as the Treasurer for the Ramirez campaign is CORRINE TREVINO. Also listed as her email address is SISTO@ABEYTAASSICIATES.COM. Sisto Abyeta is a very well know progressive Democrat political consultant who has been involved in many campaigns over the years. He is the primary principal in his political consulting firm Abeyta Associates. It is more likely than not that Abeyta is the campaign manager for Ramirez. In 2019, Sisto Abeyta was the main political consultant for Democrat Joseph Griego who ran for City Council District 2 and was the first to qualify for public financing but District 2 incumbent City Councilor Isaac Benton prevailed beating out 4 opponents.

https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7113

DISTRICT 7

District 7 is current represented by Diane Gibson. District 7 is Albuquerque’s mid-heights including uptown and parts of the near northeast heights. On April 20, it was reported that Diane Gibson will not be seeking a third term. The city clerk lists Tammy Fiebelkorn as a candidate for the position but she has yet to announce.

On April 26, attorney and community activist Mauro Walden-Montoya announced he is running to fill the vacancy. Mr. Montoya was born and raised in Albuquerque, he is a Highland High School graduate, a New Mexico State graduate and he is a 1984 George Washington University Law School graduate. He has been very involved with the Albuquerque LGBTQ community and organizing the Gay Pride Parade in Albuquerque. Mauro Walden-Montoya is the past the president of the Albuquerque LGBTQ Chamber of Commerce. He has been the LGBTQ Ambassador for the city’s One Albuquerque program and coordinated the Western Business Alliance conference in 2020. He is a board member for Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains and works at the City of Albuquerque and Albuquerque Tourism & Scenic Factory. He is married to Andy Walden Montoya since July 5, 2014.

The link to Mr. Walden-Montoya’s announcement in here:

https://www.facebook.com/DaddyMauro/videos/10159511077328552/?comment_id=10159511122498552&notif_id=1619485450214182&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif

DISTRICT 9

On February 27, Republican City Councilor Don Harris who was first elected to the City Council in 2005, announced he is not running for another term (as if anyone knew he has been on the council for 14 years). District 9 is the far Southeast Heights and Foothills.

There are two new candidates that have filed candidate registrations for City Council District 9, bring the total number up to 4 candidates with Byron Powdrell and Andrew Lipman.

The two other candidates are ROB GILLY, JR. and RENEE GROUT.

ROB GILLY, JR. is seeking public financing. The link to the Rob Grilly City Clerk page is here:

https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7116

STEPHANIE TEICH-MCGOLDRICK is listed as the Treasurer for Rob Grilley Jr for City Council.

RENNE GROUT

Renee Gout is seeking public financing. The link to the Renee Grout City Clerk page is here:

https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7115

Listed as the Treasurer for Renee Grout is RUSS HILLER.

Listed as the alternate contact for Renee Grout is MEGAN MCMILLAN.

ONE MEASURED FINANCE COMMITTEE FOR MAYOR TIM KELLER

Under the City of Albuquerque’s campaign finance laws, a Measure Finance Committee is a political action committee (PAC), person or group that supports or opposes a candidate or ballot measure within the City of Albuquerque. Measure Finance Committees are required to register with the City Clerk within five (5) days once they have raised or spent more than $250 towards their purpose.

All Measure Finance Committees must register with the Albuquerque City Clerk, regardless of the group’s registration as a political action committee (PAC) with another governmental entity, county, state or federal. Measure finance committees are allowed to commence fundraising at anytime but are required file financial statements and limits on donations are provided by law.

Measure finance committees are not bound by the individual contribution limits and business bans like candidates. However, a Measure Finance Committee that receives aggregate contributions more than 30% of the Mayor’s salary from one individual or entity, must incorporate the donor’s name into the name of the committee. No Measure Finance Committee is supposed to coordinate their activities with the individual candidates running for office, but this is a very gray area as to what constitutes coordination of activities and it is difficult to enforce.

Two measured Finance committees have been formed ostensibly to support and promote Manny Gonzales For Mayor. Those measured finance committees are:

1. RETIRED LAW ENFORCEMENT FOR A BETTER ALBUQUERQUE

STATED PURPOSE: “Support Albuquerque mayoral candidate who will improve the quality of life for it’s citizens as well as oppose candidates that are detrimental to the future growth and safety of Albuquerque”.

The chairperson of the “Retired Law Enforcement for a Better Albuquerque is Jason Katz and the Treasurer is listed as Sistine Jaramillo. Upon information and belief, Jason Katz is a former and retired Chief Deputy of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office and is a longtime supporter and has worked for Gonzales. No background information could be located on Sistine Jaramillo.

https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7104

2. SAVE OUR CITY

STATED PURPOSE: To address the serious crime and leadership problem in Albuquerque

The Chairperson of “Save Our City” is Sam Vigil and the Treasurer is Republican State Representative Bill Rehm.

Sam Vigil is the husband Jacquiline Vigil who was gun down in her car backing out of the family home driveway in the early morning hours as she was leaving for the gym. She is the mother of 2 state police officers.

Bill Rehm is a Republican New Mexico State Representative District 31, Bernalillo County, has been a State Representative since 2006. Rehm retired in 2000 from BCSO Sheriff’s office as Captain.

https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7109

AND NOW THERE IS ONE FOR KELLER

As of April 26, one measured finance committees has been formed to support Mayor Tim Keller’s bid for a second 4 year term .

