Department of Justice

Report on APD Violence:

A Readers Guide
& More.
collection of sources

www.burquemedia.com or contact@burquemedia.com

ALBUQUEUQE, NM
The Damning Report
 According to the report, APD engages in unconstitutional
policing. A majority of fatal shootings were unjustified. And its not
just in the use of lethal force. The DOJ reviewed 200 reports of non-
lethal force over a three-year period. In nearly all cases, officers
overuse Tasers in a dangerous manner, in one instance on a man
who had doused himself with gasoline. The Tasers ignited the fuel
and the man caught fire. They use unreasonable physical force
without regard for the level of threat. And a significant amount of
that force was against subjects suffering from mental illness. The
DOJ was clear and its authors repeated throughout the report that
these are patterns not isolated to a few officers. This troubling
pattern and practice of unconstitutional policing stems from
systemic deficiencies in oversight, training, and policy. Chief
among these deficiencies is the departments failure to
implement an objective and rigorous internal accountability
system. Force incidents are not property investigated,
documented, or addressed with corrective measures (p. 3).
This is perhaps the most damning part of the report.
Leadership at APD, in other words, has created a climate of violent
policing, one in which officers are free to use force without
consequence. In fact, despite the nice things DOJ said about APD in
the press conference where they released the report, supervisors
routinely lied to the DOJ throughout the nearly 18-month
investigation. In nearly all cases [of force], supervisors
endorsed officers version of events, even when officers
accounts were incomplete, were inconsistent with other
evidence, or were based on canned or repetitive language
(p. 4).
This Pattern of unconstitutional policing is both an
effect of aggressive training procedures and, at the same
time, one that reinforces those same training methods.
For example, the DOJ focused on the February 2009 shooting
death of Andrew Lopez. A state court found nearly every APD
witness unreasonable and not credible, including the claim of one
officer that the unarmed Lopez carried what one officer claimed was
the largest gun hed ever seen. The court concluded that the officers
used unreasonable deadly force and awarded the Lopez family
nearly $5 million in damages. Lopez was pulled over for having dim
headlights and broken tail lights. Officers claimed that the car was
involved in an incident involving a handgun, despite the fact that the
cars model, make and color did not match the vehicle involved in the
incident. An unarmed Lopez attempted to run from the scene.
Officers fired shots at the fleeing Lopez. One shot hit and injured
Lopez and he fell to the ground. While he lay on the ground on his
back, APD officer Justin Montgomery (not named in the report)
walked up to Lopez, alive but injured, and fired a round into his
chest.
During the trial, APDs training officer testified that not only did he
consider the officers actions, including Montgomerys, justified, but
that their actions were exemplary and he used the shooting death as
an example in the training of new APD officers as a model in the
use of deadly force (p. 4).
And of course it was not just Lopez. The report continues by
taking the reader on a miserable tour through APDs recent spree of
violent and unjustified killings. Alan Gomez, Ken Ellis III, Daniel
Tillison, Mickey Owens. In all cases, young men who did not
represent a threat, but were gunned down by APD officers.
Among the 200 uses of non-lethal force, APD said less than 1%
was unjustified. DOJ disagreed and concluded that more than
one-third were unjustified. In particular, APD found a troubling
pattern in the misuse of Tasers. APD routinely used Tasers in
patterns that officers knew would increase the possibility for
serious injury or death (p. 17).
 In one example, 47 officers responded to the scene of a man the
report called Albert, who was drunk and disorderly and arguing
with a friend. Albert held a small knife, but dropped the knife when
ordered. He attempted to flee. An officer fired five successive
rounds of beanbags at Albert with a shotgun. Another officer
deployed a flash-bang grenade. Another officer shot him with a
canister of four wooden batons, two of which penetrated his
skin. Another officer deployed a police canine that bit Albert in
