Leadership vacuum fueled violence

APD’s passive approaches have failed to protect people and property time and again

“Those charged with making decisions about engagement have put our officers in the impossible situation of protecting the rights of conflicting protestors while not intervening to prevent the inevitable conflicts. At its core, policing is about protecting life and property. By that standard, the city failed on both counts.”

— City Councilor Pat Davis “In events last night and a few weekends ago, the city failed to plan for or respond quickly enough as the dynamics evolved. There is now an unfortunate perception that the city has been willing to stand aside as destruction occurs. That perception must be changed.”

— City Councilor Isaac Benton

That’s harsh, and warranted, criticism of how the Albuquerque Police Department responded to emotionally charged protests of racial injustices in Tiguex Park last week and Downtown earlier this month. And it shows nothing was learned from the Downtown protests, or the department’s poor handling of an emotionally charged political protest at the Convention Center four years ago.

The Journal’s front-page image last week of protesters and counterprotesters grappling over a pickax at the base of the “La Jornada” sculpture is riveting. The grainy cellphone videos criss-crossing social media showing a man shoving down women, getting chased and struck by a man wielding a skateboard and then shooting one of the protesters in the torso several times are harrowing. And images of an armed militia group surrounding and protecting shooter and former City Council candidate Steven Ray Baca are bewildering.

Because what’s discernibly absent in all this from Monday night’s melee is the complete lack of any uniformed police officer as chaos erupted again in Albuquerque.

It isn’t as if tensions erupted suddenly. For nearly half an hour, there was yelling and pushing as individuals attacked the Oñate sculpture. Then, for a few minutes, there was anarchy and mob rule in broad daylight outside the Albuquerque Museum — a troubling glimpse into urban life in the absence of police. Mayor Tim Keller and his top aides have adopted a passive approach to ongoing protests, not wanting to escalate tensions, putting “people before property.” But as Council President Davis notes and the world witnessed last week, APD failed to protect both.

APD officers were stationed at the museum, out of sight of protesters, while at least one undercover officer mixed with the crowd. Keller says he worried uniformed officers at the protest would fuel tensions and spark confrontations. City leaders told Journal editors and reporters Wednesday that protesters had told them earlier they wanted to have a “dialogue” at the sculpture and city officials were worried posting police would be “counterproductive to public discourse.”

But high emotions require a steady, not a heavy or an absent, hand. On Monday, APD once again created a crowd-control vacuum that quickly filled with foul language, crude gestures, physical altercations and finally gunfire. Into that vaccum stepped the heavily armed, self-appointed New Mexico Civil Guard members who stationed themselves around La Jornada and its statue of Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate. There is little doubt the Oñate piece of the 100-foot-long bronze would soon have been gone, as the museum board recommended its removal days before the protest. But unprotected by police or any barriers, it became the focal point of Monday night’s demonstration and unchecked violence.

Not segregating protesters and counterprotesters to protect First Amendment rights as well as public safety was a fundamental error of crowd control APD should have learned from the Donald Trump rally in May 2016.

That, too, began as a calm protest — then erupted into fiery violence outside the Albuquerque Convention Center as protesters jumped on police cars, smashed windows and fought with Trump supporters and police. When Trump supporters started walking along a sidewalk adjacent to the protest area, it turned into what one police officer called “the gauntlet of hate” as protesters threw water and water bottles and waved signs while yelling profanity and aggressive taunts. Police eventually re-routed Trump supporters, but protesters broke through two barriers and rushed the mounted horse unit and the Convention Center entrance, with some grabbing merchandise and setting it on fire.

Fast forward to just around midnight May 31, when rioters shattered business windows and damaged other property across multiple Central Avenue blocks and broke into the historic KiMo Theatre. Thirty-three fires were set in the area, and police say shots were fired at them. Police Chief Michael Geier concedes police were caught off guard by the violence. It followed a peaceful candlelight vigil attended by thousands of people outraged by the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, a vigil where police were present blocking off streets for the protesters’ safety. Many officers had been sent home before the violence erupted. Asked if police, when they did arrive, had been too lenient, Keller said they “intervened as soon as they could in a safe way that would not lead to serious injury. By that measure, because there was no serious injury, I am absolutely grateful.”

Asked about Monday night’s slow police response, APD Commander Art Sanchez said as tensions rose between armed men and protesters, officers had to “evaluate” the situation and decide whether sending in police would “escalate” things. He said the response team deployed once Baca used pepper spray but didn’t arrive until minutes after the shooting.

City officials did acknowledge a thorough review of the police response is underway, and have been criticized for actions once they did respond. District Attorney Raúl Torrez has said the investigation was mishandled, and protesters have decried the use of tear gas and rubber bullets to force them out of the way.

Once again police failed to maintain physical boundaries, necessary when protesters and counterprotesters exercise their constitutional right to peaceably assemble in the same area. And behavioral boundaries must also be enforced. When folks show up with chains, pickaxes and weapons, that’s no time for feckless policing.

Policing is a dangerous and difficult task, and as we applaud the men and women courageous and caring enough to enter and stay in the profession, we expect their leaders to set them, and the public, up for success.

Again, APD doesn’t need to be heavy-handed. It needs to be steady-handed. Instead it seems paralyzed and unengaged as city and police leaders fear having our officers join the images of force used on crowds. When they do respond, they resort to heavy-handed force. There’s a middle ground that protects all and keeps the peace.

And Albuquerque and APD have failed to find it on three occasions. As calls for social change escalate across the country, it’s past time they get it right.