ABQ right to create ‘safe harbor’ to report domestic-abuse cases

It’s interesting it took a case involving the son of Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina to put things in motion, but the move to develop a “safe harbor” provision to protect domestic-violence victims from being arrested on misdemeanor warrants or unrelated minor charges when they call for help is the right thing to do.

City Councilor Pat Davis put forth the plan after Medina and his wife approached him on a case involving their son — now under investigation by the Civilian Police Oversight Agency to determine whether Medina’s son got preferential treatment. Harold Medina was a deputy chief at the time.

To recap, Medina’s son, accompanied by his parents, went to a police station in September 2019 and reported he had an altercation with his boyfriend the night before. He asked for a police escort to get his belongings from the man’s apartment, showed officers bruises and scratches on his ribs and APD went to the scene to sort things out. On the alleged domestic abuse, the officer’s report said he “was unable to determine a predominant aggressor, therefore I was unable to issue a summons or effect an arrest.”

But officers could have arrested Medina, whose ex-boyfriend informed them Medina had an outstanding warrant for failure to comply with court-imposed conditions of probation after a DUI arrest in 2017. They didn’t — and the younger Medina cleared his warrant by surrendering to the court and paying a fee three days later. That’s the kind of resolution Davis says should be the goal as APD works with community partners to develop a new policy.

“We’re not saying we’re not enforcing the warrant,” Davis said. “We’re going to deal with it in another way. The first priority is to get out of the situation and get you help, and then we’ll contact the court or public defender and work out a time for you to appear in court to deal with the issue.”

It’s an important step, even as we hopefully come out the other side of COVID-19 lockdowns and restrictions that made a serious domestic abuse problem even worse.

The American Journal of Emergency Medicine reports significant increases in abuse since COVID hit, not just in the U.S. but worldwide. Stay-at-home orders, coupled with job losses and business failures, have led to increased drug and alcohol use, fueling domestic tensions. Being cooped up at home with your abuser is a dangerous thing.

Jessie Fierro of the Domestic Violence Resource Center says they get about 500 calls a week; “about twice a week we hear from people who say they were arrested by APD officers or BCSO deputies after calling for help in a domestic violence situation.” A safe harbor provision would be “a wonderful thing.”

Careful crafting and compromise will be needed. Councilor Brook Bassan speaks to the importance of protecting not only victims but dealing with crime. While no one should have to endure abuse because they have an outstanding misdemeanor warrant and are afraid to call for help, no officer should have to ignore an outstanding violent felony.

And how about the case of Medina’s son? If his ex-boyfriend had a warrant, should officers have arrested him though they couldn’t determine who was the aggressor? There are many thorny questions. But councilors should approve this resolution so work can begin on a policy to protect victims that doesn’t unduly handcuff officers and exacerbate the city’s horrific crime problem.

Councilors should get a chance to sign off on that; the elected council, not city bureaucrats, answer to the voters.