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ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - The APD Repeat Offender Project, long the tip of the spear for the department's over-aggressive, cowboy culture, is no longer.
The squad, known as the ROP team, has been disbanded as part of detailed, court-enforceable agreement between Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry's administration and the U.S. Department of Justice to reform Berry's embattled police department.
The SWAT team also is getting an overhaul as part of the agreement, known as a consent decree. That unit will no longer be allowed to act outside the normal strictures of APD command - as it has done for years.
Fewer than 20 officers assigned to ROP and SWAT have been responsible for more than a third of APD's 40-plus shootings since 2010. The department's specialized squads, according to multiple sources, have been allowed to act with impunity for years.
The police shootings have happened here at a higher rate per capita than nearly any other city in the nation. They formed the impetus for the Justice Department to launch in November 2012 a comprehensive examination of APD and the way its officers use force against citizens.
Justice Department investigators found what they described as deeply rooted problems with APD's culture: weak internal investigations, rogue units, a fondness for high-powered weaponry, poor training, questionable hiring practices and insufficient policies.
All of that, according to the DOJ, led to numerous scenarios in which city police shot people who weren't posing a threat.
More than two dozen of those people died.
At its most basic level, APD has for many years had a 'pattern and practice of excessive force,' the Justice Department found.
Since July, federal and city officials have been negotiating a set of reforms for APD. On Friday, the public got its first look at the 106-page document that spells those reforms out in detail.
In addition to sweeping changes for the specialized squads, APD's Internal Affairs division is getting an overhaul. And the DOJ has made a concerted effort to restore the department's chain of command after investigators spoke to hundreds of city officers who said they felt unsupported in their jobs.
In sum, the reforms will cost the city millions of dollars a year to put into place. They'll be overseen by a federal monitor. No one has been named to that position yet.
KRQE News 13 staffers are digging through the consent decree. We'll have updates online throughout the day and complete coverage in our broadcasts at 4, 5:30 and 10 p.m.
Posted by Unknown on Friday, October 31, 2014 - Rating: 4.5
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