The Measured finance committee is identified as “ BUILD BACK ‘BURQUE”.

STATED PURPOSE: Support mayor Tim Keller’s re-election to a second term for the city of Albuquerque

The Chairperson for “Build Back ‘Burque” is Michelle Mayorga. According to the American Association of Political Consultants “Michelle Mayorga has spent nearly 2 decades working on campaigns, progressive issues, and in local and national administrations. She previously served as Western Field Director at the AFL-CIO, Western Political Director at the DCCC, and Coordinated Director for the Democratic Party of New Mexico in 2012.”

https://theaapc.org/awards/40-under-40/class-of-2016/michelle-mayorga/

The Treasurer for “Build Back ‘Burque” is Robert Lara. Mr. Lara is a licensed New Mexico attorney and is the former State Treasurer of the Democratic Party of New Mexico.

https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/OrganizationDetail.aspx?OrganizationID=7112

COMMENTARY: With well known Democrat Robert Lara, the former Democratic Party Treasurer and Michelle Mayorga, a highly successful Democratic political operative and fund raiser on board to head up “Build Back ‘Burque” you can expect they will be tapping into high dollar end donations within the Democratic Party from throughout the State and nationally. Both Lara and Mayorga have a proven record of raising high dollar campaign donations. It’s likely Lara and Mayorga will raise upwards of $1 million or even more to promote Keller for Mayor. Further the fund raising duo will likely solicit donations from Keller donors when he ran for State Senate and State Auditor where he raised hundreds of thousands in large donations from the Democratic party faithful. The meaning of the name of the measured finance committee “Build Back ‘Burque” is difficult to understand and it should have been called “Buy Back Burque Again”.

OTHER POTENTIAL REPUBLICAN CANDIDATES TO WATCH

Even though the qualifying period to collect $5.00 donations and nominating petitions commence on April 17 and ends June 19, 2021 for publicly financed there is still more than enough time for many more to run for Mayor as privately financed candidates. The time for privately financed candidates for Mayor to collect signatures is much later from publicly finance candidates. That time for Privately Finance Candidates for Mayor to gather 3,000 signatures from registered voters within the City is from June 8 to August 10, 2021.

With two highly visible Democratic candidates running for Mayor, the chances of more Republicans entering the race does increase. A few of those Republicans being mentioned include:

1. Republican and former City Councilor Dan Lewis

Lewis lost to Keller 3 years ago in a landslide runoff. Lewis is giving mixed signals if he wants to run again for his old city council seat or run for Mayor. Lewis relied on private finance to run for Mayor 4 years ago. Review of all the campaign finance reports filed with the City Clerk reveals that Republican Dan Lewis raised more than $847,000 in private cash contributions for his 2017 run for Mayor and raised more than $22,000 in “in-kind” contributions for the elections for a total of $869,000, which is an impressive amount of money by any measure for a municipal election.

2. Republican Michelle Garcia Holmes

Garcia Homes is a retired APD officer and Democrat Attorney General Gary King’s spokesperson, a 2017 candidate for Mayor, the 2018 Republican candidate for Lt. Governor and the 2020 Republican Candidate for Congress and staunch Trump supporter even after the January 6 insurrection and takeover of the United States Capital. Garcia Homes posted on FACEBOOK that it was not Trump supporters who stormed the capitol on January 6 but “antifa” dressed up pretending to be Trump supporters.

3. 2020 Republican US Senate candidate Mark Ronchette

Mark Ronchette could easily run for Mayor. Ronchette made a respectable showing for U. S. Senate and his strong Republican base of support and likeability by his viewers in Albuquerque would make him formidable in a nonpartisan race such as Mayor.

4. Republican Steve Maestas

Steve Maestas is a respected and successful real estate developer and principal of Maestas & Ward. He has never run nor held public office before and is unknown to the general public. Sources are saying is he is willing and wealthy enough to self-finance, but saying it and doing it are always two totally different things.

5. Republican freshman City Councilor Brook Bassan

City Councilor Bassan is emerging as a major critic of Mayor Keller on the City Council and making some sense at times. Bassan still has very limited understanding of city government and how it works after serving only two years, but would likely attract strong Republican support both in organization and funding.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Mayor Tim Keller is no doubt breathing a little easier now that a measured finance committee has been formed to raise money and promote him. In 2017, Keller’s public finance campaign was underwritten by 3 measured finance committees that raised thousands of dollars to promote Keller for Mayor. Keller did not discourage it but mislead the public when he said he was opposed to dark money campaign contributions but said he was “walking the talk” by accepting public finance and agreeing to the spending cap. He is doing it all over again as he runs for a second term. The beauty of such a scheme is to be able to run a positive campaign with you public finance money and let the measured finance committee throw the political collective feces at your opponents.

In the 2017 municipal election, “ABQ Forward Together” was the progressive measured finance committee that was formed specifically to raise money to promote progressive Tim Keller for Mayor. The measured finance committee chairperson was Neri Olguin a former campaign manager of Tim Keller’s when he successfully ran for State Senate and who is now an alternate contact for the 2021 Keller campaign. “ABQ Forward Together” raised over $663,000 for Keller’s 2017 bid for Mayor. The amount included cash donations or in-kind donations from the Working Families Party, Ole and the Center for Civic Action.

