On November 2, 2020, the Federal Court Appointed Monitor James Ginger filed with the Federal Court his 12th Compliance Audit Report of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) reforms mandated under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA).

The monitor’s compliance report covers the twelfth-monitoring period of February 1, 2020 to July 31, 2020. The Federal Monitor’s 12th report is 356 pages long. It follows the format as all the previous 11 reports. It’s a detailed audit of every paragraph of the consent decree and for that reason it is tedious and difficult to read. The link to the City web site with entire 12th Federal Monitor’s report is here:

http://documents.cabq.gov/police/reports/department-of-justice/independent-monitors-twelfth-report-nov-2020.pdf

ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL

On Sunday November 15, the Albuquerque Journal published the following editorial entitled “Albuquerque residents, police need timely feedback on reforms”

“Being on “the brink of a catastrophic failure” is a pretty bad place to be.

And no doubt shocking to the people of Albuquerque to find ourselves there with the federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement designed to ensure constitutional policing by the Albuquerque Police Department, especially when you consider that we are six years and more than $25 million into it.

The city entered into the agreement after the Department of Justice concluded APD had demonstrated a pattern of excessive use of force.

Despite several much more upbeat reports along the way from the federal monitor, Dr. James Ginger, one could reasonably conclude we’ve gone from substantial progress to impending doom in the last 18 months.
The administration of Mayor Tim Keller and his interim chief, Harold Medina, are quick to blame ousted chief Michael Geier for the downward spiral. Medina told the Journal Editorial Board last week that Geier became reluctant to impose necessary discipline – sending the wrong message to officers on the street.

“The chief stopped listening to his deputy chiefs and started to go his own way,” Medina said.

Ginger, who said APD was “allergic to discipline,” says the problems are deeper. “If this were simply a question of leadership, I would be less concerned,” he told the court in a hearing last month. “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.

“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.”

While initially portraying Geier’s ouster in September as his decision to retire, the mayor and his chief administrative officer later – after Geier refused to go quietly – said the reform effort had stalled and that was one reason the chief had to go.

When it comes to Geier, it wasn’t always that way. Keller, who is just finishing up three years in office, cut short a national search, saying Geier was the perfect guy to be chief. And in a report last year Ginger said he was pleased with Geier’s efforts and personal involvement.

So what changed?

For starters, we are now in the hardest part of the reform effort. Policy development and training are either done or well on the way to being done. Now, it’s compliance with the training and new policies on the street. Also, we’ve had to deal with the pandemic and a recent survey of officers who said morale was in the tank.

In any case, according to Ginger’s most recent report, field officers were failing to report use of force, detectives in Internal Affairs were “going through the motions” and the high-level Force Review Board that examines serious cases for training, policy and compliance flaws was allowing subpar work. In summary: APD has “failed miserably in its ability to police itself.”

Is all this unduly harsh? The department has done some good work in the CASA effort but City Attorney Esteban Aguilar Jr. says the goal here is to be a “national model for constitutional, community-based policing” and by necessity that requires focus on things that need to be corrected.

One case Ginger highlighted was a man in an emotional crisis who was subjected to an unnecessarily high level of force – bordering on sadistic – that was cleared by every level of the APD review process, including the Force Review Board. One change now in effect that could prevent a recurrence is a system where officer video is reviewed and included in the review process as it moves up the chain.
Seems like a no-brainer, and a six-year slow learning curve.

Is there blame to go around? Yes. This ball has been in the Keller administration court for nearly three years now. Geier was his guy. It was just four months ago that the mayor and Geier were touting a new “Accountability Report Card” dealing with officer compliance with on-body camera policies.

And Medina is Keller’s guy. He makes no bones about laying the problems at Geier’s feet. Geier, meanwhile, says Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair was trying to micromanage the department and Medina was working constantly to undercut him.

Sounds like one of those “brink of catastrophic failure” scenarios all by itself. Certainly not a formula for effective management at a time of trying to deal with a pandemic and implement CASA.
And does the union that represents police officers have too much clout and is able to “hijack” IA interviews, as Ginger claims?

And how about Ginger? Shouldn’t he be having more timely conversations or perhaps shorter summary reports for APD to act on before dropping a bombshell once or twice a year – something Medina and Aguilar said they hope to arrange. Ginger’s getting paid plenty. Perhaps the focus should be on timely information that could lead to fixing problems.

Medina is correct when he says that to get to where we want to be it will take culture shift. He says we get there through extensive training and appropriate discipline when policies are violated.
“As other officers see what happens when standards aren’t followed that’s when you get culture change,” he said. The expectations have to come from the top.

No argument there. But he acknowledges the other side of that coin: While requiring police to use minimal force necessary and showing “we are not reluctant to administer discipline,” officers need to not be afraid to do their jobs.

It’s a tall order. And when can we expect to know whether we’ve pulled back from that catastrophic brink? Not for a while, according to Medina and Aguilar. They say the next report from Ginger – which isn’t expected be released until well into 2021 – will cover several months while Geier was still at the helm and before a full-on press to change use of force in the field began.

But given this stark assessment, it’s not fair for the residents of Albuquerque or officers on the street to wait months for what essentially is a report that’s somewhat dated by the time it’s made public. This most recent report covered the time period of February through June.

People deserve to know what’s happening closer to real time – APD has been remarkably slow with its own “report cards” to the public – before we learn we are on the brink. Or that we’ve gone over it.”

The link to the Albuquerque Journal Editorial is here

https://www.abqjournal.com/1518084/editorial-albuquerque-residents-police-officers-need-timely-feedback-on-reforms.html

DINELLI COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The November 15 Journal Editorial, as detailed as it is, failed to address a number of points that need to be remembered. It also failed to suggest any real solutions as to what needs to be done now with APD.

CURRENT MANAGEMENT STILL PART OF THE PROBLEM

For the last 3 years, Keller appointed CAO Nair and Interim Chief Medina worked closely together to manage the day to day operations of APD. It is common knowledge within the APD command staff that Harold Medina will do anything and say anything Mayor Tim Keller and CAO Sarita Nair tell him to do and want him to say. It is also common knowledge that it was Medina that orchestrated Geier’s forced retirement with the help and backing of Keller’s political operative Nair. Medina’s ultimate goal is to be appointed permanent chief and Keller is likely going to do just that after another sham national search.

Interim Chief Harold Medina is part of the very problem that brought the Department of Justice (DOJ) here in the first place. It was the past APD management practices that resulted in the “culture of aggression” found by the DOJ that lead to the federal consent decree after 18 police officer involved shootings and the findings of excessive use of force and deadly force by APD. It is not at all likely, despite whatever public comments he makes, that Interim APD Chief Medina will ever truly be committed to all 270 Federal mandated reforms. One thing for sure is that First Deputy Chief Harold Medina is not the person who should be appointed permanent Chief.

APD NEEDS CLEAN SWEEP OF HIGH COMMAND MANAGEMENT

When candidate Keller was running for Mayor, he promised sweeping changes with APD, a national search for a new APD Chief and a return to Community Based policing. During Mayor Tim Keller’s first 8 months in office, Keller did not make the dramatic management changes he promised, but he a relied on past management of the department and past practices. The current Deputy Chiefs are not outsiders at all but have been with APD for a number of years and are eligible for retirement. Keller’s “new” and present Deputies are a reflection of APD’s past. APD’s current command staff are not a new generation of police officer fully committed and trained in constitutional policing practices.

The statement made by Mayor Tim Keller that former Albuquerque Police Chief Mike Geier simply wanted to retire appears to have been as bogus as it could get. In the 12th Federal Monitor’s report, the monitoring team found that APD has completely failed to police itself, pointing to major problems with the former police chief and the former APD Academy Commander. The 12th report outlines multiple cases where officers failed to accurately report use of force cases and the report places the blame directly on APD leadership.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/doj-report-outlines-apd-issues/

APD needs a clean sweep in management and philosophy to remove anyone who may have assisted, contributed or who did not stop the culture of aggression found by the Department of Justice and who have resisted the reform process during the last 3 years of the consent decree. Mayor Tim Keller needs to conduct a national search to find a new Chief who is not already with APD and allow whoever is chosen to run APD department free of his interference or the interference of CAO Nair. Mayor Keller should take this as an opportunity to also remove all the current Deputy Chief’s and allow whoever he selects to be the new Chief allow them to select and bring in their own command staff.

UNION RESISTANCE

The Journal editorial barely mentions the APD Union when it asks the question “Does the union that represents police officers have too much clout and is able to “hijack” IA interviews, as Ginger claims?”

It obvious from reading the 12th report that the union membership of sergeants and lieutenants are still at the center of the “under currents” of Counter-CASA effects. The police union has made its opposition and objections known to the federal court regarding the use of force and deadly force policies. The union has always argued that the new use of force and deadly force policies were too restrictive with rank and file claiming police cannot do their jobs and that their hands are tied.

The police union leadership have said in open court that the mandated reforms under the consent decree are interfering with rank and file officer’s ability to perform their job duties. During the August 20, 2019 status conference, the APOA union President Shaun Willoughby made it clear his union membership attitude towards the CASA reforms. District Court Judge Browning asked APOA Union President Shawn Willoughby what he and the union rank and file felt about the CASA. Willoughby’s responses were a quick condemnation of the CASA when he said “we hate it”, “we’re frustrated”, the reforms and mandates are “a hard pill to swallow”, that “all change is hard”.

