How do you fire a chief of police?

After three false starts, Councilor Louie Sanchez is getting some traction in getting the City Council to chastise Chief Harold Medina after what he calls a pattern of mismanagement and scandals. 

This week a vote of no confidence moved forward out of an important city committee — but Sanchez acknowledges that Medina is not going to be removed from his post any time soon. A no confidence vote is just the first step.

Voters changed the city charter to give the city council the power to remove a police chief and it must be done by a vote of two-thirds — or six votes.

“The bottom line is something needs to happen. The citizens of Albuquerque are demanding it,” Sanchez said in an interview with City Desk ABQ. “This transcends party lines, it transcends the far left and the far right, it is something that everybody is worried about.”

What?

The city’s Finance and Government Operations Committee met on March 11 and approved sending a measure for a vote of no confidence in the police chief to the full Council. The message was passed without a recommendation. Items coming out of the finance committee can have a recommendation to approve or to not approve or without recommendation. 

The city’s finance committee is composed of five councilors. Councilors Sanchez, Dan Champine and Dan Lewis voted for and Tammy Fiebelkorn and Klarissa Peña voted against.

The no confidence vote will be introduced at the upcoming City Council meeting set for next week on March 18 but will not be voted on until the April 1 meeting. 

How to remove the chief

Removing a police chief is a process and a declaration of no confidence is just the first step, Sanchez said in an interview with City Desk. Sanchez has tried a couple of times to get a vote of no confidence in Medina and has failed. He also did not have the votes to call for a multi-agency investigation into a Feb. 17 crash Medina was involved in on his way to a press conference. 

After the first call for a no confidence vote failed, Mayor Tim Keller issued a statement saying, ‘Councilor Sanchez’s failed attempt to call for a vote of no confidence shows just how out of touch he is with our community and the rest of the council.” 

The city charter says that “the mayor’s appointments to chief administrative officer, any deputy administrative officers, chief of police, and AFR chief require the advice and consent of the City Council. The police chief or fire chief may be removed for cause by a vote of two-thirds of the entire council.” 

Councilor Sanchez said he hopes it doesn’t come to that. 

“We’re not there yet,” he said. “We’re hoping the mayor, then also Harold (Medina) will say it is time to go and go off in the sunset and retire. That would be the best thing so we wouldn’t have to push any harder.”

If Medina were to resign or be removed by the Council, under the city charter it would be up to the mayor to appoint a new police chief and for the council to confirm the appointment within 45 days.

“A new police chief would hopefully be held to a higher standard based on the fact that he’s not going to run into the same problems that this one did,” Sanchez said.

Scandals

Some of the charges leveled against Medina in Sanchez’s measure are the dismissal of more than 150 active DWI cases due to a federal investigation that Sanchez says shows unchecked corruption within the department. It also says: a record number of officers have resigned or retired leaving the department dangerously shorthanded; there have been a record number of officer-involved shootings; response times have increased; 328 people have been murdered in the last two years; and APD’s Gang Unit along with critical units such as Narcotics and Vice units have been dissolved. 

All of this and more, Sanchez said, shows a failure to lead the police department.

Then, on Feb. 17, Medina was involved in a crash while on his way to a press conference on east Central Ave. Medina says gunshots rang out near his vehicle. He says he accelerated to get out of the way of gunfire and crashed into another vehicle critically injuring the other driver. Sanchez introduced a resolution that says there should be at a minimum representatives from New Mexico State Police, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, the New Mexico Department of Justice and APD investigating the incident to see if any laws or policies were violated. 

The resolution failed on a 5 to 4 vote, with Councilors Sanchez, Lewis, Champine and Renée Grout voting for and Councilors Peña, Fiebelkorn, Joaquín Baca, Brook Bassan and Nichole Rogers voting against.

Internal Turmoil?

Sanchez says he hears from many APD officers who feel the chief should be held to the same standards as the rank and file.

He said that the city has a reputation for being a difficult place to be a police officer. 

“The word is out that if you come to work in Albuquerque, you’re going to have a hard time as a police officer here.”

He said he is hearing from officers that the department morale is the worst it has been in many years — and it starts at the top.

“Right now, the police chief is putting forth a double standard in front of his whole department by not taking responsibility and having an outside source investigation,” he said. “This is a critical time in our history. As a leader we have three choices – move forward, stay the same or fall back as a city. And currently, we are falling back as a city.”