By Jeff Proctor
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE — The president of the Albuquerque police union said Wednesday he would welcome a U.S. Department of Justice investigation into allegations of civil rights violations by APD.
A Justice Department spokeswoman confirmed Wednesday that federal officials are reviewing complaints to determine whether an investigation is warranted.
“We welcome anyone who wants to review our officers,” Albuquerque Police Officers Association President Joey Sigala said. “Our officers have already been cleared criminally and internally, but if it takes something like (a DOJ investigation) that can be trusted by the public, then I can understand that.”
Mayor Richard Berry told the Journal on Wednesday his administration had not seen evidence that such a review was needed, but said the city would cooperate with the Justice Department if a review takes place.
“I don’t want the perception to be that we would block a DOJ investigation, or that we are afraid of it,” he said.
Ju st ic e D epa r t ment spokeswoman Xochitl Hinojosa declined to say when the department’s review began or what prompted it. The agency receives police misconduct complaints from advocacy groups, private citizens and cities.
Federal officials decide whether to start a full investigation by determining whether a “pattern or practice” violation has occurred, meaning “police misconduct is the agency’s ‘standard operating procedure - the regular, rather than the unusual practice.’ ”
The City Council voted 5-4 Monday to ask the federal agency to look into “whether there have been incidents or patterns of civil rights violations by the Albuquerque Police Department.”
That proposal is awaiting action by Berry, who echoed concerns expressed earlier that the legislation had technical problems and that it may have violated the state’s Open Meetings Act because it was not mentioned in the meeting agenda.
Berry said he has not decided whether he will sign or veto the measure. If he does, the council would have to pick up a sixth vote to override him, or it could take the issue up again and fix the Open Meetings Act and technical concerns
Berry said he has not heard from the Justice Department.
APD officers have shot 19 men since January 2010; 13 of them have died. The majority have been Hispanic men in their 20s and 30s.
In addition to the shootings, APD has struggled with officers posting offensive comments on social media websites.
Several advocacy groups - including the League of United Latin American Citizens, Vecinos United and the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Center Task Force on Social Justice for Public Safety - along with some citizens have called for a federal investigation into APD.
The groups and individuals have criticized a study by the Police Executive Research Forum, a national group of police executives that has done numerous studies in dozens of cities. The group was commissioned by the Mayor’s Office in November to look into the spike in officer-involved shootings.
Critics have said the work amounts to “cops investigating cops” and called the group’s study superficial.
But Berry pointed out Wednesday that the report recommended 40 changes to APD policies and procedures, all but one of which have been implemented. That includes a training simulator.
Police Chief Ray Schultz came up with another 19 revisions.
“We’ve made some big changes,” the mayor said. “We were proactive; we’ve taken some very serious actions; and they have been put into place. And with the evidence in front of me, it doesn’t show there is a systemic problem within the Albuquerque Police Department.”
He said former city Public Safety boss Darren White had recommended the police executive group for the study last year. Months later, when acknowledging serious problems within APD in June, White said a DOJ investigation might be imminent.
Sigala of the police union agreed with Berry, saying the police executive report was thorough and did not show APD suffers from “serious systemic issues.” But he said he could understand the community’s concern that the report came from a group of the APD administration’s peers.
Sigala said he didn’t know what level of cooperation from union members would be required if a DOJ investigation is launched.
“We’ll do whatever we can to demonstrate that things are being done appropriately by this department,” he said. “We have to start over in rebuilding that trust with the public we serve.”
An investigation can take up to 1½ years and include analysis of procedures and interviews with the police command staff.
If the Justice Department finds there has been a violation, it partners with the city to develop an action plan. If that doesn’t work, the department can sue the city for court-ordered changes.
During the past several years, the Justice Department has conducted investigations in Ohio, Washington state, Pennsylvania, the District of Columbia, Louisiana and California.
Copyright 2011 Albuquerque Journal