City councilors got a little hot under the collar at times during Monday’s regular meeting. They questioned the police chief after an hour plus-long executive session to discuss air quality board litigation then had some heated exchanges with the administration over air quality board issues.

Let’s Talk

Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina faced off with city councilors in a tense, but mostly civil conversation. One councilor even called for him to resign—a motion that fell flat.

Several city councilors requested Medina attend the meeting to answer questions about the federal investigation into the department’s DWI unit.

Council President Dan Lewis, who has been an outspoken critic of Medina, said he appreciated the letter that the chief sent over to the Council last week detailing policies and processes for officers attending court appearances. Lewis said maybe they “got off on the wrong foot” and the intent of the letter council sent to Medina was meant to try to streamline some of the questions that they are interested in as elected officials. “There was no intent to ask you for information you are not able to provide,” Lewis said. 

Medina said several times that he couldn’t answer questions about the ongoing investigation so instead they asked questions about policy and procedures.

Councilor Nichole Rogers asked Medina if there was a policy in place that tells officers what they have to do and what happens if they don’t do what is expected of them. Medina went on to explain part of the discipline matrix. She asked how many missed court dates were too many. That Medina said was a case-by-case decision. But he said the department currently does not have a database to track how many times an officer misses court. And it would take a lot more employees to keep track of every court case involving an APD officer. He said there were currently 547 cases in the court system involving APD.

When asked about what the process was for missed court appearances, Medina said prior to 2019 they basically used a hanging file system where the physical files would be passed from one supervisor to another. He said the Department of Justice recommended a computer system to track such data. Deputy Chief J.J. Griego said that APD did in fact get notifications from the District Attorney’s office and courts, but those stopped around Sept. 2022. Medina said that since the beginning of the current month, the District Attorney’s office has sent out 33 missed court notices. Griego said one problem is that this type of data is not that easy to track since the DA, APD and courts have different case numbers and software systems.

Councilor Brook Bassan said she was not making any judgment decisions as to who is to blame because there are “a lot of balls in the air right now”. She said, “I trust that the FBI is doing a free study and until the FBI comes back and gives us some solid answers and solid evidence, I am going to refrain from comment or judgment beyond this moment in time.” 

For his part, councilor Louis Sanchez, another outspoken critic of the mayor and police department, requested to put a motion on the Feb. 21 agenda asking for Medina’s resignation for failed leadership. It was met with silence. 

In a statement, the mayor’s office criticized the attempt, saying it “shows just how out of touch he is with our community and the rest of the council.”

“Even worse, he is trying to punish Chief Medina as he is exposing corruption and working with the U.S. Attorney and FBI to support their investigation,”  said Staci Drangmeister, a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office. “Fortunately the other eight members of the council showed they are interested in finding justice for victims of DWI.” 

A new APD watchdog

Councilors, in a ballot vote, picked current interim director Dianne McDermott as the permanent Director of the Civilian Police Oversight Agency (CPOA). Three candidates were under consideration for the position that has been officially vacant for a year.

In January of 2023, the city council amended the Police Oversight Ordinance requiring a Contract Compliance officer to assemble a team to accept and review applications from candidates for the CPOA Executive Director position and to make recommendations to the Council, according to city documents.

Albuquerque’s Police Oversight Agency has been without a permanent executive director since former director Edward Harness resigned in October 2021 amid controversy, after his position was posted without asking him to reapply. An interim director was appointed until a permanent replacement was found. 

The Civilian Police Oversight Agency (CPOA) is an independent group of civilian appointed members who are not part of either the city administration or City Council. The agency independently investigates cases of complaints and use of force cases. The city of Albuquerque, and its police department, is required under the 2014 settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice after the police department was found to have a pattern and practice of excessive force after a string of officer shootings. The make up of the CPOA has undergone several revisions over the last 10 years since the mandate. The CPOA Board meets on the second Thursday of each month.

Hot Air

Councilors spent a good deal of time during the administration question and answer segment quizzing Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel over her delivering a packet from the Mayor to their officers after business hours. Council President Dan Lewis asked Sengel why the administration hated Sandia Laboratory and Kirtland Air Force Base. Sengel said that was not the case and that the administration absolutely supports both businesses.