the arm, tearing his flesh as the canine tried to pull him down
(p. 17).
Albert grabbed onto a fence to try to pull himself up and away
from the police dog. This is when officers began Tasering Albert.
Two officers fired Tasers at Albert; one of them fired six five-
second cycles of electricity into him. Albert finally collapsed,
and officers carried him away unconscious, leaving behind a
trail of blood and urine (p. 18).
Albert sued in District Court, where a judge found that no
reasonable person could believe that an inhibited, slow-moving,
60-year old individual, who made no physical or verbal threats,
and wielded no weapons, could constitute a threat to the safety of
any of the forty-seven armed and shielded police officers who stood
over twenty feet away (p. 18).
In September 2012 APD Tasered an unarmed 75-year old
man who used a cane to walk because he wouldnt leave a bus
station (p. 18). A supervisor told the DOJ the use of the Taser in
this case was exemplary.
In June 2011 a man the DOJ called Charles rode his bicycle
through three stop signs. Officers pursued. The subject turned into a
parking lot and told officers I am just riding my bike. Charles
turned to leave. An officer grabbed Charles and he fell to the
ground. They Tasered him three times. No lapel cameras were
activated (p. 18).
Officers encountered a man with developmental disabilities
behaving erratically in a gas station. When he couldnt understand
their orders, they kicked him in the chest. They then Tasered him
and kicked him and Tasered him again. Only later they found that
hed wandered away from a group home and had the mental
capacity of a five-year old (p.21).
The report lists case after case of APD confronting disoriented,
mentally ill men in crisis. In all cases APD used Tasers against
unarmed people who posed no threat, often causing serious
injury.
There is an internal form that APD supervisors are required to fill
out in cases of the use of force. In almost all cases, those forms
include no information whatsoever other than the signature of the
supervisor and the box marked reasonable checked in a pattern
that the DOJ concluded revealed the chain of commands
disregard for detecting individual and aggregate patterns of
unreasonable force by subordinates (p. 25).
In other words APD leadership actively endorses these
violent, unjustified and unconstitutional practices by refusing to
investigate the use of force, and perhaps even more troubling, by
rewarding this behavior as exemplary. And this is true even in
cases such as the death of Alan Gomez, for example, when the
actions of officers directly contradicted policies regarding the use of
force. Even then, the use of unreasonable and unjustified force was
defended by supervisors in a pattern that the DOJ concluded serves
as disturbing evidence of a breakdown in leadership (p. 23).
Officers routinely failed to report the number of times they
used a Taser on a subject. Officers
routinely fail to turn on
their lapel cameras and belt recorders. Officers routinely
used canned language depicting people as aggressive even in
cases when people were disoriented or elderly.
Officers often fail to report the use of force. DOJ spoke to
eyewitnesses and reviewed evidence that showed officers using
unreasonable, unjustified force but then failing to report the use
of force.
In investigations of the use of force, APD rarely canvasses for
witnesses and routinely ignores officer statement
inconsistencies. Internal affairs often only interviewed officers,
ignoring eyewitnesses in its investigations.
Internal affairs is responsible for investigating all uses of force to
ensure that procedures are not violated, but the DOJ found no
evidence that the internal affairs unit consistently carried out
this critical task (p. 28).
APD also has a disturbingly high threshold regarding when an officer
exhibits a pattern in the frequent use of force. Officers with more
than 15 uses of force in a 12-month period are not considered to
be engaging in a pattern of aggressive or violent policing. Thus,
the department is not using the early intervention process in the way
it was intended, which is to disrupt patterns of problematic behavior
(p. 29).
All of this the DOJ traces back to training, which it finds
organized around the over-emphasis on using force, especially
weapons, to resolve stressful encounters, and insufficient emphasis
on de-escalation techniques. Much of the training leads officers to
