Public deserves straight answers on APD test scam

The Albuquerque Police Department and its Training Academy have some serious explaining to do.

We’re referring to the bombshell dropped last month by now-former APD Cmdr. John Sullivan. During a status conference, he told U.S. District Judge Robert Brack that “good-ol’-boy testing” was happening at the academy, which he defined as instructors telling officers what was on their tests and allowing them to test as a group. Under that system all officers scored 95 percent or higher. Sullivan retired soon after the hearing. The city says it was unrelated.

But four years into a Department of Justice settlement agreement, that bombshell puts APD’s — at minimum its academy’s — dedication to reforms in question.

DOJ determined in 2014 Albuquerque police had a pattern of excessive force, which included police shootings. That resulted in the DOJ settlement agreement, which, among other things, requires officers get additional training.

Last month’s revelation by Sullivan, which is contained in a transcript of the status conference recently obtained by the Journal, suggests APD and its academy were merely going through the motions on these reforms. Then again, the problem could be much bigger than that.

APD isn’t saying how long its officers have been taking tests as a group or if it was an issue only with reform-related tests. The APD Training Academy has since changed the way it administers tests, and the department has asked Central New Mexico Community College to review the academy’s testing practices. But the question remains of whether those officers tested for years under the old system actually learned the material presented to them.

And that’s a real problem for APD and the public it is entrusted to serve and protect.

Sullivan also told Judge Brack he raised the pass-fail standard from 70 percent to 80 percent and was requiring officers to take tests individually and electronically. In addition, multiple choice questions are now randomized so the answers can’t be memorized. The changes, Sullivan said, are intended to improve officers’ understanding of the settlement agreement. And since April, the academy has added a lieutenant, a recruiting sergeant, an advanced training officer, a basic training officer and a field training evaluation program analyst. The department has also created a unit to review and create all training, made up of a supervisor and four staffers.

The most positive thing you can say is better late than never. There’s no question these are all important changes, but the public still deserves to know how long this “good-ol’boy testing” system was in place. What was its scope? Who knew about it? And has anyone been disciplined over it?

Because this little testing scam calls the very integrity of the APD Training Academy into question.