According to Willoughby, police officers are afraid to do their jobs for fear of being investigated, fired or disciplined. The police union has never articulated in open court and in clear terms exactly what it is about the reforms that are keeping rank and file from “doing their” jobs and “why they hate” the CASA as articulated by the union president. It’s likely the union feels what is interfering with police from doing their jobs is the mandatory use of lapel cameras, police can no longer shoot at fleeing cars, police can no longer use choke holds, police need to use less lethal force and not rely on the SWAT unit, police must use de-escalating tactics and be trained in crisis intervention, and management must hold police accountable for violation of standard operating procedures.

What was so damn laughable is when Union President Willoughby says that the union cooperated and participated with the reforms unlike all other Departments in other cities faced with a consent decree. What the union has actually been doing for the last 6 years was disrupting the process by not being fully committed to the reforms and changes and doing what it could to water down the changes to the “use of force” and “deadly force” policies.

Given the Federal Monitors criticism and what is contained in the 12th report, it is downright laughable that Union President Willoughby would actually say in an interview that the rank and file are doing a “much better job than the report lays out” and that he believes officers understand the importance of reporting excessive force. It obvious from the entire 12th report they do not especially when the monitor says in the 12th report:

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

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

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

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

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

REMOVE SERGEANTS AND LIEUTENANTS FROM POLICE UNION

APD is a “para-military” organization and as such the “chain of command” must be honored and the lines of authority must not be blurred to the point where management and subordinates become one and the same for the purpose of enforcing policy. Allowing management positions to be part of employee bargaining unit is a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what is being played out with the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA).

Sergeants and lieutenants need to be made at will employees and removed from the collective bargaining unit in order to get a real buy in to management’s goals of police reform and the CASA. APD Police sergeants and lieutenants cannot serve two masters of Administration Management and Union priorities that are in conflict when it comes to the CASA reforms.

The current police union contract expired on June 30. The City and the Union have now suspended their negotiations because of the corona virus pandemic and the uncertainty of the city’s revenues for the new fiscal year that begins July 1. The union contract negotiations must commence soon. Until a new union contract is negotiated and approved, the terms and conditions of the old contract will remain in effect.

The Police Union no doubt wants to continue the terms of the expired contract, including who is in the collective bargaining unit. There is no real excuse to delay negotiations on the police union contract. Delay will only allow the Union to continue dictating to the city what should be done and continue its efforts to obstruct implementation of the police reforms under the CASA.

Another option the City and the Department of Justice need to explore is to move for the dismissal of the police union from the federal court proceeding. This will allow APD command staff and management more authority do its job with enforcement of the CASA mandates and implementation of all 270 reforms.

ABOLISH APD INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Another option that needs to be considered is to abolish APD’s Internal Affairs Unit. APD has consistently shown over decades it cannot police itself which contributed to the “culture of aggression” found by the Department of Justice. The APD Internal Affairs Unit needs to be abolished and its functions absorbed by other civilian departments.

The investigation of police misconduct cases including excessive use of force cases not resulting in death or serious bodily harm should be done by “civilian” personnel investigators, not sworn police. The function and responsibility for investigating police misconduct cases and violations of personnel policy and procedures by police should be assumed by the Office of the General Council in conjunction with the City Human Resources Department.

The Office of Independent Council could make findings and recommendations to the APD Chief and Police Oversight Board (POB) for implementation and imposition of disciplinary action.

CONLUSION

It is clear from the 12th Federal Court Monitors report that “Operational Compliance” and the “counter casa effect” have been and continue to be the biggest sticking points for APD and present the biggest obstacles for the department under the consent decree.

Operational Compliance is attained at the point that the adherence to policies is apparent in the day-to-day operation of the agency. In other words, 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.

After 6 years of work under the CASA, the City and the Department of Justice need to recognize that as long as the Police Union continues to be a party to the case and Sergeants and Lieutenants are allowed to be part of the collective bargaining unit, not much more is going to be accomplished. And neither is relying on the current interim Chief and Deputy Chiefs.

After almost 3 years in office, Mayor Tim Keller under his leadership still has a police department that is failing miserably to police itself and on the brink of catastrophic failure. Keller has only himself to blame given the fact he personally selected those that have been in charge of APD and he went back on his campaign promise to hire a new Chief from outside the agency.

On November 3, U.S. Attorney John C. Anderson announced $500,000 to combat violent crime in New Mexico. In a press release, Anderson said the grant, awarded by the Department of Justice Office of Justice Programs, is part of more than $458 million in funding to support state, local and tribal law enforcement efforts to combat violent crime in jurisdictions across the United States.

A link to the full press release is here:

https://www.justice.gov/usao-nm/pr/us-attorney-john-c-anderson-announces-500000-combat-violent-crime-district-new-mexico#:~:text=Awards%20Are%20Part%20of%20More,in%20Bernalillo%20County%2C%20New%20Mexico.

The $500,000 in funding is a continuation of the Trump Administration’s commitment to reducing crime and improving public safety. According to the press release:

“In the two years before President Trump took office, America had experienced a precipitous rise in crime, particularly in serious violent crime. The President elevated community safety to the top of his domestic agenda and crime rates have fallen steadily since. Recent data from the FBI and the Bureau of Justice Statistics for 2019 show a drop in crime and serious victimization for the third year in a row. However, a number of cities are experiencing conspicuous countertrends.”

In making the announcement, US Attorney John Anderson had this to say:

“I am pleased to announce this additional funding awarded to Bernalillo County as part of Operation Legend. … [Bernalillo County] Sheriff Gonzales and his department have been integral partners in identifying and apprehending perpetrators of dangerous crimes in our community. This funding helps to ensure that our efforts are sustainable over the long term.”

More than $458 million in federal funding has been awarded nationwide. The US Department of Justice has made 1,094 grants totaling more than $369 million to support a broad range of initiatives, including efforts in enforcement, prosecution, adjudication, detention and rehabilitation. Funding has included programs for efforts to suppress youth gang activity and to support research and evaluation on the prevention and reduction of violent crime.

Department of Justice “Office of Justice Programs” (OJP) awarded more than $10 million across 24 jurisdictions to intervene in and suppress youth gang activity as well as $1 million to the Institute for Intergovernmental Research to continue operating the National Gang Center. OJP’s National Institute of Justice awarded $7.8 million to fund research and evaluation on the prevention and reduction of violent crime. OJP’s Bureau of Justice Statistics provided more than $69 million to strengthen the quality and accessibility of records within the National Instant Criminal Background Check System.

Bernalillo County will receive $500,000 to assist in continuing efforts as part of Operation Legend. Operation Legend is an ongoing, systematic and coordinated law enforcement initiative across federal law enforcement agencies work with state and local law enforcement officials to fight the current surge of violent crime in American cities.

In the press release, the Bernalillo County Sherriff’s Office had this to say:

“The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office is grateful for our federal law enforcement partners supporting our office in the removal of career criminals from the streets and combating Albuquerque’s out-of-control crime crisis. This additional funding proves we have the federal government’s full support to make Bernalillo County a safer place to live.”

OPERATION LEGEND UPDATE

On Wednesday October 14, Attorney General William Barr and federal and local officials held a press briefing in Albuquerque on Operation Legend and proclaimed it a success. It was in July at the White House that President Donald Trump announced the Operation Legend where federal law enforcement agents were being sent to 7 cities that have some of the highest violent crime rates in the country.

The Department of Justice reported that since the start of Operation Legend in July 2020, it has been expanded from 7 cities to 9 cities with some of the highest violent crimes in the country. Operation legend has resulted in more than 5,000 arrests and of those arrests, about 247 have been for homicide, over 2,000 firearms have been seized in addition to the seizure of nearly 22 kilos of heroin, over 15 kilos of fentanyl, more than 130 kilos of methamphetamine, over 28 kilos of cocaine and more than $7.3 million in drug proceeds.

Of those approximately 5,000 arrests, 1,057 have been charged with federal offenses. Around 568 of those defendants have been charged with firearms offenses with around 411 being charged with drug-related crimes. Those remaining have been charged with various offenses.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/ag-barr-to-provide-updates-on-operation-legend-in-albuquerque/

RESULTS OF OPERATION LEGEND IN ALBUQUERQUE

Forty federal agents were sent to Albuquerque for the operation that worked with local law enforcement. Operation Legend targets violent criminals and crimes. In 2019, Albuquerque had a violent crime rate 3.7 times the national average. In recent years, property crime has decreased slightly but overall violent crime remains high.

During the October 14 press conference, Attorney General Barr, U.S. Attorney for New Mexico John Anderson and FBI Deputy Director David Bowdich announce the results of the 3 month initiative. According to a news release from the Department of Justice, 113 defendants have been charged with federal crimes as follows:

47 defendants have been charged with narcotics-related offenses
56 defendants have been charged with firearms-related offenses
10 defendants have been charged with other violent crimes.

FBI Deputy Director Bowdich said that in Kansas City, another jurisdiction included in Operation Legend, there was a 30% reduction in violent crime, a 15% reduction in homicides and a 24% reduction in strong-arm robberies. However, no statistics showing if violent crime decreased in Albuquerque during the three months since Operation Legend began in the city.

