Use-of-force training by APD called ‘ineffective’

Monitor overseeing police force reforms says city must fix the issues

Albuquerque Police Department’s use-of-force training — touted by city officials as a sign of the department’s commitment to reform — is “absolutely ineffective” and “can’t be allowed to stand,” according to the monitor overseeing the reform effort.

James Ginger, the independent monitor overseeing the reforms, also said recently that practices within Albuquerque police are “changing more slowly than any project I’ve been familiar with.”

His statements were made earlier this month during a conference call with U.S. District Judge Robert Brack, who is presiding over a yearslong reform effort underway by Albuquerque police, according to a transcript of the call.

Ginger said that police will have to do some sort of additional training to address problems with the use-of-force training, which governs how officers respond to people they encounter on the job.

In the past, the department has used memos or had officers watch training videos during routine briefings to correct problems with police training that Ginger and his team identified, said Celina Espinoza, a police spokeswoman. She said the department doesn’t yet have exact plans on how to correct the use-of-force training.

“Every concern he and his monitoring team have brought to our attention has been addressed,” Espinoza said.

The reforms were outlined in a settlement agreement between the city and the Department of Justice. They aim to address a pattern of excessive force and a culture of aggression within the police department.

The process was originally scheduled to last four years

from the time the settlement was filed in court in late 2014.

But Ginger said it’s taking longer than expected to change Albuquerque police.

“It’s somewhat confusing to the monitoring team why. We’re not quite sure why, but it is. Compared to other projects I’m familiar with, the progress is slow,” he said during the conference call.

Many of the reforms call for Albuquerque police officers to complete training courses. One major step of the reform effort was to retrain all officers and supervisors on a new use-of-force policy. Espinoza said all officers and supervisors were trained on that new policy last summer.

The training was taught during a 40-hour course for officers and a 24-hour course for supervisors. But Ginger said the monitoring team found the training to be “absolutely ineffective” and he said there were 12 problems with the training that need to be addressed.

“I would like to suggest that the city is conflating activity with success,” he said.

Ginger said some of the problems with the use-offorce training could have been solved earlier. But he said there was an argument between the city and the monitoring team as to whether or not the team could get access to lesson plans of the training. The team eventually got access to the course materials

“Had that been forthcoming, a lot of these 12 issues or so that we’re dealing with now could have been fixed,” Ginger said. “As it is, the city is going to have to figure out a way to remedy those issues.”