APD decides to continue email notices
Possible cessation raised transparency concerns
Under pressure from the Journal and amidst concern from advocacy groups, the Albuquerque Police Department agreed on Tuesday to abandon part of a strategy that would have eliminated email notifications about homicides, officer-involved shootings and other newsworthy incidents.
The strategy, implemented by Communications and Community Outreach Director Celina Espinoza, came at a time when police are responding to fewer Journal questions about significant events, including violent crimes.
Espinoza said early Tuesday that the department planned to put news releases on the city’s website and link to them via social media rather than communicating directly with news organizations.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico and the Rio Grande Chapter of the Society of Professional Journalists expressed serious concern during the day about the strategy’s impact on transparen-
cy and police accountability.
But by Tuesday evening, Espinoza backtracked, saying she would continue to send information about critical events in email to Journal reporters and work to improve communication. She said the strategy was put in place so that the department could better communicate directly with the public.
On Tuesday APD’s Twitter account held its first “Tuesday Cop Talk,” where Twitter users can direct questions directly to the public information officers.
But the strategy comes amid a noticeable decline in the information being shared with the media.
Public information officers have taken weeks to release the names of some homicide victims and other details about violent crimes, and they seem reluctant to do so.
In one case, despite repeated requests, police didn’t release the name of a burglary suspect who was shot and killed by a homeowner until nearly two weeks after the incident. When asked why it took so long, Espinoza said detectives had been trying to identify the man and find family members.
But that was contradicted by an obituary published by family members shortly after the man’s death.
Many emails and calls to APD spokesman officer Fred Duran about crimes have still not been answered weeks after being sent.