FBI Deputy Director Bowdich had this to say:

“These are significant statistics, but these require the community to work close, hand in hand with law enforcement. … So I want to plead for help. … We need the community’s help, please trust us, please pick up the phone, and trust us to do the right thing and make sure we aggressively respond to tips and your complaints.”

ATTORNEY GENERAL BARR

During the October 14 press conference in Albuquerque, US Attorney General William Barr had this to say:

“The first priority of law enforcement has to be to get these people off the streets and get them into prison and to protect the people, and when you do that crime goes down. … Stop the revolving door and keep the chronic offenders off the street. Our problem back in 1992 was the problem we’re seeing here in Albuquerque today, which is revolving door justice in the state system. … If you want to be safe, if you are tired of the blood and mayhem on the street, you have to start paying attention to who you vote for to retain as judges, to who you make district attorney, to who you make mayor. … I’m saying this across the board, not just to the people of Albuquerque.”

DEFENSE BAR RESPOND TO BARR

In an interview with the Albuquerque Journal after the briefing, Jennifer Burrill, a public defender and the vice president of the N.M. Criminal Defense Lawyers Association had this to say:

“ … I’m very concerned this is not addressing the issues that we need, which are poverty and employment. Those types of things are what we see that reduce crime rates, not putting people in jail and pretending to throw away the key.”

Chief Public Defender Bennett Baur in response to AG Barr’s also said:

“You can’t just incarcerate your way out of crime issues. … The best way to address community safety is to look at the root causes: lack of education, lack of job opportunities and lack of affordable access to mental health and substance abuse treatment.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1507192/us-ag-barr-praises-operation-legend.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Operation Legend is a major crackdown aimed at driving down violent crime in 9 of the nation’s most violent cities in the country. Not at all surprising, Albuquerque is one of those cities. The other cities include Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, Kansas City, Memphis and Milwaukee. All the cities have violent crime rates significantly higher and above the national average. FBI statistics reveal that Albuquerque has the dubious distinction of having a crime rate about 194% higher than the national average.

By all accounts, Operation Legend has been successful. Even with the initial success of Operation Legend, and the additional $500,000 in Federal grant money, it is very doubtful that it is going to make that much of difference anytime soon. Even with the initial success of Operation Legend, it is very doubtful that the 35 sworn law enforcement brought to the city for Operation Legend as well as the 40 new sworn police paid for by the Operation Legend grant, are going to make that much of difference anytime soon given the city and counties existing law enforcement personnel resources. APD has 984 sworn police and the BCSO has 300 sworn police, for a total of 1,284 sworn police, with city’s crime rates being some of the highest in the country for the last 10 years.

For the past 9 years, Albuquerque has experienced a sharp increase in crime. Six of those crime years were under Republican Mayor RJ Berry and for the past 3 years the crime rates haven gotten even worse under Democrat Mayor Keller. Keller himself is saying APD alone needs at least 200 more cops and have a full force of 1,200.

President Elect Joe Biden will be sworn on January 20, 2021 and United States Attorney William Barr will soon be gone with United State Attorney John Anderson likely to be replaced within 8 months. With the election of President Biden, the priorities of the US Department of Justice will likely come to a screeching halt and then begin in a new direction. New Mexico will still be dealing with high violent crime rates.

The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department would be wise to grab that $500,000 in grant money before January 20, 2020.

EDITOR’S OPINION DISCLAIMER: The opinions expressed in this guest column written by former APD Deputy Chief Paul Chavez are those of Mr. Chavez. The opinions do not reflect those of the www.petedinelli.com blog as they relate to who should be the next APD Chief. Paul Chavez has not been paid any compensation to publish the guest column and he has given consent to publish. The article is being published to allow a discussion of an opposing view point to that of this blog which opposes the appointment of Harold Medina. A link to an opposing blog article on Interim Chief Harold Medina can be found in the postscript below.

GUEST COLUMN BY FORMER APD DEPUTY CHIEF PAUL CHAVEZ

Paul Chavez spent 22 years with the Albuquerque Police Department retiring in 2006 as the Deputy Chief of the Field Services Bureau. Subsequent to retirement he spent six years as the Director of Intelligence for the Southwest Border High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area (HIDTA) Program, four years teaching with the Border Security Center (BORSEC) at New Mexico Tech and is currently the Director of Public Safety with the Pueblo of Laguna. He holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice from New Mexico State University and a Master’s Degree in Public Administration from the University of New Mexico.

“Though the 2020 Presidential Election and COVID-19 have dominated our lives recently, we soon will be again focusing on the Chief of Police for our fair city. While my target audience is the Mayor and those who have his ear, I know politicians don’t like taking advice from retired bums on the sidelines. Perhaps I can get this audience to understand what Mayors in our city have failed to grasp. Mayors want to look good, but what they have never understood is that it’s not the Chief of Police that makes them look good. It is the field officers, operational detectives and their sergeants that make the Mayor look good.

HYPOTHETICAL

Imagine if you will, a modified rapture was to take place in our police department where only the worthless were raised up to the heavens leaving only the essential behind. The fifth floor is empty. Just the officers, detectives, their Sergeants and dispatchers are left to protect the city. A small group of payroll clerks exists to ensure everyone got paid every two weeks. This department would probably run better than it ever has. It’s not the Chief of Police, his or her command staff or those high paid civilian political appointees doing God knows what that are doing the job of policing. They don’t make the Mayor look good. It’s the men and women on the streets interacting with citizens that make the Mayor look good.

No Albuquerque Mayor since 1985 (the year I started) has figured that out. Don’t get me wrong, we had some great Chiefs of Police. But I would venture to say none of them were allowed to show their true potential because of political interference. And Albuquerque is the worse for it.

Mayors seek out that Chief of Police they think is going to make them look good. But instead of looking for a Chief who can be a leader of the men and women doing the actual job on the streets, Mayors go for bling.

They pick people who look great on a resume whether they got actual operational experience or any real leadership capabilities at all. In the one run I made for chief in Albuquerque, my application packet included letters of recommendation from presidents of Albuquerque neighborhood associations. Some of my competitors had letters of recommendation from Presidents – of the United States. How do you compete with that?

Some Mayors make appointments based on the political strength of a candidate, not whether the individual can accomplish the mission of the department. Some are picked for what potential money or powerful constituency that candidate might drag to the table with them. That’s no way to pick a leader.

ANY MAYOR NEEDS TO APPOINT A LEADER NOT BEHOLDEN TO A MAYOR

The silly rapture analogy notwithstanding; the Chief of Police appointment is critical for a department. But it has to be someone with a proven record of actual police work. Someone who has been on the ground and worked their way up through this or any other department (hopefully of comparable size – Bosque Farms?). And that advancement needs to have been in the field or in operational capacities – narcotics, investigations, tactical etc. No flat butted, pencil pushers who put more miles on an office chair than they did in a police car.

Yes, your chief needs to be educated, as should every police officer should be before they become a cop. And great, if the JFK School of Government at Harvard is on their resume or they attended the FBI National Academy. But appoint a true leader, someone officers respect or have the background they can come to respect. Talk with field officers and they will tell you they trust and respect a leader who’s been in the field, been kicked in the teeth and can resonate with them and their experiences. Trust and respect between the field and the Chief is the intangible glue that holds a department together. The folks out there making the Mayor look good will more likely trust and respect a true leader with real police experience than someone with a Ph.D. in shift scheduling or some such nonsense and spent 15 years in charge of CALEA (law enforcement accreditation process that kills many trees).

As is important is who you pick is how you retain them. As long as the Chief of Police is beholden to one politician, you have a politically infected Chief of Police. You have a Chief of Police that cannot be of their own mind. They cannot speak out in support of their department if it’s not in the political interest of the Mayor. They cannot speak out in support of an individual officer if it’s not in the political interest of the Mayor. They cannot speak out on an issue with which the Mayor may not agree. They cannot effectively do their job if it runs contrary to a Mayor’s political calculus – like let’s say, allowing a Chief of Police to make sure that violent protesters, rioters and looters are arrested regardless of the underlying cause. The Chief of Police cannot publicly long for desperately needed federal dollars to assist in crime-fighting because the Mayor is catering to the sanctuary city crowd.

NEGOTIATE CONTRACT MAKING TERMINATION OF A CHIEF “FOR CAUSE”, NOT “AT WILL” BY A MAYOR

There’s a way to fix that, still give the Mayor the opportunity to pick a person they want, test drive the one they think they don’t want and perhaps give the city of Albuquerque some desperately needed longevity and continuity with their chief.

The fix? A contract.

The length of the contract and the provisions for dismissal will be the key for making this idea work. If the Chief is removed for political reasons, the cost will be expensive; both politically to the Mayor and financially to the city. Let’s see this work with an example.

Let’s say that Alexandria Ocasio–Trump is elected Mayor of Albuquerque to take office on December 1, 2021. There’s only an acting chief under no contractual obligation, so on January 1, 2022 Mayor Ocasio–Trump appoints one Jose Viernes (the older, bilingual crowd gets it) as Chief of Police. Chief Viernes contract is for four years nine months, meaning his contract expires September 30, 2026.

