Progress on APD reform — with a long way to go
There’s nothing like a victory lap to get the heart rate up and juices flowing on one of those sunny but cool autumn days in New Mexico. The city of Albuquerque took one of those this past weekend with a town hall to celebrate its police department’s progress on reforms in the ongoing settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.
Federal Monitor James Ginger, Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Michael Geier and U.S. Attorney John Anderson all joined to congratulate one another and APD on progress moving toward compliance with an ambitious reform agenda set out after the DOJ found a pattern of excessive force and a culture of aggression at APD.
Ginger, who had a rocky relationship — at best — with the former administration of Mayor Richard Berry, was practically gushing, calling the improvement over last year “massive,” with policy compliance rising by 5 percent, training compliance by 9 percent and operational compliance by 12 percent. Indeed, these are positive steps that should be celebrated.
But no one should be lulled into thinking the city is anywhere near the full compliance finish line — which will be followed by a two-year monitoring period before the investigation is closed.
A look at the report from last November compared to this year adds a bit of context to all this euphoria. This year’s report said APD was 99 percent compliant in the policy area compared to 97 percent last year, 75 percent compliant with secondary compliance for effective follow-up mechanisms to ensure APD personnel understand the requirements of the policies compared to 71 percent last year and 59 percent in operational compliance compared to 53 percent last year. This is progress, to be sure, but “massive” is open to debate. And it’s clear there is much ground yet to cover.
Also worth noting is the victory party didn’t allow for public comment. No need to rain on this parade.
“I felt talked at — it just felt like a public relations opportunity,” said resident Diane McCash. “I take everything with a handful of salt.” And while serious crime is trending down, there’s still quite enough to make residents less than ebullient at incremental, though essential, policing reforms.
Without question, APD under Keller and Chief Geier is making progress toward a standard of constitutional policing. They deserve credit for that. Even more so do the men and women of APD who patrol our streets and investigate crime in a city that has way too much of it.
But a little skepticism by folks like Diane McCash — or handful of salt — isn’t a bad thing. In fact, it’s probably a key ingredient to keeping the reform effort on track.