Police union contracts act as shield for officers
State representative wants to repeal parts of ’91 legislation that prohibit disclosure of internal investigations and disciplinary actions
Police union contracts have become powerful tools for the men and women who protect Santa Fe — not only providing perks and benefits for officers, but also shielding misconduct complaints, internal investigations and disciplinary actions from the public.
The current agreement between the Santa Fe Police Officers Association and the city, in effect from July 1, 2019, until June 30, 2022, is no exception. It guides almost every facet of serving as a police officer, from pay to training to transportation. But the language of the contract doesn’t reveal everything that could happen on the job, particularly some of its most controversial aspects.
“Internal Affairs investigations are considered to be highly confidential in nature,” the contract says. It prohibits the department and employees from releasing any information about an investigation into concerns about an officer’s conduct.
The contract also allows officers to request the removal of certain disciplinary records
from their files.
Those types of provisions — which could come under scrutiny when the Legislature reconvenes in January — have put collective bargaining agreements under intense scrutiny locally and nationwide amid ongoing protests demanding an end to police brutality, more accountability for officers who use force and even funding cuts for law enforcement agencies.
Most of the 78-page Santa Fe police contract outlines basic employment policies, base pay and benefits for certified officers, public safety aides, animal control officers and other workers.
Under the deal, the minimum pay ranges from $18.61 per hour for a safety aide to $22 for a starting officer to $33 for a sergeant.
Officers have many opportunities to boost their pay, including: $100 for a standby for a shift. $100 per month for members of specialized units, such as the SWAT team, the bomb squad and the K-9 Unit.
$125 per month for field training officers.
5 percent more in pay for a shift if most of the hours fall after 2 p.m.; 10 percent more for shifts that extend after 8 p.m.
$100 or $140 a month for bilingual skills, depending on an officer’s proficiency in Spanish.
$50 to $150 per month for higher education degrees.
An opportunity to buy back up to 80 hours of annual leave each year and 96 hours of sick leave; though sick time is paid at half the officer’s hourly rate.
Like all city of Santa Fe employees, those covered under the police union contract are entitled to holiday pay on 10 days. They also get four hours of paid holiday time to attend Fiesta de Santa Fe.
Those who work on a holiday are paid 2½ times their hourly rate.
In an agency that has struggled to fill vacancies, Santa Fe officers also have ample opportunities for overtime pay through “extra duty” assignments.
Officers get take-home vehicles and can commute up to 45 miles each way — 60 miles for those hired before April 2012 — and can use up to 40 gallons of gas per week.
Those who make it a full year with no “charged accidents” can earn extra time off.
There are requirements for firearms training, drug testing and physical exams.
The contract also includes procedures for how the police department would administer layoffs handed down by the City Council.
However, the police union agreement does not outline a process for furloughing officers.
While hundreds of city employees represented by another union — the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees — have faced furloughs over the past few months due to massive, pandemic-related budget shortfalls, most public safety workers, including police, so far have been spared from financial hits.
City spokeswoman Lilia Chacon declined to comment on whether the city would try to renegotiate the police union contract as the city wrangles with steep budget cuts.
She also declined to comment on whether the city would consider a new agreement with the union that would allow the public release of internal investigations or an officer’s disciplinary history.
The city of Santa Fe has a policy of keeping all personnel documents secret, citing an exemption in the state’s public records law. City officials have said personnel records include misconduct allegations against police.
The city’s broad policy of personnel confidentiality and the police union contract aren’t the only barriers to the public release of officers’ records.
A nearly 30-year-old state law also prohibits public disclosure of internal police investigations and disciplinary actions.
State Rep. Antonio “Moe” Maestas, D-Albuquerque, wants to change that.
He plans to try to repeal portions of the Peace Officer’s Employer-Employee Relations Act, passed by the Legislature in 1991, during the 2021 legislative session that starts in January.
“It does not belong in state law,” Maestas said in a recent interview. “I would imagine it was a feel-good bill that has long-lasting ramifications.”
The law restricts and delays interrogations of officers and allows agencies to eliminate misconduct records.
“Police should be treated like any other government employee,” Maestas said. “… If we’re going to change policing in this country, they have to be held accountable.”
Santa Fe police union President Tony Trujillo, a detective, argued the group’s contract with the city does not protect “bad apples.”
Instead, he said, it benefits “officers that are doing their job.”
“Our union contract does specifically what it is meant to do, and that’s to create a better working environment and better salary for our police officers, and we strive to do that,” Trujillo said.
Along with a strict confidentiality provision, the contract says officers can request the removal of a written reprimand from their personnel file 12 months after the action. Documentation of a suspension can be removed after 18 months.
However, the department must maintain a “brief chronological history of disciplinary actions” for each officer, “limited to date, employee name, charge and disposition.”
Trujillo said records of an internal affairs investigation — even those in which an officer was exonerated of any wrongdoing — remain in the officer’s personnel file forever.
Santa Fe defense attorney Dan Cron said he believes measures to improve accountability for police departments have positive effects in communities.
He cited a lawsuit that led to the wide use of dashboard cameras in Santa Fe police vehicles.
“I can tell you from my own practice, because the vast bulk of my practice is criminal defense, prior to having the dashcams installed on the police cars, we routinely had allegations of heavy-handed use of force, inappropriate use of force, being used by the police,” Cron said. “And I can tell you from experience that once those dashcams went in, those cases evaporated.”
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham recently signed a bill into law that requires officers of all law enforcement agencies in New Mexico to wear body cameras while on duty. The measure resulted, in part, from the protest movement that began after the May 25 death of George Floyd, a Black man killed in police custody in Minneapolis.
The bottom line, Maestas said, is that people have to start viewing cops as government employees who make mistakes and have to be held accountable when they violate someone’s rights.
“What this country has finally figured out is police are incapable of policing themselves,” he said. “The blue line is too thick. The loyalties are to one another. …
“I hope mayors hold the line in the language in these contracts,” he added, “and at the state level we can remove this statute and these anti-accountability statutes from state law.”