The stubborn menace of Albuquerque’s police force
The stubborn menace of Albuquerque’s police force
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
Carimah Townes
Criminal justice reporter at ThinkProgress. Contact me: [email protected]
7 hrs ago
In March 2014, two policemen shot and killed James Boyd, a man who suffered from homelessness and schizophrenia, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Boyd’s killing shined a national spotlight on officers’ use of excessive force and treatment of vulnerable communities in the city. One month later, the Department of Justice (DOJ) released a damning report about the “culture of aggression” within the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), which included a “permissive policy on weapons, under-utilization of its crisis intervention team, overuse of SWAT, and the harsh approaches to ordinary encounters with residents,” as well as a lax system of accountability.
This month, more than two years after Boyd’s shooting and the subsequent release of the DOJ report, the trial of the officers who killed him concluded with a hung jury. But the culture of aggression and lack of accountability in Albuquerque has mostly remained the same. While officer-involved shootings are down, excessive use of force is standard, and people with mental illnesses and no permanent home are still vulnerable.
One of many
When police killed Boyd in the Albuquerque foothills, his death was one of 22 officer-involved killings that had rocked the city since January 2010, as reported by the Albuquerque Journal.
“James Boyd was emblematic of misuse and excessive use of force by the department — extending back many years,” Steven Allen, the director of public policy at the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico, told ThinkProgress. Body camera footage differentiated his killing from others, which in turn helped his story gain national attention. At the same time, the DOJ was wrapping up its investigation of the APD, which began in 2012 at the urging of the ACLU.
More:
https://thinkprogress.org/despite-reform-effort-a-culture-of-aggression-still-exists-in-albuquerque-s-police-force-3f595c11177d#.eq41v3nh4