In early 2025, Mayor Ocasio–Trump realizes that she is actually from New York and decides not to run for a second term. A new Mayor takes office on December 1, 2025. Chief Viernes, assuming that he has not left under one of the below conditions, is the new Mayor’s Chief for nine months. That’s nine months for the new Mayor and Chief Viernes to get to know one another and find out what they may have in common which might cause them to want to work together. If the new Mayor immediately decides they don’t want to keep Chief Viernes for nine months for petty political reasons, they have to pay Chief Viernes the balance of his contract; plus a kicker equivalent to, let’s say, the previous three years salary that Chief Viernes earned. Does the new Mayor want to start out that way?

But let’s say that Chief Viernes is fired during Ocasio-Trump’s tenure as Mayor. He may be gone under two conditions: let’s say he was terminated for cause. He didn’t do the fundamentals of his job, got caught driving drunk, sexually harassing the secretary, domestic violence, – you pick the vice. The bottom line is he’s gone, and the city paid nothing for his termination. But let’s say he does do his job, is meeting his responsibilities and serving this community well. But over time Mayor Ocasio-Trump comes to regret her decision because she and Chief Viernes have opposite political views; and because he’s a strong leader, she can’t control him. Finally, when he speaks out against electric police cars as too expensive, she decides to get rid of Chief Viernes. Then she would have to pay off his contract plus a kicker meant to discourage unnecessary political terminations. No one wants to be that Mayor that has to make the politically unpopular decision of paying someone a big fat chunk of change just to make a Chief go away. Pick a professional to be Chief of Police and let them be a Chief of Police.

MAYOR KELLER NEEDS TO MAKE INTERIM CHIEF MEDINA PERMANANT

Harold Medina is not the cause of the current crisis that the police department is in. CASA is not his fault. It is no one person’s fault. It’s my fault and the fault of every other Chief of Police and Deputy Chief of Police since 1985. We collectively created this environment for this to happen. It’s also the fault of every Mayor that ever served, every public safety officer, every chief administrative officer and every city attorney. More than one dead philosopher has said that people get the government they deserve – it’s on everyone. I love this city, but it’s violent and it’s mean, and its people lack self-control and don’t know how to take responsibility. Combine that with the police department that hasn’t figured it out yet, and you have a combination that can lead to what we have. So, the DOJ settlement rest with many, many people.

Get over it. Let’s fix it and move on.

I think one person who can make that happen is the guy currently sitting in the chief’s office. He is educated, he’s smart and he has real operational police experience. That desire to be on the streets and serve the people of Albuquerque at an operational level is what gives him the experience necessary to lead police officers. He’s not a desk jockey with a bunch of administrative assignments on his resume. He knows what it’s like to be out there, he knows what it’s like to experience what a police officer experiences. He knows what to look for when it comes to improper police behavior, whether that behavior is disrespecting a citizen or an improper use of force.

The same street experience that Chief Medina has, is the same experience that has led him into the scrapes for which he has been criticized. I am familiar with some, but not all and I can say in the ones that I’m familiar with, Harold did nothing legally, procedurally or morally wrong in those police actions. I’m sure they are burned in his heart forever – but knowing the moral constitution of this man, I believe the scars have led to a better police officer and one who will be a better Chief of Police.

I’m sure there are a few men and women somewhere out there in United States who seem to be a better candidate than Chief Medina. But they don’t know the department like he does. Harold doesn’t have a learning curve. They don’t know the issues and they haven’t been working on solutions as he has. I’m confident that he can do the job and he can do the job well.

So, to all you Harold haters out there: I’m sure you believe you make some valid points on why that his appointment is without merit, but when you reduce the dialogue to insignificant factors like football jersey Fridays, it’s pretty evident that you are grasping at straws.

Mr. Mayor, leave Chief Medina where he’s at. And all you city leaders out there, current and future – let’s learn to respect the rank and file; they’re the ones who’ll make you look good. Let’s find a commonsense way to get a true professional as Chief of Police. Then leave them to be a Chief of Police and not a political stooge.
______________

POSTSCRIPT

A link to an opposing blog article on Interim Chief Harold Medina and published on September 28, is here:

A Chief Medina Is Keller’s “Unicorn”; Medina’s Reactive Decision-Making Results In Death; Chief Geier: “I Did Not Want To Retire”, Says Keller And Nair Micro Managed APD; Mayor Mike Geier?

Given the fact that we have an outgoing President who did not serve this country in the military and called those who did and died losers and suckers and now alleges election fraud to hold onto office, and refuses to concede to President Elect Joe Biden, we all need to give a special remembrance to Veterans Day 2020 and its meaning to our right to vote in a democracy.

I am compelled to pay tribute to members of my family who have given so much and sacrificed so much to protect our freedoms and to protect this great country of ours. All these family members were born and lived in New Mexico, two were born in Chacon, New Mexico and the rest raised and educated in Albuquerque.

One gave the ultimate sacrifice during time of war.

My father Paul Dinelli and my Uncle Pete Dinelli, for whom I was named after, both served in the US Army during World War II when the United States went to war with Italy, Germany and Japan. The United State was at war with Italy during World War II. My father and uncle were first generation born Americans and the sons of Italian immigrants who settled in Albuquerque in the year 1900 to live the American dream. My Uncle Pete Dinelli was killed in action when he stepped on a land mine. My father Paul Dinelli was a disabled American Veteran when he returned to Albuquerque after World War II.

My uncles Fred Fresques and Alex Fresques, my mother’s two brothers, also saw extensive combat in World War II. My Uncle Alex Freques served in England and was in the Air Force. My uncle Fred Fresques saw extensive action in the US Army infantry to the point that he refused to talk about what he saw to anyone. My Uncle Fred was awarded 3 bronze stars and the purple heart for his war time service.

After the war, Uncle Fred returned to Albuquerque and raised his family in Barelas. Over many years, my Uncle Fred was active in the Barelas Community Center and was a trainer for the “Golden Gloves” competition teaching young adults the sport of boxing.

My father in law, George W. Case, who passed away a few years ago at the age 93, served in the United States Navy during World War II and saw action while serving on a destroyer. My father in law George Case was so proud of his service that he wore a World War II Veterans cap every day the last few years of his life. After the war, my father in law George Case returned to Albuquerque was married to my mother in law Laurel Del Castillo for 50 years, raised a family of 4 girls. George eventually owed a liquor store for a few years and then went on to build, own and operate the Old Town Car wash and was in the car wash industry for a number of years.

My nephew Dante Dinelli, was born and raised in Albuquerque and joined the service a few years after graduating from Cibola High School. Dante served 20 + years in the US Navy, retired as a Chief Petty Officer and to this day still works in a civilian capacity for the Navy.

My two nephews, Matthew Barnes and Brandon Barnes, the sons of my younger sister, Pauline were born and raised in Albuquerque and went to Bosque Prep. Both Mathew is a Major and Brandon is a Captain in the United States Marine Corps and both are climbing the promotion ladder in the Marine Corps. My nephew Captain Brandon Barnes is a graduate of the US Naval Academy. My nephew Captain Matthew Barnes graduated from UNM with honors and served a tour in Afghanistan.

To all the wonderful and courageous men and women who have served and continue to serve our country to protect and secure the promise of freedom and the ideals upon which the United States was founded upon, and to those who made the ultimate sacrifice, I thank you for your service to our Country.

Your service and sacrifices will never be forgotten. God bless you all and God Bless the United States and all of our freedoms you fought for to protect this great democracy.

With apologies to Paul McCartney and WINGS:

Someone’s knockin’ at the door
Somebody’s ringin’ the bell
Someone’s knockin’ at the door
Somebody’s ringin’ the bell
Do me a favor Joe
Open the door and let ’em in!

Sister Debra, brother Tom,
Martin Heinrich, and My Michelle
Maybe Timmy, what the hell!

Do me a favor Joe
Open the door and let ’em in, ooh yeah Joe, let ’em in!

One week to the day of the November 3 election, it is being reported by local and national media sources that at least 4 of New Mexico’s top elected officials have expressed an interest or have made it know that they want to serve in the Cabinet of President Elect Joe Biden. Those being mentioned are:

GOVERNOR MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM

On November 9, the news website Axios reported that after Joe Biden did not do as good as was expected with Hispanic voters in some states, such as Florida, Democrats are urging Biden to nominate several Latinos to high-profile Cabinet positions. Among those in contention are New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham for Health and Human Services.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is the biggest name in New Mexico politics that is being mentioned to be appointed as the Cabinet Secretary of the Health and Human Services Department. Lujan Grisham is one of the co-chairs of President Elect Biden’s transition team. Further, Lujan Grisham’s chief of staff, John Bingaman and son of former United States Senator Jeff Bingaman, took a leave of absence to assist with the Biden Presidential transition team.

If Governor Lujan Grisham is in fact named to a cabinet position, Lt. Gov. Howie Morales would assume the office of governor for the remainder of Lujan Grisham’s term, which ends in 2022. If that were to happen, Morales would likely seek election as Governor in 2022. Morales will likely have stiff competition for the Democratic nomination for Governor. Attorney General Hector Balderas, who is term limited, is said to be now looking at running for Governor if Lujan Grisham steps down. Balderas already has upwards of $700,000 in his campaign account.

UNITED STATES SENATOR TOM UDALL

According to sources, New Mexico’s Senior Senator Tom Udall, who did not seek reelection to his U.S. Senate seat and who is leaving the Senate come January 1, 2021, is actively seeking to become Cabinet Secretary for the U.S. Interior Department. Tom Udall’s late father, Stewart Udall, served as interior secretary for eight years in the 1960s under Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson.

