APD using technology to engender contempt

RE: “FACEBOOK is APD’s megaphone,” Journal, Thursday

What have we learned recently about the actions of would-be dictators? They start with an outright attack on judges and the news media. And what has the Albuquerque Police Department taken to Facebook to start doing? Attacks on “soft” judges and the local news. Last time I checked, Albuquerque was part of the United States and not some totalitarian police state.

I am all for using whatever technology is available to create a dialogue. I want the criminal justice system — law enforcement and the courts — to operate justly and efficiently, and I want the media to accurately report all the nuance of a case. Dialogue and understanding between all parties are a way to help achieve those ends.

But that’s not what APD is doing. They’re framing the facts in a sensational way— or in the case of the crash video, just making stuff up — to engender public contempt of the judiciary and media. Sure, they’re including links to more information in their posts, but they have to know that trolls aren’t going to leaf though page after page of court documents to learn the mitigating circumstances.

Actions have consequences, and when those actions are in the form of public statements by people in positions of authority, those consequences are multiplied. Judges and reporters are receiving veiled threats as a result of incomplete or flat-out wrong information. How long will it be before these trolls deputize themselves to take matters into their own hands?

BOB SABATINI Albuquerque