No video in several of officer’s arrests | Albuquerque Journal News

By Nicole Perez / Journal Staff Writer
PUBLISHED: Tuesday, May 13, 2014 at 12:05 am

Albuquerque police officer Jeremy Dear’s lapel video wasn’t recording when he allegedly punched a man while trying to arrest him during a Downtown brawl in January 2013.

His lapel video wasn’t recording when he allegedly kicked a man in the genitals during a traffic stop a month later.

And police were unable to recover any video from his lapel camera after he shot and killed 19-year-old Mary Hawkes, who he said pulled a gun on him after a suspected car theft, last month. The camera’s manufacturer is examining the camera, police have said.

There were at least two other instances, which didn’t involve use of force, when he didn’t record his full encounters with the public, according to Dear’s personnel file obtained by KOAT-TV.

Under department policy, officers are supposed to record every interaction they have with members of the public.

It’s unclear if Dear was ever disciplined for any of the previous incidents in which he did not get video of his encounters. …

The DOJ report said requiring lapel camera use is a good policy but that it’s inconsistently used and not enforced strictly by APD.

“We found very few examples of officers being reprimanded for failing to record force incidents,” the report reads. “The fact that few officers were reprimanded for this failure suggests that supervisors have also failed to insist on this form of accountability.”

No video in several of officer’s arrests | Albuquerque Journal News

I’ve rearrange the info from the linked article into a more cogent timeline. It doesn’t make sense.

1. The truck was reported stolen April 10 [2 weeks prior to shooting]
2. police spotted Hawkes driving a stolen Ford F-150 pickup truck at 3 a.m
3. An officer tailed her, but she disappeared
4. officer spotted the truck abandoned and identified Hawkes through items left inside the truck [what items?]
5. officer then found a prior address of Hawkes, at a nearby trailer park [see next item]
6. Hawkes has never been a resident at the park [see previous two items]
7. At 5am, police blockade park and announce they will release dogs [two hours after sighting Hawkes]
8. multiple residents saw Hawkes jump the park’s east wall and run across Wyoming minutes before shots were heard
9. Hawkes encountered Dear on the east side of Wyoming.
10. Eden said “preliminary evidence” suggests Hawkes pulled out the handgun and pointed it at Dear

It is crucial for APD to specify what items were found and how they led to a park Hawkes was not a resident of. Note that Hawkes was known to sleep in vehicles.

APD chief: No lapel video available in fatal shooting of Mary Hawkes | Albuquerque Journal News

Eden said the callout happened after police spotted Hawkes driving a stolen Ford F-150 pickup truck at 3 a.m. An officer tailed her, but she disappeared.

Later, the officer spotted the truck abandoned and identified Hawkes through items left inside the truck, Eden said. The truck was reported stolen April 10, he said.

The officer then found a prior address of Hawkes, at a nearby trailer park, and set up a perimeter. Sometime between 5 a.m. and 5:30 a.m. a police SUV blocked the only entrance to the trailer park and another police SUV drove through the park, announcing over a loudspeaker for everyone to stay in their homes and close windows and doors, said James Tull, who is staying in the park.

Police “said they were going to turn the dogs loose,” Tull said.

Chris Trammell, who manages the trailer park, said multiple residents saw Hawkes jump the park’s east wall and run across Wyoming minutes before shots were heard. He said Hawkes has never been a resident at the park.

Hawkes encountered Dear on the east side of Wyoming. Eden said “preliminary evidence” suggests Hawkes pulled out the handgun and pointed it at Dear, but he would not say where that evidence came from.

APD chief: No lapel video available in fatal shooting of Mary Hawkes | Albuquerque Journal News

Read it.

Everything You Need to Know About the Department of Justice Report on APD Violence: A Readers’ Guide | La Jicarita By DAVID CORREIA

According to the report, APD engages in unconstitutional policing. A majority of fatal shootings were unjustified. And it’s not just in the use of lethal force. The DOJ reviewed 200 reports of non-lethal force over a three-year period. … Among the 200 uses of non-lethal force, APD said less than 1% were unjustified. DOJ disagreed and concluded that more than one-third were unjustified. …

In one example, 47 officers responded to the scene of a man … who was drunk and disorderly and arguing with a friend. [He] held a small knife, but dropped the knife when ordered. He attempted to flee. …

a pattern that the DOJ concluded revealed “the chain of command’s disregard for detecting individual and aggregate patterns of unreasonable force by subordinates” (p. 25).

In other words APD leadership actively endorses these violent, unjustified and unconstitutional practices by refusing to investigate the use of force, and perhaps even more troubling, by rewarding this behavior as “exemplary.”

Everything You Need to Know About the Department of Justice Report on APD Violence: A Readers’ Guide | La Jicarita

The two incidents cited are quite outrageous.

Use of force by police must be controlled | ABQJournal Online

By Peter J. Adang / Ranchos de Taos | 7 hours ago

What in the world is the problem with law enforcement personnel in our state? … Two recent officer-involved incidents in New Mexico make it clear that we definitely have a problem. Fortunately neither resulted in death or serious physical injury. However, both were outrageous and have undoubtedly made New Mexico a laughingstock nationwide.

Use of force by police must be controlled | ABQJournal Online