Throughout his career as a New Mexico Congressman and United State Senator, Udall has been very active in environmental and federal lands issues, conservation issues and issues facing Native American rights. When he announced his retirement from the United States Senate, Udall said that although he was retiring from the Senate he intended to find “new ways” to serve New Mexico and the country.

UNITED STATE SENATOR MARTIN HEINRICH

New Mexico’s Junior Senator Martin Heinrich is up for election to a third term in 2022 and is also being said to be very interested in becoming Cabinet Secretary for the U.S. Interior Department. Like Udall, Heinrich has been very active in environmental and federal lands issues and water conservation issues.

Sources are also saying becoming the Secretary of Interior is not the only option being considered by Heinrich. One source has reported that Heinrich recently registered his two sons with the Albuquerque Public Schools and is said to be looking at running for the 2022 Democratic nomination for Governor if in fact Lt. Governor Morales ends up in the Governor’s chair. If Heinrich wants to move his family back to New Mexico, it’s a signal he has become tired of the Washington DC life. A 3 way race for Governor in 2022 between Morales, Balderas and Heinrich will no doubt be a slugfest and result in ending the political careers of two.

Another wrinkle in the political intrigue is the fact if Heinrich is tapped to serve in Biden’s cabinet, the Governor, wether its Michell Lujan Grisham or Howie Morales, would appoint his replacement to serve the remaining two years of his term also causing more dominos to fall with a stampede of candidates running in 2022 for the open US Senate Seat.

CONGRESSWOMAN DEBRA HAALAND

Congresswoman Debra Haaland, who was just elected to a second term to the US Congress, is also being mentioned as a possible appointment to a Biden Cabinet. Haaland is a Laguna Pueblo member and former San Felipe Pueblo tribal administrator. Biden would make history if he were to choose Haaland to be the first Native American to serve in a presidential Cabinet. Sources have also confirmed that many Native American Tribes throughout the country are taking a major interest in promoting Haaland for a cabinet position, especially those tribes that are involved with Indian Gaming interests. According to POLITICO magazine, Haaland is also on Biden’s short list for Interior Secretary.

Congresswoman Haaland had this to say about the rumors:

“It is notable that our country has finally reached the point where having the first Native American Cabinet secretary is a serious consideration and there are people putting it down on paper. … New Mexico is my top priority, and I am open to opportunities where I can best serve our state, Indian Country, and our country at large and pushing the Biden climate plan.”

If Haaland were to be appointed to a Cabinet position by Biden, a special election would have to be held for her Albuquerque-based 1st Congressional District seat, no doubt resulting in numerous candidates for the job.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

This is what you call knocking on the door of opportunity as hard as you can to get someone’s attention. All 4 seem to be knocking themselves out to get out of New Mexico with 3 not wanting to even finish the terms they were elected to serve by the people of New Mexico. Perhaps they know just how bad things have gotten in New Mexico and now is the time to get out of town before its way too late to continue with their political careers.

This is the very type of posturing by all 3 of our most respected elected officials that give ambitious politicians the label of “political opportunist” as being more concerned about themselves and not the people who elected them to serve in the first place. At least Tom Udall is finishing his term, but he too has had a big streak of being opportunistic running for congress first in Albuquerque when Steve Schiff ran, then running for Attorney General, then running for Congress again then running for the US Senate.

When you run for an elected office, you make a commitment to voters to at least finish the term you were elected to. Otherwise, as a candidate, you were misleading voters and you become an opportunist, especially after you have run around for almost a full year, spending literally millions in donations from others to get elected and telling every one to vote for you and it is the job you want. The Governor spent $10 million to get elected, now she wants to leave mid term. Haaland spent millions to get re elected to a second term and has not even been sworn in to her second term and now wants move on. Heinrich spent up to $9 Million to get re elected 4 years ago and now wants to leave with 2 years left in his term. New Mexico needs all 4 where they are now and they should finish thier terms and only then move on.

Now that APD is once again in a meltdown including a scathing DOJ monitors report that said APD is on the “brink of catastrophe” and unable to police itself and time card fraud by police officers. no one should be surprised if Tim Keller decides being Mayor is not all the fun, games and adoring attention he thought it would be. Keller could easily decide and to run to replace Haaland, Lujan Grisham or even Heinrich. Keller also has a reputation of leaving in mid term to run for another office and if he is elected to a second term as Mayor on Novemeber 5, 2021, he could easily turn around and run for a higher office in 2022 with the primary being in June, 2022. When Keller was a State Senator he left mid term to run for State Auditor, and when he was State Auditor, he left mid term to run for Mayor, all within the span of 5 years.

“Someone knocking at your door, someone’s ringing your bell, do me a favor Joe, open the door and let ’em in, ooh yeah Joe, let ’em in!”

On November 2, 2020, the Federal Court Appointed Monitor James Ginger filed with the Federal Court his 12th Compliance Audit Report of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) reforms mandated under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA). The report covers the twelfth-monitoring period of February 1, 2020 to July 31, 2020. Both APD Chief Michael Geier and Academy Commander Angela Byrd were employed during the monitoring period, but they have terminated by the Tim Keller Administration.

On September 25, 2020, APD Chief Michael Geier was forced to retire by Mayor Tim Keller and he immediately appointed First Deputy Chief Harold Medina as APD Interim Chief of APD. Keller also announced a national search to replace Geier and find a new Chief. Interim Chief Harold Medina is applying for the job and is considered by many as the front runner. At the time of Geier’s forced retirement Mayor Keller said in part:

“ … We know reform efforts have hit some snags, and we know there have been back office challenges and distractions. Chief Geier’s retirement comes at the right time for a new phase of leadership to address the old embedded challenges that continue to hamper the department. … .”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/chief-geier-forced-out-of-his-position-with-apd/5858023/?cat=500

On Friday, October 30, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) announced it had fired APD Academy Commander Angela Byrd after an “outside investigation” found that she retaliated against APD Academy staff and alleged she threatened to retaliate against cadets who reported harassment and discrimination. According to APD, both Byrd and Geier attempted to cover up reported misconduct.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/apd-terminates-academy-commander-for-retaliation-against-whistleblowers/5911567/?cat=500

12TH FEDERAL MONITOR’S REPORT

The Federal Monitor’s 12th report is 356 pages long. It follows the format as all the previous 11 reports. It’s a detailed audit of every paragraph of the consent decree and for that reason it is tedious and difficult to read.

The 12th Monitor’s Report, as the others, contains a number of specific cases reviewed with a short factual synopsis of each case detailing interactions with the public by APD. The report then identifies major deficiencies applying the applicable paragraphs and CASA reforms to the fact synopsis. For the sake of brevity, there is only one case review contained this blog report.

This blog article only highlights major finding of the 12th Federal Monitor’s report and should not be considered as all inclusive. The link to the City web site with entire 12th Federal Monitor’s report is here:

http://documents.cabq.gov/police/reports/department-of-justice/independent-monitors-twelfth-report-nov-2020.pdf

OPERATIONAL COMPLIANCE LEVELS EXPLAINED

The CASA was negotiated to be fully implemented over a 4-year period. It has now been over 6 full years. There are 3 compliance levels that must achieve a 95% compliance level and then maintained for a full 2 years before the case can be dismissed.

For the purposes of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) monitoring process, “compliance” consists of three levels: primary, secondary, and operational compliance levels.

The 3 compliance levels can be explained as follows:

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

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.

COMPLIANCE LEVELS DECLINE IN TWO AREAS

The 11th audit report that covered the time period of August 1, 2019 and ended in January 31, 2020, found the following compliance levels:

PRIMARY COMPLIANCE: 100%, no change from 10th report.

SECONDARY COMPLIANCE: 93%, a plus change of 14.8% from the 10th report.

OPERATIONAL COMPLIANCE: 67%, a plus change of 3% from the 10th report.

In the 12th audit reporting period that ended on July 31, 2020 the Federal Monitor found the following compliance levels:

PRIMARY COMPLIANCE: 100% with no change from 11 th report. APD continued to make progress overall, having achieved primary compliance in 100% of the applicable paragraphs of the CASA. Primary Compliance relates mostly to development and implementation of acceptable policies conforming to national practices.

SECONDARY COMPLIANCE: 91%, with a loss of -2.2% from the 11th report. APD is in 91% Secondary Compliance as of this reporting period. Secondary Compliance means that effective follow-up mechanisms have been taken to ensure that APD personnel understand the requirements of promulgated policies, e.g., training, supervising, coaching, and implementing disciplinary processes to ensure APD personnel understand the policies as promulgated and are capable of implementing them in the field.

OPERATIONAL COMPLIANCE: 64%, with a loss of -3.0%. APD is in 64% Operational Compliance with the requirements of the CASA, which means that 64% of the time, field personnel either perform tasks as required by the CASA, or that, when they fail, supervisory personnel note and correct in-field behavior that is not compliant with the requirements of the CASA

USE OF FORCE POLICY COMPLIANCE

The 12th Report reported on APD’s use of force policy compliance as follows:

“APD reworked their use of force policies to integrate a new, 3-tiered reporting system that was approved by the Monitor and the Parties. CASA requirements stipulate that the use and investigation of force shall comply with applicable laws and comport to best practices. Central to these investigations shall be a determination of each involved officer’s conduct to determine if the conduct was legally justified and compliant with APD policy.
…
During the … reporting period APD continued to struggle establishing a system of force oversight and the accountability of officer conduct. These struggles have significant impact and influence on the organization’s efforts to achieve Operational Compliance. … Still evident are systemic failures that allow questionable uses of force and misconduct to survive without being addressed in any meaningful way.

