Sunshine best policy for police use-of-force reviews

The city of Albuquerque has taken another positive step in the police reform process by emulating best practices regarding reviews of law enforcement use of force. APD’s Critical Incident Review Team, or CIRT, is modeled after a similar program at the Las Vegas, Nev., Metropolitan Police Department and is already tackling everything from the use of batons to how officers handled a violent protest at a political rally for presidential candidate Donald Trump Downtown (they used tear gas after rocks and bottles were thrown at them).

The goal of the reviews is to improve outcomes regarding serious use of force. But to get the most out of this process and reinforce that APD is “in step with our community,” the city should follow Las Vegas’ example and make its reviews public, except when doing so could hurt an ongoing criminal investigation.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has posted “key conclusions, recommendations and outcomes” from its CIRT reviews online since June 2012 and, rather than hurt the department, that transparency has drawn communities like Albuquerque looking for the most productive reforms.

Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry says there has been no decision on if or when reviews will be made public. He argues they could be withheld under the attorneyclient privilege and expressed concern they would hand trial lawyers a “playbook,” for suing, though at least one prominent local civil rights attorney says they would not be admissible in court.

Perhaps. But the vital public policy question is if the administration of Mayor Richard Berry is willing to let the public see what its police force is doing, and whether it effectively makes changes in policy, tactics and training the reviews might recommend.

The CIRT comes as a result of the city’s 2014 settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, prompted after DOJ found APD had a pattern and practice of excessive use of force. The cases that spurred that finding have fractured public trust in the police department and city government, so it’s a good step to institute a rigorous review of use of force — but not a big enough one. Considering DOJ also found APD had failed accountability and ineffective investigation systems, the public needs to be able to see the new reviews.

That way, it can have confidence the reforms are working better than what they replaced.