The Justice Department and the City of Albuquerque, New Mexico, have jointly filed a motion seeking court approval to terminate certain aspects of the consent decree covering the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). This action follows the independent monitor’s 19th report, which concluded that the city and APD have achieved full compliance with 96% of the consent decree’s terms.
The joint motion requests termination of 93 provisions of the consent decree, with which APD has been in full compliance for at least two years. These provisions encompass various topics such as use of firearms, crowd control and incident management, use of force reporting and training, behavioral health training, reporting misconduct, on-body recording devices and community and problem-oriented policing.
Assistant Attorney General Kristen Clarke of the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division said: “Our joint motion to terminate parts of this consent decree demonstrates that the Justice Department’s ultimate goal of ensuring constitutional and effective policing is closer to becoming a reality." She further noted that "the Albuquerque Police Department has shown that real progress is possible through consistent improvements in its policing over the last eight years."
U.S. Attorney Alexander M.M. Uballez for the District of New Mexico added: “Meaningful change is always gradual. Partial termination is the natural next step after years of hard work from the City of Albuquerque and the brave men and women of the Albuquerque Police Department who chose service every single day."
Significant changes have been made by APD in reaching compliance with provisions of the consent decree that parties are seeking to terminate. These include appropriate training on using firearms, proper reporting within APD for use-of-force incidents, providing behavioral health and crisis intervention training to all new officers, ensuring an efficient system to track civilian complaints of police misconduct among others.
The U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico entered into this consent decree in June 2015. More information about it can be found on both Special Litigation Section Cases and Matters website and the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of New Mexico’s website.