Until APD “shoulders its burden,” and begins to take responsibility for self-identifying violations of policy and training, compliance will be elusive. (Page 15 and 16)

FAILED USE OF FORCE OVERSIGHT

The 12th Federal Monitor’s report was highly critical of APD’s failure of “force oversight” and the accountability for officer mis-conduct. According to the report:

“During the reporting period, APD continued to struggle to establish a system of force oversight and the accountability for officer conduct. These struggles have significant influence on the organization’s efforts to achieve Operational Compliance. Still evident are systemic failures that allow questionable uses of force and misconduct to survive without being addressed in any meaningful way. While these factors are highly problematic from an accountability perspective, they provide genuine areas to explore when deciding how and where to develop training programs, and deciding what audience is in the greatest need of remediation through training.

We’ve commented extensively in the past that APD is predisposed to minimize their response to performance issues and misconduct, and defaults to training referrals regardless of the severity of an offense, or, at times repetitive incidents of violation of policy and or training. APD has, as a matter of routine, pointed to past deficiencies with their policies and training when attempting to explain or excuse problems in the field. Now that APD has developed and implemented new policies and training they believe are capable of steering better outcomes, the response to problems they encounter must now require a close examination of an officer’s interest and willingness to apply the training that was provided to them.

We have no doubt that many of the instances of non-compliance we see currently in the field are a matter of “will not,” instead of “cannot”! The monitoring team expected there would be a period of time during which mistakes were made while applying the new policies and training, but issues we continue to see transcend innocent errors and instead speak to issues of cultural norms yet to be addressed and changed by APD leadership.”

(PAGE 12 of report)

OVERSIGHT OF THE USE OF FORCE FOUND INEFFECTIVE

The monitoring team was highly critical of APD’s Use of Force Board (UFB) and reported as follows:

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

Convening an FRB serves several key purposes, chief among them is to create a forum for executive oversight that pushes department-level expectations down through all levels of supervision. … Of the cases … reviewed that were approved by the Force Review Board, the [monitoring team] saw:

-Instances where obvious uses of force went unreported and investigated
-Evidence of supervisory failures
-One instance of misconduct in which unjustified force was used on a handcuffed person who was likely suffering from a form of mental disability. …

What this means is simple: that after two years of conceptualizing, recasting, and implementing new use of force policies; delivering meaningful training of those policies; training IAFD personnel to properly investigate uses of force; putting a video review unit in place; exhaustive technical assistance from the monitoring team; and reconstituting the FRB under new policies and training; the system is still ineffective in providing oversight of uses of force. (Page 11) …

During the … reporting period, APD continued to struggle to establish a system of force oversight and the accountability for officer conduct. These struggles have significant influence on the organization’s efforts to achieve Operational Compliance. Still evident are systemic failures that allow questionable uses of force and misconduct to survive without being addressed in any meaningful way.

(Page 11, 12)

SADISTIC CASE REPORTED REVEALING MULTI-LEVEL ORGANIZATIONAL FAILURE

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 DOJ investigation included a comprehensive review of APD’s operations and the City’s oversight systems of APD. The DOJ investigation “determined that structural and systemic deficiencies — including insufficient oversight, inadequate training, and ineffective policies — contribute to the use of unreasonable force.” A significant number of the use of force cases that were reviewed involved persons suffering from acute mental illness and who were in crisis. The investigation found APD’s policies, training, and supervision were insufficient to ensure that officers encountering people with mental illness or in distress do so in a manner that respected their rights and in a manner that was safe for all involved.

Throughout the 12th report, Federal Monitor James Ginger highlights one case review in particular that occurred one night in mid-January after APD’s new use-of-force policy took effect. It is identified in the Monitors Report as “Case #1 IMR 12-16.” APD officers arrested a man suspected of breaking into a car and stealing a dog at a motel and, in a separate instance, stealing a garbage can. Three APD officers used physical force to handcuff the suspect and then carried him to a patrol car.

(See pages 11, 85, 86, 89, 101)

It turns out the arrested man was mentally ill having a psychotic episode and he was resistant and uncooperative. The APD officers requested emergency medical services dispatched to the scene as the man babbled nonsensically, lying face down in the back seat of an APD cruiser, handcuffed, with his shoulders and head partly out of the vehicle.

According to the monitor’s report, the lapel camera of an officer who is not identified “flung the door toward the ‘closed position’ while the suspect was moving around, causing the door to strike the man’s head.” The monitors report goes on to say the officer slowly pressed the door closed on the man’s upper body and later, while putting him on a stretcher, grabbed his head and pushed it down so his chin touched his chest.

Monitor Ginger said the officer’s use of the door “bordered on sadistic”. The conduct was not reported and was not called out by investigators who reviewed the body camera footage. He said the IAFD investigators interviewed the suspect at the hospital when he was barely conscious and appeared unable to speak.

The case was referred to the Force Review Board (FRB) whose “sole purpose is to oversee the system, compensate for mistakes and provide a safety net to ensure such misconduct is not missed at any level of subordinate review … [but] the board didn’t find anything amiss.”

In his 12th report Ginger said, a union representative ended up “hijacking the interview” with the offending officer. Ginger said the union representative “took control of the interview” by narrating the video being played for the officer and then suggesting what the officer “actually meant to say” in response to a question rather than what the officer actually said. According to the report:

“When internal fact-finding processes such as Internal Affairs can routinely permit officers and union representatives to hijack internal fact-finding, and no one notices except the monitoring team, there are serious, meaningful, and near terminal problems with leadership at internal investigative commands”
…
“(The FRB) failed in its mission and execution in providing a meaningful review that should have revealed the actions of the officer against a handcuffed person experiencing a mental health crisis. … The capstone in this case study of a multi-level organizational failure in accountability is the former Chief of Police affixing his signature to the findings of the FRB’s lack of due diligence and meaningful findings.”
…
“After six years of ‘reform’ at APD, after six years of acute and intensive technical assistance and assessment from the monitoring team, after six years of exhaustive (and critical) reports from the monitor; after six years of ‘effort,’ this knowable and egregious case floated through (several) levels of review at APD … (on-scene officers; on-scene supervisory personnel; ‘upstream’ area command supervisory and management personnel; video review unit personnel; IAFD; and FRB) and all … of those levels managed to ‘not see’ a clear and (convincing) incident of deliberate excessive use of force against an individual obviously suffering a crisis.”

ACADEMY TRAINING EVISCERATED BY MONITOR AS SEEMING TO HAVE “FORGOTTEN ITS MISSION”

The monitoring team eviscerated the APD Academy training and reported as follows:

“While meeting with the [now former] APD Academy Director Commander Angela Byrd and staff … the status of APD’s annual requirements to deliver use of force training [was discussed.] While there is some overlap of topics … of training the monitor approved during the 11th report, it was clear that as a consequence of the Academy being hyper-focused on completing … training, which is still incomplete, they have not considered their annual training requirements! Such oversights are extremely troubling.

The monitoring team is cognizant of the issues facing the department as a consequence of the pandemic, but the Academy did not appear to have even explored options to address this requirement. It simply went un-met. Such oversights are inexplicable at this point. After six years of high … focus … from the monitoring team, after 10 highly problem-focused monitor’s reports, most of which included detailed recommendations for responding to CASA paragraph activities that were not in compliance, the Academy seems to have “forgotten” its mission.

To be clear, APD’s efforts to complete [the use of force training] which at this point is still incomplete, do not absolve the department from its other training requirements. For most officers, it’s been over a year since they attended Tier 1 training and by the end of 2020 it will be over a year since Tiers 2 and 3 were attended by APD officers and supervisors.

As noted, some required CASA topics are not addressed in the Tier training sessions and will need their own training sessions. This will be the third round of “gap training,” designed to address training oversights at the Academy. Such under-performance, quite simply, is not acceptable in a truly reform-minded agency.”

(Page 11-12)

FORMER APD CHIEF DEMONSTRATED SERIOUS DEFICIENCIES

The 12th Federal monitor’s report was highly critical of former APD Chief Michael Geier when it reported:

“APD’s top leadership demonstrate serious deficiencies in establishing the right expectations of the organization, during this reporting period we note that the former Chief of Police coordinated a specific APD officer to address Academy cadets, under a lecture title of “Career Survival” as a condition of discipline following an instance of serious misconduct. In our opinion, the former chief’s decision to facilitate this event represented a serious lack of judgment, especially since the monitor had previously advised the former chief that the officer’s actions were extremely serious, constituted direct and intentional violations of policy and the CASA, and possibly warranted termination.”

