For the last 17 years, Diane McDermott has worked at the Civilian Police Oversight Agency, a civilian run organization whose mission is to investigate complaints the public makes against members of the Albuquerque Police Department. 

As of last week, she’s officially in charge.

McDermott, who has been the interim director at CPOA—with a slight intermission—since late 2021, said she’s excited to officially take the reins and move the agency forward. Deirdre Ewing held the position from June to December of 2022.

“I care about the agency, I care about the mission. So it’s nice to be able to really move forward at least (to) where I think it needs to go,” she said. 

Coinciding with McDermott’s appointment to executive director was the first meeting of the newly-reconstituted CPOA board last week.

The board was formerly called the Civilian Police Oversight Agency board but an ordinance passed last year by the city council rebranded it to the Civilian Police Oversight Advisory Board. It used to have nine members but now it has five. 

It hasn’t met for a year because not all members of the board were selected until recently and the CPOA had to redo a lot of its training for the new board. 

An impartial voice  

The public, McDermott said, deserves a way of expressing their concerns and complaints about their interactions with the police department. And, she said, the police deserve to have fair and impartial investigations to determine whether or not there were any violations of the department’s standard operating procedures. 

“That alone is really critical,” she said. 

Following an investigation the CPOA can make recommendations on policy changes, re-training an officer, or officer discipline, McDermott said. 

“All of those improve the department and that’s our ultimate goal,” she said.  

McDermott said the primary reason the old board was abolished by city council is because it had strayed too far from what their actual stated purpose was and members were reinvestigating cases. Investigating cases is the job of the CPOA investigators, she said. 

“We conduct the investigations and provide the information to the board so that they can utilize the information to guide policy discussions and look where possible changes can occur,” she said. 

The board is also part of the appeals process. 

“So when you have a citizen who receives a finding from our office and they’re not happy with that finding—they think we got it wrong or they think we missed something—then they have a place to appeal to, which is the board,” McDermott said. 

The board can then adjudicate and listen to evidence to gain an understanding of why CPOA investigators came to the conclusion that they did. The process, she said, is quasi judicial. 

“That’s where the board has the impact—when it comes to the individual cases—rather than the previous model which had the findings approved by the board and then the very same board was hearing the appeal,” McDermott said. 

Previously, McDermott said the CPOA hasn’t had a say or hasn’t been able to give input on who is selected to the board. But the new ordinance passed last year changed that and she said she feels really good about the new board and their understanding of what their role in the agency is. Having conversations with the new board members about what they’ll see and what the time commitment is was crucial: the old board, she said, didn’t really have that information coming into it. 

Though the board hasn’t met for over a year, McDermott said her agency has continued to receive and investigate complaints and in March they’ll begin to hear those appeals. Currently, there are seven appeals.

“So it has still been happening, but (it) certainly would be better if we had the board’s input (on) policy and things like that,” she said. 

In March, the board will begin by hearing two appeals, and at that time, McDermott said they’ll gauge whether or not they’ll add a third appeal to their current duties.

She also expects them to get a list of use of force cases from the police department to review.

Meet the new board 

The new board members are Chairperson Aaron Calderon, Vice Chair Rowan Wymark, Zander Bolyanatz, Shama Newton and Gail Oliver.

In an interview with City Desk ABQ, Wymark said she applied for the position because she believes if you’re going to complain about something, you need to get involved and try to help.

“I just strongly believe in improving relations between APD and the community and it’s the right step to be able to address complaints and their issues,” she said. 

Wymark isn’t new to working with the police department. For seven years she worked with community policing councils, whose goal is to improve citizen and police interactions. In Albuquerque there are six community policing councils

“I could be holding somebody’s fate in my hands simply by giving the wrong advice, or perceiving it the wrong way, so I do feel a bit nervous,” she said about her new role. ”But I also feel prepared.” 

Optimistic about the future 

Last year the agency received about 700 complaints, but McDermott said not every complaint results in a full investigation. Sometimes they receive complaints from other jurisdictions outside Albuquerque that the CPOA can’t investigate. 

There are currently six investigators at the agency, but McDermott said that’s not enough.She has requested more investigators and supervisory staff in the upcoming budget. 

“I’ve asked for an additional four investigators and I’ve asked for two senior investigators to sort of act as that first line supervisor. I’ve also asked for an intake person,” she said. 

Overall, McDermott said she is optimistic about the agency’s direction. 

“Really just to continue and solidify the good work that we’re doing—making sure that citizens get their cases heard timely and fairly resolved, and then that the officers get a fair, timely investigation…and we continue down that path,” she said.