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monday April 14, 2014
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Protesters encouraged by recent DOJ release by Ardee Napolitano news@dailylobo.com @ArdeeTheJourno
As the Department of Justice last week agreed that the Albuquerque Police Department exercises excessive force, protests against police raged on. About 100 people rallied in front of City Hall on Saturday
afternoon to continue to peacefully protest APD’s excessive use of force. Danny Hernandez, one of the organizers of the protest, said various organizations planned the event last week in response to the DOJ’s investigation. He said they plan to make sure that the DOJ would fix the police department. “We need to keep the momentum
going,” he said. “The Department of Justice report vindicates what we have been saying all along, but it also doesn’t have many next steps yet. Right now, they’re in negotiation with the city, and we don’t really have any say on what’s going to go on. So, it’s good to keep the pressure on.” In a press conference on Thursday, the DOJ stated that there
Ardee Napolitano/@ArdeeTheJourno / Daily Lobo Los Lunas resident Carrie White, center, momentarily sheds her Guy Fawkes mask while taping a protest poster to the doors of the District Attorney’s office Saturday afternoon. About 100 people attended the protest against the Albuquerque Police Department that day to encourage the Department of Justice, which concluded its investigation of APD on Thursday, to take more concrete steps to reform the police department.
Despite DOJ report, hundreds rally for APD by Chloe Henson
assistant-news@dailylobo.com @ChloeHenson5 Albuquerque residents rallied at Civic Plaza Saturday afternoon to discuss the importance of the Albuquerque Police Department, to remember fallen officers and demonstrate their support for the APD. About 200 veterans, business owners and other attendees met at 10 a.m. to praise and defend the officers. After an hour, the supporters marched downtown, chanting “APD” and shaking hands with officers. The march ended in front of the police department’s headquarters, where the crowd chanted for several minutes before dispersing around noon. Attendee Michael Carrillo said he came out to support APD because he had family in the department, including his brother, John Arthur Carrillo, who was shot and killed in 1987 after responding to a call regarding domestic violence. “When my son-in-law and my brother, who was killed, and my other brother, my uncle, my grandfather have put their lives on the line for people in service to them, I feel I have to support the rest of them as well,” he said. Carrillo said he has ridden along with some APD officers, and he observes interactions the police have with city residents on a daily basis. “I know that there is a good heart in every one of them trying to do the right thing for people,” he said. The rally took place two days after the Department of Justice released the results of
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its civil investigation of APD, which concluded that the department’s officers frequently use excessive force. The DOJ report found that the APD used deadly force against people who demonstrated only minimal threat, used less lethal force on “people passively resisting,” and officers frequently used force on people with mental illness. Despite the findings, supporters said they stood behind the department. “We’re not saying the DOJ is saying anything wrong,” said David Giesche who attended the rally. “We have faith in the men and women of this department, that they can overcome their shortfalls and they can make this a better department and a better community for all of us. But I don’t think that they can do that without the public’s support.” Giesche said the department would have to make changes in order to curb what he says is an excessive use of force. “They’re too quick to use excessive force, especially in instances of mental illness,” he said. “It’s just a matter of updating their policies and a matter of better training and just a little more modern law enforcement techniques that we haven’t seen practiced yet in APD.” Carrillo said the report did not affect his decision to support the police. He said he has questions about the report, and he wants to read it before passing any judgment on it. Robin Ulman, another rally attendee, said the DOJ report made her and her husband, Rob Ulman, come out to support the police. “I don’t know that it’s accurate. I just know that the police department needs
is “reasonable cause to believe that the Albuquerque Police Department engages in a pattern or practice of excessive force in violation of the Fourth Amendment.” Hernandez, who manages the Facebook page “Albuquerque P D in Crisis,” said that with the release of the results, the city government would be forced to rectify APD’s wrongs. “I think the pattern was there, but APD and the Berry administration have been denying it all along,” he said. “Now they have to accept the fact that it’s true, and now they have to come up with a solution.” Hernandez said he expects more civilian voices to be included in the DOJ’s reform negotiations with APD in the coming months. He said he also urges APD to implement mandatory lapel cameras to ensure officers’ accountability. In the protest, attendees marched to the District Attorney’s office from Civic Plaza carrying signs, and they taped the posters on the building’s doors. They then continued to march around downtown. Kenneth Ellis II, whose son was shot dead by an APD officer, attended the protest. He said that although he was glad that the DOJ confirmed the public’s suspicions about APD, he still pushes for the indictments of the officers involved in fatal shootings. “I’m satisfied that they are going to do the right thing and help our police department to get it right,” he said. “I’m still determined to pass some indictments because, as
the DOJ report said, the majority of over 30 killings are unjustified and unconstitutional … We need to jail killer cops.” According to the Albuquerque Journal, an APD officer killed Kenneth Ellis III by shooting him in the neck in January 2010 as Ellis III pointed a gun to his own head. Ellis, who has moved to Albuquerque from Arizona since his son’s killing, said he feels optimistic that the DOJ investigation will lead to the transformation of APD. “It’s proven in the court of law that my son’s constitutional rights were violated,” he said. “Nevertheless, they still haven’t gotten a consent decree and I still haven’t seen the structure and the parameters of this consent decree. I’m cautiously optimistic that it’s going to be enough to get it right.” Matthe Barceleau, a member of the UNM School of Law’s National Lawyers Guild who attended the event, said he expects city officials, including Mayor Richard Berry and APD Chief Gorden Eden, to take accountability of the shootings and step down. But most importantly, people should keep voicing their opinions, Barceleau said. “I expect people not to forget about it,” he said. “I expect people not to have that amnesia that comes. I expect that every time APD makes an action now, people are going to react to it. People are going to want to know, and that should be up for public review.”
William Aranda/@_WilliamAranda / Daily Lobo Four-year-old Arlynn McClaskey sits on the steps of Civic Plaza during an APD support rally on Saturday morning. More than a hundred people gathered in Civic Plaza to show their support for the police department. support, and when you hamstring the police department … you’ll be forced to make peace with the criminals,” she said. “I have no intention of making peace with the criminals.” Rally attendees who spoke also said Mayor Richard Berry should have attended the rally to show his support for the police. Rob Ulman said he can’t judge how Berry has handled the controversy surrounding the police department, but he felt the mayor could have been more supportive. “Mayor Berry and Chief (Gorden)
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Eden are handling what they do of their own accord,” he said. “I cannot judge the way they’re doing things. I do know I feel as though Mayor Berry, when he had the opportunity to support the police department, came up short.” Rob Ulman said APD is a necessary element of the city because it protects Albuquerque citizens. “Without the APD, we would all be in a lot of trouble,” he said. “They’re the only element that stands between us and the bad guys.”
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