During the 2017 Mayor’s race, Keller received significant support in one form or another from the progressive organizations of OLÉ of New Mexico, the New Mexico Working Families Party, and Progress Now New Mexico. All 3 organizations or their membership in one form or another became very involved with the 2017 Albuquerque Mayor’s race.

When it was all said and done, a total of $1,358,254 was actually spent on Tim Keller’s 2017 successful campaign for Mayor. According to City Campaign finance reports, Keller was given $506,254 public finance money, $663,000 was raised by the measured finance committee ABQ Forward for Keller, $67,000 was spent by ABQFIREPAC on Keller’s behalf and $122,000 was spent by ABQ Working Families for Keller for a total of $1,358,254.

2021 MAYOR’S RACE

It is more likely than not the Mayor Tim Keller and Sheriff Manny Gonzales will likely qualify for the $661,309.25 in public finance by collecting 3,779 qualifying $5 donations made to the city by registered voters. The same cannot be said for Mayor candidates Nicholas Bevins and Patrick Ben Sais given the extreme difficulty it takes to collect that many $5 donations unless you have hundreds of dedicated supporters. In order to collect 3,779 qualifying donations over the 64 days allotted, a candidate’s campaign must collect at least 59 donations a day plus 3 more.

(64 collection days X 59 donations a day + 3 = 3,779)

If Bevins, Sais and Aragon fail to collected the 3,779 qualifying donations of $5.00 for public financing of $660,000, they can always revert to and elect to private financing. They are still required to collect the 3,000 in nominating petition signatures.

MEASURED FINANCE COMMITTEES WARP MAYOR’S RACE

The fact that measure finance committees are not bound by the individual contribution limits and business bans like candidates is what makes them a major threat to warping and influencing our municipal elections and the outcome. Any Measure Finance Committee can raise and spend unlimited amounts of money and can produce negative ads to destroy any candidate’s reputation and candidacy.

The influence of big money in elections allowed by the US Supreme Court decision Citizens United is destroying our democracy. Political campaign fundraising and big money influence are warping our election process. Money spent becomes equated with the final vote.

Money drives the message, affects voter turnout and ultimately the outcome. It is disingenuous for any public finance candidate to secure taxpayer money first to run their campaigns, agree in writing to a spending cap, and then have their political operatives or supporters solicit or create a measure finance committee to help them get elected and spend massive amounts of money to give them an unfair advantage in the first election and then the runoff.

Voters need to follow the money and demand to know where the outside money known as “dark money” is coming from for any Measure Finance Committee and find out exactly who is trying to influence the election for the candidates. Voters need to beware of the candidates and their political consultants who are seeking help from measured finance committees to be fully informed as to who they are indebted to once they have been elected.

Links to previous related blog articles are here:

2021 Election For Mayor And City Council Starts March 1; 3,000 Petition Signatures For Mayor, 500 Signatures For City Council; $661,309 Public Finance For Mayor And $40,000 To $50,000 For Council; City Hall Jobs At Stake; Measured Finance Committees Will Warp 2021 Municipal

Four Seek Public Finance For Mayor, Two Seek Public Finance For City Council; “Elementary My Dear Watson” Who Two Measured Finance Committees Will Be Raising Money And Promoting For Mayor

On April 21, it was reported that APD Chief Harold Medina has ordered the APD Internal Affairs Division to open an investigation of a former Albuquerque police officer who recently retired. The grounds of the Internal Affairs Investigation is that the retiring police officer sent a “farewell email” to all his colleagues. The email was considered highly contentious by Chief Medina.

In the email, the officer thanked his coworkers for their friendship, and the department for its training. He then went on to criticize the mandatory Department of Justice police reforms. The retiring officer wrote in part:

“Remember that the overwhelming majority of citizens do not care about ‘police reform,’ but rather they care about the crime that is plaguing this city. It is your job to take care of that crime, and you should not be constrained from doing so.”

In ordering the Internal Affairs Investigation, APD Chief Harold Medina said it was unfair of that officer to make that generalization. Medina had this to say as justification for the Internal Affairs investigation:

“When you have an individual, who chooses to leave this department and make statements such as ‘The vast majority of the community doesn’t care about police reform’ and ‘They care about crime only,’ that’s an unfair statement to make on behalf of the community. If this employee looks to get hired on in other locations, it’s imperative that we have a complete process and a package to be able to allow their internal affairs to recognize and understand what type of individual they’re hiring. … I would venture to say that most agencies in today’s climate would have concerns if someone doesn’t believe in police reform.

UNION REACTION

The police union was quick to condemn the IA investigation. The union said the investigation into an officer who doesn’t even work at the department anymore is nothing but a waste of time and taxpayer dollars. The union added that the IA investigation is just one example of the department handcuffing its own officers by over scrutinizing them. The police union has said officers feel like they’re under a microscope, and that APD will lose many of them as a result.

Shaun Willoughby, president of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association (APOA) had this to say about the email:

“We call that a little parting gift. … I think in a highly sensitive reading of the email, they might say, ‘Oh my gosh. He said something negative about reform,’ which is absolutely comical. … One thing is for certain—there is no morale, and the officers don’t feel safe doing their job because they’re damned if they do, damned if they don’t. ”

The retiring officer’s email comes shortly after an APD sergeant was put on administrative leave for his role in an arrest at a protest earlier this month and after 20 Emergency Response Team members resigned. As to the protest, Medina said the Internal Affairs is looking at if the sergeant involved did not do what a lieutenant told him.

