Protecting Your Rights And Holding Those With Power Accountable
In 2014, the United States Department of Justice and the Albuquerque Police Department entered into a consent decree. The Justice Department had found "reasonable cause to believe that APD engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force, including deadly...
The Department of Homeland Security was created after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in part to gather intelligence about plots to commit further terrorism on U.S. soil. States like New Mexico similarly created their own versions of DHS. However, the original mission...
According to MappingPoliceViolence.org, New Mexico stands only behind Wyoming in the rate of police killings per capita. The nonprofit project says that police in New Mexico killed 32 people last year. The projects record all instances where an on- or off-duty police...
2022 was a record-breaking year for the Albuquerque Police Department in terms of police shootings. There were 18. Ten people were killed and three were injured. That is extremely disheartening, since the APD has been under the supervision of the U.S. Department of...
In 2020, New Mexico passed laws requiring all state and local law enforcement officers, except tribal officers, to wear body cameras. One of the main purposes of the law was to make a record when officers use force so that any wrongful use of force can be addressed....
Civil rights activist Malcolm X was murdered on Feb. 21, 1965. He was shot as people gathered to hear him speak in upper Manhattan. The government convicted three men in the murder, but two of them were exonerated in 2021. A review of the evidence uncovered the fact...
There are actually only a limited number of reasons police officers can search your car when they have pulled you over: You consented to the search The officers have a valid search warrant The officers reasonably believe searching your car is necessary for their own...
In an ideal world, officers who repeatedly commit misconduct would lose their jobs and never work in law enforcement again. That doesn’t always happen. What if there were a way to use market forces to make it happen more often? What if police officers were required to...
The modern news cycle moves fast. What seems a critical issue today is often eclipsed by tomorrow. Reporters need access to accurate information fast. Our courts are a big part of that. Reporters routinely come to the courts to find out about recent lawsuits that are...
When someone with a serious mental illness is admitted to a county jail, it may be because their mental illness made them unable to comply with the law. It is often the case that they can’t understand or comply with the correctional officers’ orders. When they disobey...