(Page 11)

MONITOR’S SCATHING ASSESSMENT AT “TOP OF ORANIZATION”

The 12th Federal Monitors report provides the following scathing overall assessment of APD:

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

“During the reporting period [of] February through July 2020, virtually all of these failures can be traced back to leadership failures at the top of the organization. During the past two reporting periods, the monitor has provided more direct technical assistance, advice, high-level problem identification, mid-level problem-solving processes, and executive-level consultation than was provided in any of the monitor’s previous monitoring experiences. Each of our reports is accompanied by an exhaustive list of recommendations for improvement in any CASA compliance area that was not found in compliance. Those lists of recommendations detail hundreds of process improvement designs. The vast majority of these recommendations appear to have been filed away, rather than actualized.” (Page 3.)
…
Since the inception of this monitoring process in 2015, we have been as open and honest as possible with APD executive leadership and have never noted a problem at APD without following up with suggestions regarding how APD might best address that problem. At this stage of the process most of those discussions at the executive level have fallen on deaf ears. After six years of suggestions, recommendations, and problem-solving meetings, … as of the end of the … reporting period, much remains to be done.

To be perfectly clear, based on the monitor’s experience with these projects, [which] dates back to the 1990s, APD is on a path that reflects deliberate indifference to the requirements of the CASA. We highly recommend that the City take direct steps to put APD on an alternate trajectory regarding compliance efforts:

• APD’s new leadership, which assumed leadership responsibilities after the close of this reporting period, must step up and insist on compliance.
• Management needs to design simple, effective, trackable systems for process improvement.
• Supervision needs to leave behind its dark traits of myopia, passive resistance, and outright support for, and implementation of, counter-CASA processes.
• Most importantly, line officers need to engage in actions as designed by policy, law, and best practice, not past customs.
Until these actions take place, compliance will be exceptionally evasive.”

(Page 3 of 12th Monitors Report)

“COUNTER CASA AFFECT” STILL IDENTIFIED AS PROBLEMATIC

The 12th Federal Monitors’ report contains a summary that highlights major deficiencies that have set back compliance levels. For at least the 4th time, the monitor reported 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.

During this reporting period, the monitoring team often found in its reviews of management and oversight practices, a near myopathy at APD when it comes to assessing actions in the field against the requirements of APD policy and the CASA. Supervisors and command level personnel have a deleterious tendency to ignore the requirements of policy and training, and at times to even support processes to hide or circumvent internal systems designed to ensure compliance to established policy.

Even more importantly, Tier 4 training and required annual training processes are at or near atrophy at APD. When a major police organization can “forget” to plan for annual training processes and no one notices except the monitoring team, there are serious, meaningful, and near terminal problems with leadership at the training command level, and at the executive oversight and control level.

When a major … CASA-critical command such as Internal Affairs can allow union representatives to hijack internal investigations and can allow officers to respond to salient , and reasonable, fact-finding questions by simply reading a Garrity statement … into the record, as opposed to answering questions posed, there are serious and near terminal problems with process, policy enforcement, and outcome factors. “

EDITOR’S NOTE: Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493 (1967), is the landmark US Supreme Court case that held that law enforcement officers and other public employees have the right to be free from compulsory self-incrimination. The basic premise of a “Garrity Statement” is protection that an Officer cannot be compelled, by the threat of serious discipline, to make statements that may be used in a subsequent criminal proceeding. No Police Officer can be terminated for refusing to waive his Fifth Amendment right to remain silent.

When internal fact-finding processes such as Internal Affairs can routinely permit officers and union representatives to hijack internal fact-finding, and no one notices except the monitoring team, there are serious, meaningful, and near terminal problems with leadership at internal investigative commands.

When critical oversight elements such as the Force Review Board can miss critical violations regarding use of force and visible evidence of open, overt, and reprehensible mistreatment of arrestees by APD field personnel, there are serious, meaningful and near terminal problems with executive review processes specifically designed to note these types of problems and posit solutions to ensure they do not re-occur, there are serious, meaningful, and near-terminal problems with departmental command and leadership at the highest levels.

When, in effect, the monitoring team stands as the quality-control mechanism for supervision, command, and leadership levels of the police department, we are facing serious, existential threats to effective management and service delivery functions at APD. In the monitor’s opinion, based on our detailed analyses presented in this report, APD stands at a critical crossroad.

A change in the trajectory at APD is essential. Leaders need to step up and lead. Managers need to step up and manage. Supervisors need to step up and supervise. Most importantly, field officers need to conform to established policy and training and effect CASA-congruent policing practices. The change required is certainly possible. The Pittsburgh Bureau of Police has proven the possibility by successfully meeting the change requirements during their consent decree and did so in record time. The New Jersey State Police, a larger, more diverse, and more decentralized agency than APD, successfully met the change requirements of their consent decree, and in doing so, became a model for other agencies facing reform issues.

At this point, we assert that the issue is leadership. The next chief at APD needs to step up, speak out, set and meet reform goals, and ensure that the management team supporting him, or her, are pulling together to ensure reform. Until that happens, change will be difficult to make. Reform will be difficult to implement. Effective, constitutional policing will remain elusive.”

UNION REPSONDS TO 12TH FEDERAL MONITOR’S REPORT

Shaun Willoughby, President of Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association, said in an interview that the rank and file are doing a much better job than the report lays out and believes officers understand the importance of reporting excessive force.

He also added:

“There is no doubt in my mind that parting ways with Mike Geier and Angela Byrd are great things, they’re good things for the Albuquerque Police Department so we can move forward we’ve said that from the very beginning. We had questions about his leadership and ability to move his department forward.”

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/doj-report-outlines-apd-issues/

COUNTER CASA EFFECT EXPLAINED

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

The Federal Monitor revealed that the group of “high-ranking APD officers” were APD sergeants and lieutenants.

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

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

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

Because sergeants and lieutenants are part of the police bargaining unit they remained in their positions and could not be removed by the Chief. Then APD Chief Michael Geier also reported that he had noticed some “old-school resistance” to reforms mandated by the CASA. At the time, Chief Geier reported he replaced a number of commanders with others who agree with police reforms. However, Chief Geier reported he could not replace the sergeants nor lieutenants who were resisting the reforms because of the union contract.

OCTOBER 6 STATUS HEARING

On Friday, October 6, the Federal District Court Judge James Browning held a hearing on the 12th Federal Monitors Report. Normally, such a hearing is an all day long, in person hearing allowing the public to attend. As a result of the corona virus, the hearing was held “virtually” but because of technology difficulties, the public and the press were prevented from attending.

A transcript of the October 6 hearing reveals Federal Monitor Ginger told the 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.”

COMMUNITY COALITION APD FORWARD REACT

APD Forward includes upwards of 20 organizations who have affiliated with each other in an effort to reform APD and implement the DOJ consent decree terms and reforms. APD Forward is one of the main stakeholders who appears during the court hearings. Members of APD Forward include Albuquerque Health Care for the Homeless, American Civil Liberties, Bernalillo County Community Health Council, Common Cause New Mexico, Disability Rights New Mexico, Equality New Mexico, League of Women Voters of Central New, Mexico New Mexico Conference of Churches, New Mexico Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, Sierra Club Rio Grande Chapter, the Transgender Resource Center of New Mexico.

Robby Heckman, a member of APD Forward, said that the 12th Monitors’ report provided a real insight as to what is going on inside APD rather than just what the Keller Administration is saying it’s doing. Heckman described what is actually going on within APD as “disturbing” and said:

“What’s described in this monitor report are the exact behaviors and things that were described in the DOJ findings letter . People suffering from mental illness being treated improperly. … It’s going to take creating systems that actually hold officers accountable. That’s just not happening. We’re six years in, and it’s not happening, the culture is eating the reforms for lunch.”

KELLER ADMINISTRATION PILE’S ON FORMER APD CHIEF GEIER

On October 6, Keller’s appointed Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Sarita Nair was asked to respond to the 12th Monitor’s report and the replacement of Geier and she had this to say:

“After making big strides for the first two years [under former Chief Geier], the reform effort had stalled out and the former chief was actively working against reform. These findings are simply unacceptable at this stage. We took swift action right at the top of the department and got to work cleaning up what was left behind. Any real reform effort will be long and challenging, but the department is back on track with a renewed energy and commitment to getting this work done.”

Interim APD Chief Harold Medina piled on Geier when asked about 12TH monitors report and said:

“[There will be] no more sweeping counter-CASA culture under the rug at APD. We’re at a point in the reform process where we have to make the tough decisions about holding people accountable if we are truly going to change the culture at APD. Mayor Keller did that when he addressed the number one criticism in this monitoring report: He replaced the failed leadership at the top of the department. … [I am taking discipline seriously having taken] swift action to address the failed leadership at the training academy [by firing APD Academy Commander Angela Byrd APD.] … I am building trust with employees at every level to get their buy-in, while also setting expectations about our collective duty to improve the way we do business. … Most important, I am returning our focus to fighting crime. I want our officers to understand we can fight crime and meet the requirements of the settlement agreement. Nobody is holding us back. The public supports APD, as long as we keep the community safe and commit to a new era of constitutional and accountable policing.”

APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos also piled on Geier further when responding to the 12th Monitor’s report:

“Supervisors must open investigations when people are not doing their jobs effectively. … The former APD chief was actively resisting this type of accountability, and it will take some time to clean up the mess he left behind. Chief Medina has opened investigations of high-ranking Commanders because they failed to close cases properly and expects the entire chain of command to hold their subordinates accountable when investigating uses of force. The Department has experienced a steep learning curve with regard to the Force Review Board, however, the Board routinely identifies and addresses department-wide concerns with training, tactics, equipment and supervision.”