believe that violent outcomes are normal and desirable (p. 30).
Almost laughable, if it werent so frightening in its implication, was the
finding by DOJ that even in practice scenarios during training,
Community policing, which is widely embraced by the field as
effective at building community trust in police departments
according to DOJ, is almost entirely unknown among APD
officers and supervisors (p. 32).
The DOJ reviewed training procedures and found many policies
outdated, often in total contradiction to accepted standards of
constitutional policing. Officers, for example, are taught to fire
weapons at vehicles even when the drivers are unarmed and the
vehicles movement does not represent a direct threat (p. 33).
DOJ was encouraged by the Crisis Intervention Teams at APD
but troubled by the fact that many officers are completely unfamiliar
with what CIT is and what it does. This is particularly disturbing
because, as DOJ noted, officers often failed to contact CIT in
precisely the situations for which CIT was created.
According to DOJ, SWAT is a mess. Supervisors of SWAT
units do not understand basic elements of SWAT tactics. Some
SWAT supervisors have no experience in SWAT whatsoever. They
arrive on a scene without a tactical plan, without coordinated
leadership, without operational guidance and thus often
exacerbate, rather than resolve, the very situations for which
theyre called to assist (pp. 35-6).
These deficiencies are ramifying: The departments lack of
internal oversight has allowed a culture of aggression to
develop. This culture is manifested in the routine nature of
excessive force and lack of corrective actions taken by
leadership to address force incidents (p. 36).
This culture of aggression is inflicted often on innocent people by
APD officers who routinely express hostility toward people not
engaged in the commission of any crimes (p. 37).
The report takes pains to point out that real community oversight of
police is essential. Albuquerque has a police oversight commission
and an independent review officer but the Review
 BY THE NUMBERS
Thus it should not be surprising that the DOJ found that the
review officer, Robin Hammer (unnamed in the report),
routinely ignores violations of policies by Officer is more 906 Albuquerque 555,000 APD responds to 550,000 calls for
Police Department service per year
closely aligned with the department than with the currently has 906
community that the Review Officer serves officers full time sworn
(p. 39). officers
36 The current 26 The current 17 Approximate months of
The DOJ included a section on community policing, but number of people number of people DOJ investigation - Nov
not as a way to consider APDs success at community shot by APD since who have died as 27, 2012 the Dept of
policing. APD does not practice community policing but its 2010 is 36 (Thats a result of those Justice launches full
the number of shots is 26 investigation into the
opposite. Instead of developing positive community
people who have 4 The number of Albuquerque Police Dept
relations, officers are actively rude and arrogant in everyday actually been people APD has
contact with the public. They are disrespectful and hostile struck by bullets fired at and
to reasonable community concerns (p. 40). fired from APDs missed is 4
guns)
The report ends with a list of 46 suggested remedies to
APDs pattern of unconstitutional policing but no
explanation for how those changes will come about.
$24M Since 2010, taxpayers have paid $24 million in lawsuit settlements
and payouts stemming from police misconduct cases. The largest sum
Meanwhile, DOJ is in negotiations with Chief Gorden Eden nearly $8 million was to the family of Kenneth Ellis III, an Iraq war vet
and Mayor Richard Berry. DOJ got so much right in this shot and killed while holding a gun to his own head
report. But what theyre now getting wrong may undo all the
10 A 1997 report by Walker and Luna $1M April 1, 2013 Mayor Berry
effort thats gone before it: DOJ, unfortunately, believes that makes 10 recommendations for rolls out a nearly $500m budget
the very people who created these conditions should be the APD(related story) proposal for the coming fiscal
ones who fix it. year; $1m to be spent on APD
training (related story)
Source: La Jicarita at www.lajicarita.com 40 In 2012, PERF makes 40
recommendations, including better
training and stricter hiring standards.
Former Chief Schultz added another
19 reforms