The link to the quoted source material is here:

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/apd-launches-internal-affairs-investigation-after-former-officer-sends-out-controversial-email/6082816/?cat=500

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

There is no getting around it. The only way you can characterize APD Chief Medina calling for an Internal Affairs Investigation over an email that was a parting shot by a retiring office to the department is retaliatory that borders on being vindictive. It’s alarming that Medina would says “If this employee looks to get hired on in other locations, it’s imperative that we have a complete process and a package to be able to allow their internal affairs to recognize and understand what type of individual they’re hiring”. What Medina has done is make an “admission against interest” showing the Internal Affairs Investigation is retaliatory. Any labor law attorney worth their salt will no doubt have a field day with such a remark if the retiring police officer is in fact deprived of a job or livelihood.

The City Attorney may want to have a very long talk with APD Chief Medina and advise him that New Mexico has now enacted a Civil Rights Act. Under the act, a cause of action has been created for anyone to sue government employees for violations of civil rights, including freedom of speech. The defense of qualified immunity does not exist for such actions. The email sent by the retiree was likely protected free speech.

Medina has a history and a reputation for reactive decision-making and his ordering an IA investigation on a retired police officer for comments made in an internal memo confirms that reputation. Instead of reacting to the email by ordering and Internal Affairs Investigation, Medina should have ignored it or merely thanked the officer for his years of service, expressed disappointment that the officer felt that way and move on with more pressing issues. But no, Medina could not resist one final cheap shot to make sure everyone knows who is in charge.

On Sunday, April 11, hundreds of people went to downtown Civic Plaza as “counter protesters” in response to rumors that the white supremacist group “Proud Boys had planned to hold a rally. As a precaution, APD’s Emergency Response Team, which are police officers trained to deal with protests and unrest, were dispatched.

White supremist and the Proud Boys never showed up. However, 26-year-old Deyontae Williams did show up. He was armed with a rifle and a handgun and accompanied by a woman and two young children. Williams stood across the street of Civic Plaza in front of the convention center holding a sign that said “all guns matter.” ERT Officers approached Williams who told the officers he was not planning to enter Civic Plaza where firearms are banned.

Williams caught the attention of the protesters with his carrying of a rifle and handgun and a sign saying “all guns matter”. Soon upwards of 100 protesters crossed the street and surrounded him and confronted him. Seeing what was happening, the ERT Officers determine “that imminent danger” existed for Williams and the woman and the two children that were with him. The ERT officers removed Williams safely from the area and away from the crowd.

An APD Incident Commander ostensibly witnessing what what going on from the APD “Real Time Crime Center” had ordered Williams to be detained at the scene for questioning and dispatched a detective to interview him. However, the ERT officers on the scene released Williams without citing him. APD filed a criminal complaint against Deyontae Williams charging him with misdemeanor abandonment or cruelty to a child and a summons was issued.

APD launched an Internal Affairs investigation into the decision to release Deyontae Williams. The ERT sergeant who ordered the release of Williams was put on leave with the sergeant’s gun and badge immediately taken. APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos said the command staff was concerned that Williams had been given preferential treatment by ERT when he was released. According to Gallegos, after review of what happened, it was found there was no indication of preferential treatment. The ERT sergeant was released to return to duty within 24 hours after the suspension. However, Gallegos said:

“The internal investigation into whether policies were violated is still ongoing.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/2380553/officers-leave-emergency-response-team-after-sundays-protest.html

MISDEMEANOR CRIMINAL COMPLAINT FILED

On April 19, a Criminal Complaint was filed in Metropolitan Court against Deyontae Williams by APD Detective Conrad Griego charging Williams with misdemeanor “Abandonment or Cruelty to a Child” in violation of City Ordinance 12-05-01b2A. According to the complaint, Detective Griego is a secondary, on call West Side Impact Detective, he is not a ERT police officer, but was called out to investigate the incident after it occurred. The complaint was telephonically approved by APD Lt. Legendre the supervisor of Det. Griego. The complaint was not reviewed nor approved by the District Attorney’s Office.

The complaint is a mere one-page document and provides a very, very short narrative of facts of what happened. The complaint was filed by an APD Detective that sources have verified was not present and who did not witness the events but filed the complaint “based upon information and belief.”

City Ordinance 12-05-01b2A as charged in the complaint provides as follows:

(B) Cruelty to children consists of any parent, guardian or other person having care or custody of any child either:
(1) Intentionally causing or permitting:
(a) The life of such child to be endangered
… “

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS ON CRIMINAL COMPLAINT

The charge of “Abandonment and Cruelty to Children” is a criminal misdemeanor charge under a city ordinance, not a felony state charge. The criminal complaint states in pertinent part:

“… a man … identified as Deyontae Williams, was seen by police open carrying a rifle and firearm. He was accompanied by a female and two young children, one whom was about a 7-year-old boy. Police contacted the man and advised that the civic plaza forbids the carrying firearms. He replied he intended not to enter the Civic Plaza.

Police determined that imminent danger was present for [Deyontae Williams], his female companion, but moreover for the two minors; a reasonable fear that the man would use the firearms in order to protect the children was imminent. This lead the on scene police to remove him safely from the contentious crowd.”

