Albuquerque police reform deal set to get final OK

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) - Officials are set to sign off on an agreement with the U.S. Justice Department aimed at overhauling the troubled police department in New Mexico’s most populous city.

But advocates say the agreement doesn’t go far enough at reforming an agency under scrutiny for excessive force and more than 40 police shootings since 2010.

Albuquerque officials are expected this week to formally sign the agreement after city councilors voted unanimously Thursday to approve the broad-ranging deal. The agreement calls for new training and protocols for investigating officer shootings. It also calls for the agency to dismantle some troubled units.

The vote, the Justice Department said in a statement, “affirmed the council’s partnership in pursuing sustainable reforms that will ensure constitutional and effective policing, promote greater trust between officers and the communities they serve, and protect officer and public safety.”

However, some of the Albuquerque Police Department’s harshest critics weren’t so optimistic. David Correia, a police critic and an American studies professor at the University of New Mexico, said he had hoped to see officers get fired and criminal charges pursued. He said the agreement relies too much on the police force crafting its own reform policies.

“There’s nothing here that APD hasn’t been told to do in the past,” Correia said.

APD Forward, a coalition of advocates, lawyers and family members of those killed by Albuquerque police, agreed that the reform blueprint could have been stronger. For example, the agreement should have come down harder on enforcement of body camera policies, the group said.

“These officers need to be informed that what they did was wrong, and they need to be clearly disciplined,” said Francis Carpenter, an attorney with the group. “Unfortunately, in this settlement agreement, it doesn’t seem to be clear.”

Still, some family members remained optimistic.

“I think we will see changes,” said Steve Torres, whose son, Christopher, struggled with schizophrenia and was killed by Albuquerque police. “We will just have to keep the pressure up.”

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Follow Russell Contreras at https://twitter.com/russcontreras