4 1
32 DOJ has $11M New $7M Seattle, WA has paid
200 The 3 The DOJ 8 The DOJ seeks 8 critical
investigated Orleans, LA nearly $7m for reforms since
32 law 2012 2012 number of random identifies 3 areas to address APD
enforcement agreement sample force patterns of deficiencies
agencies across with the DOJ reports reviewed excessive
the country will cost $11m by DOJ completed force that
since 1994 a year for 5 by officers and APD
with 8 consent years supervisors engages in
decrees are in between 2009 and
place and active early 2013

ABQ: El Paso: 672,538 El Paso's population is

672,538. There have been 12 officer-involved
4 The DOJ held 4 community 3 The number of onsite tours
town hall meetings in different the DOJ conducted in
557,417 shootings since 2010. They have had 5 fatal
officer-involved Shootings since 2010. Rate since
regions of the City and conducted
initial and follow-up interviews of
Albuquerque: Dec 2012, Feb
and March 2013
2010: 0.7 fatal shooting per 100,000
hundreds of people.
Colorado Springs: 431,834 Colorado Springs'
1,863 APD 39 Supervisors requested a
Albuquerque's
population is population is 431,834. There have been 9
557,417. There Officer-Involved Shootings since 2010. They have reported 1,863 further investigation of 3 9
have had five fatal officer-involved shootings since uses of force from uses of force, or two per cent.
been 33 officer- 2010. Rate since 2010: 1 fatal shooting per 2010 to 2013. Of The overwhelming
involved 100,000 these, supervisors majority of uses of force
shootings since Chicago: 2.7M Chicago's population is 2.7 found that only 14 during this four-year period
2010. They million. There have been 194 officer-involved uses of force, or were endorsed by supervisor
have had 23 shootings since 2010. They have had 57 fatal less than one per as
fatal officer- officer-involved shootings since 2010. Rate since cent, did not reasonable.
involved 2010: 2 fatal shootings per 100,000 comply with
shootings since
2010. Rate NYC: 8.3M New York City's population is 8.3 agency policy
since 2010: 4 million. There have been 114 officer-involved
fatal shootings shootings in 2010-2012. They have had 33 fatal
per 100,000 officer-involved shootings in2010-2012.Rate since
2010: 0.4 fatal shooting per 100,000 Sdfdsghghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

4/10/14 The DOJ releases their investigation on the Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Albuquerque Police Department stating they have reasonable cause
to believe that APD engages in a pattern or practice of use of Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
excessive force, including deadly force, in violation of the Fourth
Hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh hhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Amendment and Section 14141.
 LIVES TAKEN SINCE 2010

DEMANDS The District Attorney Brandenburg, Mayor

21/9/10: Officer Andrew Cooke shoots Aaron Renfro
1/13/10: Detective Brett Lampiris-Tremba shoots Kenneth Ellis III
3/29/10: Officer Kevin Sanchez shoots Mickey Owings
6/10/10: Officers Anthony Brown, Eric Sedler shoot Chris Hinz
6/14/10: Officer Aaron Zwicky shoots Julian Calbert
7/27/10: Officer Jeremy Hollier shoots Len Fuentes
8/17/10: Officer Josh Brown shoots Enrique Carrasco
10/19/10: Officers Drew Bader, Ramon Ornelas shoot Daniel Gonzales
10/31/10: Officer David Sprague shoots Alexei Sinkevitch
2/9/11: Detective Byron Trey Economidy shoots Jacob Mitschelen
4/12/11: Officer Christopher J. Brown shoots Christopher Torres
5/10/11: Officer Sean Wallace shoots Alan Gomez
6/4/11: Officer Matthew Oates shoots Raymond Garcia
8/30/11: Officer Jim Perdue shoots Michael Marquez
1/4/12: Officer Mario Perez shoots Mark Macoldowna
3/19/12: Officer Martin Smith shoots Daniel Tillison
3/21/12: Officer Russ Carter shoots Gary Atencio
3/5/13: Officers Perdue, Sedler and Aragon shoot Parrish Dennison
3/19/13: APD shot at Kendall Carroll, but he was killed by Stat Police
7/5/13: Officers Jeff Bludworth and Katherine Wright shoot Vicent Wood
10/2613: Officer Luke McPeek and others shoot Christopher Chase
Berry, EX police Chief Ray Shultz, Taser International, COA Robert Perry,
Chief Eden, Scott Greenwood, Tom Streicher and all officer involved
shooting be investigated and prosecuted under the law.
DEMANDS that all death related case where suspicion
has been raised be investigated correctly, release all officer lapel cameras,
remove Greenwood and Streicher Consultant group be from handling any
form of the DOJ negotiations or reform with APD, indict those who have
murdered and indict all government corrupt leaders involved- STARTING
WITH RICHARD BERRY.
Mary Han
Kerry Lewis
Johnathon Mitchell
Mesa Murders to name a few be investigated with integrity and prosecute
accordingly.
The time has come for all of us to demand action. Call your city counselors.
And the Department of Justice. Demand that they enforce the law and
prosecute criminal offenses.

12/813: Officer Hector Marquez shoots Andy Snider

City Council (email all via this link
3/16/14 Detective Keith Sandy, Officer Dominique Perez shoot and kill http://www.cabq.gov/council/councilors/contact-all-councilors
JamesBoyd
Department of Justice 505 346 7274
3/25/4: Officer James Eichel shoots and kills Alfred Redwine
4/2114: Officer Jeremy Dear shoots and kills Mary Hawkes Power in People. Accountability NOW!!!!
5/3/14: Officer Daniel Hughes shoots and kills Armand Martin
5/2/14: Officers Ryan Graves, Brian Fuchs shoot and kill Ralph Chavez