It’s a real stretch of the facts and the imagination to charge Williams with “cruelty to children” consisting of “intentionally causing or permitting … the life of … a child to be endangered”. What is speculation is for the affiant Detective Griego to proclaim “Police determined that imminent danger was present for [Deyontae Williams], his female companion, but moreover for the two minors; a reasonable fear that the man would use the firearms in order to protect the children was imminent” seeing as Greigo was not the one to make the judgement call and Williams was removed by the ERT Officers for his safety.

Removing Williams from the scene was what any reasonable police officer would do under the facts and circumstances and it was totally appropriate to diffuse the situation. The removal was a judgement call totally within the discretion of the ERT police officers, as was the decision to release Williams without charging him. By all accounts the ERT police officers acted professionally, reasonably and as trained and within the scope and course of their authority.

The charge requires proof of intent of “beyond a reasonable doubt”. The facts charged are devoid of anything that indicate intent to endanger the children or to put them in harms way. One example would be using the children as human shields from the crowd. There are no allegations to what extent and how the crowd “confronted him”. Further the complaint supports that the on-scene ERT Police Officers removed him from the scene, but no mention is made of the children and the woman being removed for their safety.

What complicates the case is the fact that Deyontae Williams was totally within his Second Amendment rights with the open carry of firearms which is legal in New Mexico and contained in the state constitution. The fact that he opened carried a rifle and firearm would only escalate and be a criminal offense if he used it to threaten the crowd, which he did not based on the complaint.

The criminal complaint filed by APD against Deyontae Williams is defective on its face. The complaint lacks sufficient factual allegations to support the charge. It should have never been filed as alleged and written. APD would be wise to dismiss the charge. Otherwise APD risks the allegation and the defense of “malicious prosecution” by Mr. Williams.

RESIGNATION FALLOUT

As a direct result of the suspension of the ERT Sargent and the Internal Affairs Investigation into whether police policies were violated, upwards of 20 Emergency Response Team members resigned in protest and in solidarity saying they did not want to staff protests any longer.

Shaun Willoughby, president of the Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association, took to the media for interviews, called the suspension of the APD Sergeant “a knee jerk reaction,” and had this to say about the resignations:

“Why would you want to be at the tip of the spear of one of the most highly volatile political footballs ever, to volunteer for this extracurricular duty called ERT and then to be second-guessed about decisions that were made on the ground … It just doesn’t make you feel supported as a police officer.”

We are seeing a dramatic increase of Albuquerque police officers applying to go to other departments. … Morale, let’s not even talk about it because it doesn’t exist. There is no morale. Your Albuquerque police officers are absolutely miserable at work— nobody’s happy.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/2380553/officers-leave-emergency-response-team-after-sundays-protest.html

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/more-than-a-dozen-apd-officers-resign-from-emergency-response-team-following-weekend-protest/6075665/?cat=500

CHIEF MEDINA MEETS WITH EMERGENCY RESPONSE TEAM

APD Chief Harold Medina called for a meeting with the ERT officers after he learned 20 officers were resigning from the unit stemming from the protest on Civic Plaza. The resignations included one APD Lieutenant, and 2 sergeants from the team that handles protests.

According to APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos, Chief Medina wanted to meet with the unit “after learning the union was providing incomplete information about the incident”, no doubt referring to the Union President Shaun Willoughby’s media blitz and interviews. Willoughby has always been attracted to the light of TV news cameras like a miller moth to bright lights in the summer night.

Following is a link to an audio of APD Chief Harold Medina addressing APD’s Emergency Response Team (ERT) to give an explanation as to what happened and why the officer was placed on leave.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aFnAtI0a38qZiDajWfN1CH6ZvNrdcio_/view

HIGHLIGHTS OF RECORDING

Throughout the recording, Chief Medina seems to berate and then sympathize with the officers at the same time. He also shows self-pity. Medina makes more than a few amazing disclosures. Those disclosures include the following:

1. Medina explains to the officers and sergeants that the decision to charge the man carrying a firearm across from Civic Plaza with his children during the protest came after consultation with Albuquerque City Attorney’s Office. The problem is that Assistant City Attorneys are not criminal prosecutors like Assistant District Attorneys and are civil attorney’s with very little or no criminal prosecution background nor of criminal offenses.

2. Police officers complained that they are afraid that if they do their jobs properly, they’ll be disciplined and fired.

3. Chief Medina told police officers during the meeting:

“I don’t know about anybody here, but any armed person who is outside displaying their firearms, to me, are also part of the problem. I’m not saying they are doing anything illegal. I am saying they are adding more and more fuel and gas to the problem.”

The problem with this statement is that “open carry” of firearms in New Mexico is legal and open carrying of a firearm in and of itself should not be taken as any grounds to make criminal charges, which is exactly what happened.

4. Chief Medina laments that rank-and-file police offers are not the only ones who are under extensive public and media scrutiny. Medina laments that he and his family are under intense scrutiny. Medina tells the ERT officers that it was he who saved the historic KIMO theater from being burned down during a summer protest on Central. He complained that he and his family have taken abuse for his killing of a 14-year-old child in 2002. Medina said he sacrificed himself and took “the hits” for the June Onate protest last year when he was in fact off duty and at home enjoying the holiday with his family. Medina discloses that he was a finalist for other jobs he could have taken but decided to stay with APD.

