Sheriff open to audit of policies

Outside examination of use of force, pursuit practices considered

Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales has indicated he is open to an examination of his department’s use of force and pursuit policies by an outside group with an eye for possible changes.

Sheriff Manuel Gonzales told county commissioners last month that the BCSO is reviewing its policies internally and he’s also looking at outside firms to do an independent policy audit.

“Sheriff Gonzales has told the commission that he is going to engage an outside expert to review all BCSO policies and procedures,” said Commissioner Maggie Hart Stebbins, a Democrat. “The commission will ask for a timeline for when that can be completed.”

Such a review would come at a time when some of the sheriff’s office’s policies — such as those setting standards for on-body cameras, pursuits and use of force — have been questioned and criticized in recent lawsuits filed against the county.

Several community advocacy groups also have raised concerns about those practices in the wake of a spate of deputy shootings in 2017. Some groups have compared a stretch of BCSO shootings in 2017 — deputies fired their weapons nine times in less than five month — to a streak of Albuquerque police shootings that ultimately led to a Department of Justice investigation. The Albuquerque Police Department remains in the midst of a years-long reform effort.

Though expressing openness to a review, Gonzales maintained his department has some of the best policies in the state.

“Although we may think that, we’re still willing to look at ourselves and do an examination of our use of force policies and our pursuit policies just to ensure we’re making good decisions every day,” he said.

News of a possible audit appeared to be well received by county commissioners of both parties.

Commissioner Wayne Johnson, a Republican, said that although all law enforcement agencies have room for improvement, the sheriff should be credited for not rushing to implement new policies, such as lapel cameras, without thoroughly analyzing the issues.

Sheriff’s deputies don’t wear cameras, but Albuquerque police officers do.

Commissioner Debbie O’Malley, a Democrat, said that although she welcomed the outside review, she thinks it’s time for the department to start using more dashboard cameras. She said she plans to find funding for cameras.

Gonzales declined through a spokesman to do an interview about the policy review, and he slightly walked back his statements before the commission.

“It would be premature to provide an interview at this time. As of now, command staff is in the planning stages of identifying a national independent auditor to possibly review current department policies,” Deputy Felicia Maggard, a spokeswoman for the sheriff’s office, said in an email. “Once a decision has been made and if an audit is conducted, we may revisit your request for an interview.”

Andres Valdez, the executive director of Vecinos United, a group that advocates for civil rights and other issues, said members of the group recently met with the sheriff to discuss particular policies. He said his group wants the sheriff’s office to use on-body cameras and have a civilian oversight group, similar to what APD has.

Valdez said the meeting was positive and the sheriff seemed receptive to having a dialogue with the group.

Other community groups, including the ACLU and the League of United Latin American Citizens have raised concerns about some of the sheriff’s office policies.

While some community groups have compared the BCSO increase in police shootings to that of APD, Luis Robles, an attorney who has defended many deputies and police officers involved in shootings, said the numbers don’t tell the entire story.

“APD had issues with shooting people with mental illnesses. BCSO has not done that . ... You can bring out the number of APD shootings, but really what the concern was was ‘Hey, these folks have mental illnesses,’” Robles said. “You can’t say that about BCSO. The people who are involved in the shootings, the suspects, are straight up criminals.”

Recent lawsuits have called out sheriff’s office policies and blamed the policies for leading to deaths.

A lawsuit brought by the family of Fidencio Duran said the sheriff’s office’s use-of-force and lapel camera policies contributed to Duran’s death.

Duran, 88, was shot so many times with pepper balls during an encounter with sheriff’s deputies that he died days later, according to a lawsuit filed in connection with the shooting. The lawsuit settled last year for an amount that the plaintiffs agreed not to disclose, attorney Joe Kennedy said.

Duran was walking around his South Valley neighborhood with a knife when he encountered sheriff’s deputies, who unleashed volleys of pepper balls and sicced a police dog on him. His death was ruled a homicide.

“Bernalillo County’s unconstitutional useof-force policy killed Fidencio Duran,” Kennedy wrote in an amended complaint filed on behalf of Duran’s family.

Kennedy pointed out in the lawsuit that the county’s policies don’t make deputies take into consideration the seriousness of the crime the suspect is believed to have committed and whether there is an immediate threat to others. He said because of those factors, the policy is unconstitutional.

The sheriff’s office use-of-force policy statement is 78 words and advises deputies to “act in good faith in the exercise of force.”

On the other hand, the same policy statement for Albuquerque police is 274 words and says that officers “may only use force that is objectively reasonable, based on a totality of the circumstances the officer is confronted with, to effect an arrest or protect the safety of the officer or another person.”

The statement also says that Albuquerque police officers will “not only follow the legal standard, but also, where feasible ... use the minimum amount of force necessary.”

Last month, Albuquerque attorney Sam Bregman filed a lawsuit against the county on behalf of the girlfriend of Martin Jim, who was shot by BCSO Deputy Joshua Mora on Nov. 17.

Jim was a passenger in a suspected stolen car whose driver led deputies on a high-speed chase before Jim and the driver were shot and killed.

Bregman said both the sheriff’s office pursuit policies and the policy that doesn’t require deputies to wear cameras were contributing factors in Jim’s death. He said not requiring sheriff’s deputies to wear cameras has created a culture of excessive force.