The link to the quote source is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1515868/monitor-blasts-apd-for-failure-to-police-itself.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

CAO Sarita Nair, Interim Chief Harold Medina and APD Spokesman Gilbert Gallegos no doubt believe that the general public are just plain stupid and will buy into all their bullshit arguments and press releases that it’s all former Chief Geier’s fault for APD failing with the police reforms. By all accounts, former APD Chief Michael Geier did a respectable job of settling the department down for 2 years and 8 months he was in charge. That is until Interim Chief Harold Medina wanted Geier’s job and the $180,000 yearly pay that goes with it and he undercut Geier at every turn and ran behind Gieir’s back to complain like a little snitch to CAO Nair.

Nair and Medina now want the public to forget or ignore that for the past 3 years they have “wallowed” in the muck of APD and contributed to the stench. To quote the Federal Monitor “APD’s compliance efforts have exhibited serious shortfalls during the … reporting period. These range from critical shortfalls in management and oversight of the APD Training Academy, significant and deleterious failures relating to oversight and discipline; and executive-level failures regarding oversight, command and control, discipline, supervision, and training. … During the reporting period [of] February through July 2020, virtually all of these failures can be traced back to leadership failures at the top of the organization.“

Truth is CAO Sarita Nair and former First Deputy Chief Harold Medina, and now Interim Chief, have been at the very top of the APD organization for 3 years, and they were a very big part of the “leadership failures at the top of the organization” creating the sewage mess and they now proclaim they are trying to clean up blaming former Chief Geier for not implementing the reforms.

PART OF THE PROBLEM

For the last 3 years, CAO Nair and Interim Chief Medina worked closely together to manage the day to day operations of APD. It is common knowledge within the APD command staff that Harold Medina will do anything and say anything Mayor Tim Keller and CAO Sarita Nair tell him to do and want him to say. It is also common knowledge that it was Medina that orchestrated Geier’s forced retirement with the help and backing of Keller’s political operative Nair. Medina’s ultimate goal is to be appointed permanent chief and Keller is likely going to do just that after another sham national search.

Interim Chief Harold Medina is part of the very problem that brought the Department of Justice (DOJ) here in the first place. It was the past APD management practices that resulted in the “culture of aggression” found by the DOJ that lead to the federal consent decree after 18 police officer involved shootings and the findings of excessive use of force and deadly force by APD. It is not at all likely, despite whatever public comments he makes, that Interim APD Chief Medina will ever truly be committed to all 270 Federal mandated reforms. One thing for sure is that First Deputy Chief Harold Medina is not the person who should be appointed permanent Chief.

APD NEEDS CLEAN SWEEP OF HIGH COMMAND

When candidate Keller was running for Mayor, he promised sweeping changes with APD, a national search for a new APD Chief and a return to Community Based policing. During Mayor Tim Keller’s first 8 months in office, Keller did not make the dramatic management changes he promised, but he a relied on past management of the department and past practices. The current Deputy Chiefs are not outsiders at all but have been with APD for a number of years and are eligible for retirement. Keller’s “new” and present Deputies are a reflection of APD’s past. APD’s current command staff are not a new generation of police officer fully committed and trained in constitutional policing practices.

The statement made by Mayor Tim Keller that former Albuquerque Police Chief Mike Geier simply wanted to retire appears to have been as bogus as it could get. In the 12th Federal Monitor’s report, the monitoring team found that APD has completely failed to police itself, pointing to major problems with the former police chief and the former APD Academy Commander. The 12th report outlines multiple cases where officers failed to accurately report use of force cases and the report places the blame directly on APD leadership.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/doj-report-outlines-apd-issues/

APD needs a clean sweep in management and philosophy to remove anyone who may have assisted, contributed or who did not stop the culture of aggression found by the Department of Justice and who have resisted the reform process during the last 3 years of the consent decree. Mayor Tim Keller needs to conduct a national search to find a new Chief who is not already with APD and allow whoever is chosen to run APD department free of his interference or the interference of CAO Nair. Mayor Keller should take this as an opportunity to also remove all the current Deputy Chief’s and allow whoever he selects to be the new Chief allow them to select and bring in their own command staff.

UNION RESISTANCE

It obvious from reading the 12th report that the union membership of sergeants and lieutenants are still at the center of the “under currents” of Counter-CASA effects. The police union has made its opposition and objections known to the federal court regarding the use of force and deadly force policies. The union has always argued that the new use of force and deadly force policies were too restrictive with rank and file claiming police cannot do their jobs and that their hands are tied.

The police union leadership have said in open court that the mandated reforms under the consent decree are interfering with rank and file officer’s ability to perform their job duties. During the August 20, 2019 status conference, the APOA union President Shaun Willoughby made it clear his union membership attitude towards the CASA reforms. District Court Judge Browning asked APOA Union President Shawn Willoughby what he and the union rank and file felt about the CASA. Willoughby’s responses were a quick condemnation of the CASA when he said “we hate it”, “we’re frustrated”, the reforms and mandates are “a hard pill to swallow”, that “all change is hard”.

According to Willoughby, police officers are afraid to do their jobs for fear of being investigated, fired or disciplined. The police union has never articulated in open court and in clear terms exactly what it is about the reforms that are keeping rank and file from “doing their” jobs and “why they hate” the CASA as articulated by the union president. It’s likely the union feels what is interfering with police from doing their jobs is the mandatory use of lapel cameras, police can no longer shoot at fleeing cars, police can no longer use choke holds, police need to use less lethal force and not rely on the SWAT unit, police must use de-escalating tactics and be trained in crisis intervention, and management must hold police accountable for violation of standard operating procedures.

What was so damn laughable is when Union President Willoughby says that the union cooperated and participated with the reforms unlike all other Departments in other cities faced with a consent decree. What the union has actually been doing for the last 6 years was disrupting the process by not being fully committed to the reforms and changes and doing what it could to water down the changes to the “use of force” and “deadly force” policies.

Given the Federal Monitors criticism and what is contained in the 12th report, it is downright laughable that Union President Willoughby would actually say in an interview that the rank and file are doing a “much better job than the report lays out” and that he believes officers understand the importance of reporting excessive force. It obvious from the entire 12th report they do not especially when the monitor says in the 12th report:

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

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

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

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

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

REMOVE SERGEANTS AND LIEUTENANTS FROM POLICE UNION

APD is a “para-military” organization and as such the “chain of command” must be honored and the lines of authority must not be blurred to the point where management and subordinates become one and the same for the purpose of enforcing policy. Allowing management positions to be part of employee bargaining unit is a recipe for disaster, which is exactly what is being played out with the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA).

Sergeants and lieutenants need to be made at will employees and removed from the collective bargaining unit in order to get a real buy in to management’s goals of police reform and the CASA. APD Police sergeants and lieutenants cannot serve two masters of Administration Management and Union priorities that are in conflict when it comes to the CASA reforms.

The current police union contract expired on June 30. The City and the Union have now suspended their negotiations because of the corona virus pandemic and the uncertainty of the city’s revenues for the new fiscal year that begins July 1. The union contract negotiations must commence soon. Until a new union contract is negotiated and approved, the terms and conditions of the old contract will remain in effect.
The Police Union no doubt wants to continue the terms of the expired contract, including who is in the collective bargaining unit. There is no real excuse to delay negotiations on the police union contract. Delay will only allow the Union to continue dictating to the city what should be done and continue its efforts to obstruct implementation of the police reforms under the CASA.

Another option the City and the Department of Justice need to explore is to move for the dismissal of the police union from the federal court proceeding. This will allow APD command staff and management more authority do its job with enforcement of the CASA mandates and implementation of all 270 reforms.

ABOLISH APD INTERNAL AFFAIRS

Another option that needs to be considered is to abolish APD’s Internal Affairs Unit. APD has consistently shown over decades it cannot police itself which contributed to the “culture of aggression” found by the Department of Justice. The APD Internal Affairs Unit needs to be abolished and its functions absorbed by other civilian departments.

The investigation of police misconduct cases including excessive use of force cases not resulting in death or serious bodily harm should be done by “civilian” personnel investigators, not sworn police. The function and responsibility for investigating police misconduct cases and violations of personnel policy and procedures by police should be assumed by the Office of the General Council in conjunction with the City Human Resources Department.

The Office of Independent Council could make findings and recommendations to the APD Chief and Police Oversight Board (POB) for implementation and imposition of disciplinary action.

CONLUSION

It is clear from the 12th Federal Court Monitors report that “Operational Compliance” and the “counter casa effect” have been and continue to be the biggest sticking points for APD and present the biggest obstacles for the department under the consent decree. Operational Compliance is attained at the point that the adherence to policies is apparent in the day-to-day operation of the agency. In other words, 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.

After 6 years of work under the CASA, the City and the Department of Justice need to recognize that as long as the Police Union continues to be a party to the case and Sergeants and Lieutenants are allowed to be part of the collective bargining unit, not much more is going to be accomplished. And neither is relying on the current interim Chief and Deputy Chiefs.

After almost 3 years in office, Mayor Tim Keller under his leadership still has a police department that is failing miserably to police itself and on the brink of catastrophic failure. Keller has only himself to blame given the fact he personally selected those that have been in charge of APD and he went back on his campaign promise to hire a new Chief from outside the agency.

A link to a related blog article is here:

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