5.Two ERT sergeants tell Medina the real problems are with APD. One sergeant tells Medina that being a police officer is her chosen profession but that she is terrified of being disciplined or retaliated against for doing what she thinks is right. Medina denied accusations of retaliation but said that if there is retaliation, it’s sergeants and lieutenants who are accused of doing it.

6.A sergeant with over twenty-five years of experience tells Medina:

“I left [the ERT Team] three weeks ago based on the discipline policy and the additional exposure ERT gets for being out there and doing what we are told to do … It’s my understanding that we haven’t even reviewed the incidents … from last summer … After twenty years of doing this … the discipline policy has to change. That’s the reason I left because I don’t want to expose myself to that kind of discipline.”

“We are hemorrhaging officers because of this discipline policy. I have no desire to leave, but I have called PERA [Public Employee Retirement Association] … [to find out] where we are at now. I am not interested in disciplining my kids [my officers under my command] nor head hunting [to recruit other officers]. … [One officer] just spent $55K to retire. [Another officer] spent over $100K to retire. When people are … [buying time to retire] there is an issue. The current issue, that overshadows the DOJ, it is the discipline policy. If you are telling me there is a fix on the way, then fantastic. When will it get here?”

Medina promised that he is on the verge of getting a new disciplinary process in place, but when pressed by the sergeant he could not give a timeline.

Medina responded to the sergeant by saying:

“If we don’t navigate the path forward with discipline and the DOJ, we will be in receivership. … That’s what they want. That’s what all the community groups want. I would be under a DOJ person. The DOJ would have their own people reviewing cases. This is what we have to avoid. I didn’t create this.”

7.Medina asks a sergeant “… I do not agree with the amount of video review [as unreasonable]. What’s the biggest problem, sergeant?” The sergeant replies, “Twelve hours to do a three-second show of force [investigation and the reporting requirements].”

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

After listening to the 34-minute recording of Chief Harold Medina talking to APD’s Emergency Response Team (ERT), there should be little or no doubt that Mayor Tim Keller’s appointment of Medina as permanent Chief is so very wrong on too many levels. Many of Medina’s remarks were self-pity or bragging about himself. The remarks were not a reflection of a true leader during a crisis and a crisis his command staff created out of pettiness and obvious retaliation.

What Chief Medina said to the ERT is worth repeating:

“If we don’t navigate the path forward with discipline and the DOJ, we will be in receivership. … That’s what they want. That’s what all the community groups want. I would be under a DOJ person. The DOJ would have their own people reviewing cases. This is what we have to avoid. I didn’t create this.”

The only take away is that Medina really is more concerned about himself and holding on to his job avoiding DOJ oversight rather than dealing with what he is faced with which is a disintegrating department under his command. Medina speaks as if he is doing the city a big favor by being APD Chief. Medina clearly has inflated opinion as to his effectiveness. The problem is that the City’s police force sees right through him. Once a chief loses the respect of sworn police officers, you lose your ability to lead, presuming if you ever had it to begin with.

NEFARIOUS PAST USED AS A CREDENTIAL FOR THE JOB

Chief Harold Medina has a nefarious past with the use of deadly force against two people suffering from psychotic episodes. The first was when Medina shot and killed a 14-year-old child who was having a psychotic episode, went to a westside church for help and armed with a BB gun. Medina had been dispatched to the scene and when the child brandished the BB gun, Medina shot him dead. The second shooting happened years later when then Lieutenant Medina authorized the use of deadly force against a 26-year-old veteran suffering from service-connected post-traumatic stress disorder who held a gun to his head, with APD shooting and killing him. A jury found that the veteran was a danger only to himself and awarded a $10.5 million judgement against the city.

During his January 23 webinar interview, Interim chief Harold Medina said he has the “hindsight” to take the department forward. He said “How can you change a culture if you had not lived and been a part of that culture?” With these words, Medina essentially said he was part of the “culture of aggression” that brought the DOJ here in the first place. Anyone who helped create, knew about or did not stop the “culture of aggression” has absolutely no business being Chief of Police. Chief Medina has also blamed the DOJ consent decree for APD’s inability to concentrate on crime.

APD Chief Harold Medina successfully convinced Mayor Tim Keller and CAO Sarita Nair the two tragedies are a positive credential to run the APD saying because of the shootings he now understands the DOJ reforms, their need and can implement them. During the April 15 status conference with Judge Browning, Medina essentially told Judge Browning the very same thing. However, in the recording Medina expresses more concern about a DOJ takeover of APD as opposed to working out and improving the approach APD is using to implement the reforms when it comes to use of force investigations.

FINNAL COMMENTARY

APD Chief Harold Medina represents the total opposite of what the city needs in a police chief. It is very critical to have a police chief with experience with reducing use of force, not one who has used deadly force. A chief who has knowledge of crisis management, not one who causes a crisis. A Chief who understands the importance of protecting civil rights, not one who has violated civil rights, and a Chief able to tackle the issue of a police department interacting with the mentally ill, not one who has been involved with the killing of two mentally ill people. Medina has shown he possesses none of the desired traits.

If APD Chief Harold Medina really wants to do the city and APD a big favor, he should just step down and take his self-pity elsewhere and see if any of those other jobs are still available, if they ever were.

On April 15, Federal Judge James Browning held a “status conference” on the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) with the City and the Department of Justice (DOJ). It was the very first hearing since Mayor Tim Keller appointed Harold Medina as the permanent APD Chief and Sylvester Stanly as “Interim” Superintendent of Police Reform. The status conference was held via Zoom Video/Web Conferencing.

