TO:
Luis Saucedo, Department
of Justice, Civil Rights Division
FROM: Citizens of Albuquerque, Current
& Former APD officers, and Interested Parties
RE: Preliminary Report
DATE: November 1, 2013
On November 27, 2012 your office of the United
States Department of Justice announced the opening of an investigation into the
use of force by the city of Albuquerque’s police department. While the
investigation was presented as being limited in scope to the issues of use of
force, during the press conference announcing the matter, then Assistant
Attorney General Thomas Perez made it clear the investigation would be all
encompassing and stated:
“We
will peel the onion to its core, and leave no stone unturned. We will follow
the facts wherever they lead us. We will gather as much information as possible
from as many sources as possible. We will examine department policies and
practices, review records and interact with police officers in the field.”
Well Mr.
Saucedo, as you have seen over the last year in general and over the last few
days in particular, if there is anything predictable about the Albuquerque
Police Department, it is that as a police department it is entirely
unpredictable. And it has gotten worse. Sadly, this unpredictability is in
conflict with the goal of your investigation as stated by Mr. Perez: to ensure that APD is an effective,
accountable police department that controls crime, ensures respect for the
Constitution, and earns the trust of the public it is charged with protecting.
The
department’s unpredictability undermines the very efforts of APD’s officers and
detectives, its accountability to its community, its effectiveness at
controlling crime, and challenges its standing amongst other departments across
the state. A police department that is unpredictable is in contravention with
the very things a police department is supposed to project: stability and
order.
Instead
officers and detectives are pushed, pulled, and confused by false
representations by the city’s mayor, back and forth changes in their SOPs, a
constant rotation of supervisors and commanders, erratic city objectives, department
goals redefined on a monthly basis, bold faced lies by its past chief Ray
Schultz, and more lies by its current chief, Allen Banks. Mr. Banks insipid and disgraceful press conference will only be exacerbated by the lies he puts forward with today's press statement.
Officers,
detectives, and sergeants tell us over and over that they simply want two
things so they can do their jobs effectively and serve the citizens they are
sworn to protect: they want to know what the rules are and they want to be led.
Unfortunately
those are two things APD is sorely lacking: rules and leadership. As your
investigation has by no doubt revealed, rules in APD are subject to an endless
span of application. There is no constant expectation of what will be enforced
and how it will be enforced. Violations of due process rights rule the day
within APD’s application of discipline investigation and procedure.
Regarding
leadership in APD, the problems are endless. From the current interim chief who
shows neither the capacity nor the integrity to lead the state’s largest police
department on through most of the lieutenants, there are but few persons in APD
that are leaders in the best sense of the word. APD’s existing model of
leadership is “you shouldn’t have done that” when in fact it should be “follow
me.” From the current chief’s recorded testimony where he fabricates and
intentionally omits knowledge, his involvement in tampering with crime scenes
and falsifying police reports to the misconduct by deputy chiefs held liable
for civil rights damages, sexual harassment, to lieutenants contributing to the
deaths of fellow officers, the state of “leadership” in APD rivals that of a
poorly run organized crime ring.
As last
weekend’s incident painfully reveals, APD is in a critical condition. The
actions of a single motivated individual exposed the vulnerability of APD’s
state of affairs in a way no court case or investigation could ever do. While
the public in general is at risk because of the decreased services and
protection by the department, it is the personnel of APD that are most
vulnerable to harm. In a single incident, a violent individual shot at least
four law enforcement officers, targeted dozens of others, stole a police car,
persisted in a shooting rampage throughout the city for over 11 miles, and for
over 20 minutes not one supervisor within APD took command of the situation leaving
a field sergeant to bear the burden while chasing the offender as the event
unfolded. Not only did the department fail to notify the citizens of an
unfolding emergency putting thousands in harm’s way but it even failed to alert
other cross jurisdictional agencies.
APD’s
immediate debrief response to this event is to evaluate how it can train
officers to shoot from their cars while they are in motion. The consideration
is so absurd on its face given the endless failures that only a department devoid
of self-responsibility would consider tactics that are challenging to even the
most skilled of marksmen.
In the context
of all the incidents which brought you here, from police shootings, department
civil liability, misconduct and crimes by department leaders, and what are lies
at worst and obfuscations at best by city leaders, last weekend’s incident has
shown you but a hint of what the core of the onion you started to unpeel nearly
12 months ago is truly like.
On behalf
of the city’s citizens, current and former officers, and other interested
parties, we respectfully implore that your office move forward with the release
of a preliminary findings report concerning the investigation of APD. The city
of Albuquerque and the officers of APD cannot wait three years before you
release a report like you did with your investigation of the Puerto Rico Police
Department, they need guidance now. They need structure and stabilization. The safety
of citizens and officers alike depend on it.
