Law firm to review BCSO use-of-force policies

County Commission also wants vehicle pursuit rules scrutinized

A law firm that specializes in consulting law enforcement agencies on policies and has worked on several police consent decree cases has been hired to review some of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office’s policies with an eye for changes.

The county last month finalized a contract with the Daigle Law Group, a Connecticut law firm, and Eric Daigle, the firm’s principal, to complete the review. The firm will analyze the agency’s use-of-force and vehicle pursuit policies.

The County Commission voted unanimously for the review in March.

Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins, who sponsored the legislation that led to the project, said she acted in response to an increase in deputy-involved use-of-force cases this year. Deputies fired their weapons nine times in a 4½-month period in 2017.

“It was the jump in use-offorce cases, which was out of line with my nine years on the commission,” she said.

The company will charge the county $225 per hour for the review, which is expected to cost roughly $15,000 to $20,000. The contract is for a term of six months unless otherwise extended by mutual agreement, according to county documents.

Daigle said the firm will first analyze the policies, report on suggested changes and, if needed, help the Sheriff’s Office develop and train on new policies.

The firm has worked in New Mexico with the Farmington and Silver City police departments. He also was a consultant for the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico police departments when they were operating under a consent decree with the U.S. Department of Justice, and he was on the monitoring team of the Oakland Police Department.

“We don’t know what type of change there will be or if it will be necessary,” Daigle said in an interview. “But the key to these is you can’t just make a change on a piece of paper if you are going to. It has to be part of the culture of how the department works.”

Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said he worked with Daigle when Hebbe was the deputy chief of the Anchorage police before moving to Farmington in 2014. In 2016, Farmington hired Daigle to help it update its use of force policies.

Hebbe said the city has been pleased with the results, and there hasn’t been a lawsuit filed against the police department alleging excessive force in four years.

“I think there is much more of an accent now on why we are using force,” Hebbe said in an interview. “When we’re dealing with minor issues, we need to approach it with a mindset of ‘this is something we need to be able to talk through with this person.’ We’re not going to approach them like they are a homicide suspect.”

Hebbe also said through consultation with Daigle the department became more prolific at documenting use-of-force cases and providing officers with feedback from supervisors.

He said one of his reasons for hiring Daigle was for Farmington police to make reforms similar to the ones law enforce-

ment agencies made after they entered into consent decrees with the DOJ to address systemic problems with the law enforcement agencies.

The Albuquerque Police Department is one of those agencies. The department is in the midst of a yearslong reform effort that was brought on by a DOJ investigation that found police had a pattern of excessive force. The city and the department are in the process of making changes to policies under the oversight of a federal judge.

“Changing policing can be difficult. For some of these agencies that got into consent decrees, it’s almost easier to make changes. You’ve had some big problems and an outside agency comes in and says you gotta do this,” Hebbe said. “Changing (a department) before there’s a problem is difficult sometimes. I had some of that here. ‘We’re not Albuquerque.’ No, we’re not Albuquerque. But we can be learning from what others are experiencing.”

Deputy Johann Jareno, a spokesman for the Sheriff’s Office, said the sheriff and deputies weren’t aware of the scope of Daigle’s review and directed questions to the county attorney.

County Manager Julie Morgas Baca said the county evaluated three firms before selecting Daigle, in part because of his experience in New Mexico and around the country.

She said the county expects to have some recommendations from the firm in about six months and those recommendations will be made public.

“This was a totally collaborative effort between me ... and the sheriff,” Morgas Baca said.

In a prior interview, Sheriff Manuel Gonzales said he welcomed a review of the department’s policies but said he’ll have the final decision about any changes within the department.”