During the two-hour status conference, the court was told of the progress made in creating the External Force Investigations Team (EFIT), the application process for an Administrator of EFIT and the extent and authority of the new manager and Sylvester Stanly. The EFIT team will train APD Internal Affairs (IA) investigators on how to properly investigate uses of force instances by APD police officers. The City agreed that at least 25 force investigators would be assigned to the APD Internal Affairs until APD demonstrates that fewer investigators are necessary to timely investigate uses of force by APD Officers.

Also discussed was the control Interim Superintendent of Police Reform Sylvester Stanly will have over the APD Academy, Force Investigations and Professional Standards. Chief Medina and Interim Superintendent Sylvester Stanly both spoke during the hearing as did the City Attorney, the DOJ Attorneys, the Union Attorney and the Federal Monitor. According to the city, it has two highly qualified individuals that have applied to be the EFIT manager.

DISCLOSURES MADE DURING FEDERAL COURT STATUS CONFERENCE

The most surprising disclosure made during the hearing came when Federal Judge Browning asked Federal Court Appointed Monitor James Ginger what his thoughts were on the appointment of Chief Harold Medina as the new APD Chief. Dr. Ginger’s response was less than enthusiastic with a degree of disappointment. The Federal Monitor thought that APD needed an “external chief” or an “outsider” and in his words someone “nationally” with experience in DOJ reforms. Ginger expressed the opinion that such an outside person was needed to “effectuate real change” within APD.

Ginger acknowledge that hiring such a person would be “expensive” and that there are few people in the country that have the reputation of being “reform chief’s”. He also said they usually can “write their own ticket” as to salary. Federal Monitor Ginger has no management nor control over APD Personnel. He has no authority to hire and fire. Ginger emphasized that all he can do is make recommendations. Ginger made it clear that Mayor Keller and the City were free to hire whoever they want as Chief, that he could not object, but only offer his opinion that APD needs someone from the outside.

The Court did not ask the Federal Monitor how he felt Chief Medina had been doing for the 7 months he has been charge of APD. The monitor did not volunteer his thoughts on Medina’s job performance nor the progress Medina had made with implementing the reforms. When the Judge asked the Federal Monitor what could be expected in his 13th Monitor’s report, which will be filed the first week of May, Ginger said the report will contain more of the same as to APD’s failure to police itself or oversee itself.

CITY CREATS GORDION KNOT WITH CASA REFORMS

Another revelation made during the status conference was when Judge Browning asked the Police Union Attorney John D’Amato if the CASA mandated reforms and settlement were the cause of the city’s high crime rates. D’Amato made it clear that the CASA was not the cause of the high crime rates but it was a contributing factor as was a degree of politics. What he said is that the City’s “implementation” of the CASA reforms is the problem and said the city has created a “Gordian Knot”, a term commonly used to describe a complex or unsolvable problem, by having a zero-tolerance policy when it comes to violations of use of force review and enforcement.

D’Amato said that the CASA reforms were a “major contributing factor” to the City’s high crime rates. City Attorney Estaban Aguilar pushed backed sharply and disagreed with D’Amato to the point saying that such comments were dangerous and said there is no data to support the accusation and that it was a false narrative. Aguilar did say there are “multiple factors causing the increase in crime” but the CASA reforms are not a factor.

According to the union attorney, there is a need to simplify the CASA. The union attorney denied that the police union is the “counter casa” which is totally contrary to what the Federal Monitor has in fact said in a few of his audit reports. The Federal Monitor has repeatedly defined the counter CASA effect as Sergeants and Lieutenants, who are union members and also management, as overtly resisting the reforms.

APD EXECUTIVE SALARIES

It was revealed in August, 2020, a few weeks before Mayor Keller fired former Chief Michel Geier, that the Keller administration created the positions of First Deputy Chief, Second Deputy Chief, APD Chief of Staff and APD Deputy Chief of Staff with significant raises given to all those appointed.

The August 18, 2020, City of Albuquerque Pay Rate Report for the Albuquerque Police Department reflects the following hourly and yearly pay for the 7 in the Chief’s upper command staff brass as follows:

1. Chief Of Police Michael Geier, yearly pay: $183,378.60
2. First Deputy Chief Harold Medina, yearly pay: $145,017.60 ($69.72 per hour X 2,080 hours a year)
3. Second Deputy Chief Michael Jay Smathers, yearly pay: $143, 000.00 ($68.75 per hour X 2,080 hours a year)
4. Deputy Chief Jon J. Griego, yearly pay: $139,235.20 ($66.94 per hour X 2080 hours a year)
5. Deputy Chief Eric J Garcia, yearly pay: $139, 235.20 ($66.94 per hour X 2,080 hours a year )
6. Arturo E. Gonzalez, Deputy Chief, yearly pay: $139,235.20 ($66.94 per hour X 2,080 hours a year)
7. APD Chief of Staff John Ross, yearly pay: $139,235.20 ($66.94 per hour X 2,080 hours a year)
8. APD Deputy Chief of Staff Elizabeth Armijo, yearly pay: $118, 331.20 ($56.89 per hour X 2,080 hours)

TOTAL 2020 SALARIES PAID APD EXECUTIVE COMMAND STAFF: $1,007,433.00

According to city payroll records, Interim Superintendent of Police Reform Sylvester Stanly is being paid $150,000 a year.

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

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

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

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

$627,000 to acquire electronic control weapons that have an audit trail to monitor usage and compliance with use of force policies.
$594,000 to purchase on-body cameras, as required by the CASA and state law.

The resulting total allocated by the City for the CASA reforms is $35,851,000.

The link to the 2020-2021 budget is here:

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

2021-2022 PROPOSED APD Budget

On April 1, 2021, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and the Keller administration released the 2021-2022 Proposed Operating Budget for the fiscal year that will begin on July 1, 2021 and that will end June 31, 2022. The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) continues to be the largest budget department in the city. APD’s proposed budget of $227,696,000 is upwards of 31% of total general fund spending of $711,500,000. APD’s budget will be increased by 23.9% or $43.1 million above the 2021 fiscal budget which was $213 million. The proposed budget continues the funding for the CASA reforms and then some.

As has been the case for all past budgets submitted by the Keller Administration, public safety continues to be the number one priority of the proposed 2022 city budget with significant funding and positions being added for the CASA reforms. The following are new allocations related to the CASA:

$800,000 for the Department of Justice Independent Federal Monitor required under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement that is still pending after 6 years.

$400,000 for the Use of Force Review contract. Presumably this is the funding for the External Force Investigation Team (EFIT) agreed to by the city.

$986,000 thousand for electronic control weapons (TAZER weapons).

Funding for the following new positions are included in the proposed budget:

One senior advisor to the Mayor and CAO and one internal investigations manager were created relating to the CASA reforms.
One Superintendent of Police reform position created to provide guidance in reshaping the training, internal affairs and compliance with the Department of Justice and the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) reforms.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The Federal Monitors comments that the hiring of an outside chief would be costly is very disingenuous on his part as he tries to show sincerity that he is concerned about costs to the city and being able to afford a qualified individual to be APD Chief. Since 2014, the Federal Court Appointed Monitor has been paid at least $7.5 million for the work of 9 auditing professionals. The monitors contract has been extended and his firm is currently being paid $1.5 million a year. Further the city is spending $35 million a year on the reform process.

Hiring a highly qualified and skillful police chief with crisis management credentials should have been done from the get go. It could have been done with the help of Ginger, but all he has ever said is “it’s not my job.” Now the City is paying a Chief’s Salary of $183,000 a year and paying a $150,000 salary to an “Interim” Superintendent of Police Reform who has no actual experience with Federal Consent Decrees for a total of $333,000 to do a job which is traditionally and normally done by one Chief, not only here in Albuquerque, but by police departments all over the country. It is more likely than not that Mayor Tim Keller could have found a highly competent and effective police chief and have paid that person the amount he is paying both Medina and Stanly combined, but Keller would have had to admit that his hiring of both Geier and Medina were two major mistakes that could have been avoided had he kept his word and had done a national search both times instead of the sham he allowed.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2021/02/24/city-spends-35-85-million-yearly-on-casa-reforms-61-sworn-police-assigned-to-compliance-judge-should-deny-motion-for-efit-team-suspend-casa-order-monitor-to-take-over-of-ia-use-of-force-in/

The Federal Monitor’s comments that he recommended to the Keller Administration that APD needed an “outsider” as Chief is truly astounding because it was ostensibly totally ignored by Mayor Tim Keller and his Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair. APD Chief Harold Medina has been in charge of APD since September 10, 2020, first as the Interim APD Chief for six months while a national search was conducted. It was on March 8, 2021, Keller announce that he appointed Harold Medina as the new APD Chief of Police, so by the time of the status conference, Medina had been in charge of APD over 7 months.

Medina no doubt has interacted with the Federal Monitor during the seven-month time, yet the Federal Monitor had absolutely nothing to say about Medina’s job performance. This is in very sharp contrast to the positive remarks made one time about former APD Chief Michael Geier when he was first appointed APD Chief.

The Monitor’s recommendation that an outsider be appointed Chief cannot and should not be down played in the least given the fact that Mayor Keller proclaimed twice that he conducted a national search only to settle on Chiefs Geier and Medina. Both Chiefs had been with APD before for decades, retired and came back to be appointed Chief. Many APD reform advocates felt the national searches Keller order were a sham where Keller first appointed who he wanted to be permanent Chief as Interim Chief, announced a national search, interviewed applicants to placate the public and then announced as Chief who he wanted to appoint in the first place.

APD Chief Harold Medina represents the total opposite of what the city needs in a police chief. It is very critical to have a police chief with experience with reducing use of force, not one who has used deadly force. A chief who has knowledge of crisis management, not one who causes a crisis. A Chief who understands the importance of protecting civil rights, not one who has violated civil rights, and a Chief able to tackle the issue of a police department interacting with the mentally ill, not one who has been involved with the killing of two mentally ill people. The fatal shootings Medina was involved with show he possesses none of the desired traits.

Truth is, Medina is part of the problem with APD that brought the DOJ here in the first place. Medina had no business being interim Chief let alone being made permanent. Medina helped create, did not stop and he participated the “culture of aggression” and the use of deadly force that resulted in a DOJ investigation.

As Mayor Keller continues to fail to implement the DOJ reforms, he will regret his refusal to follow recommendations made by the Federal Monitor and hiring yet another APD Chief that is part of the problem and not the solution.