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“The project with EFIT has been very successful, influencing the quality and timeliness of use of force investigations at APD.”
– James D. Ginger, Ph.D., Independent Monitor

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Federal Monitor, James D. Ginger has issued his 17th report (Compliance Levels of the Albuquerque Police Department and the City of Albuquerque with Requirements of the Court-Approved Settlement Agreement, No. 14-CV-1025-JB-JFR) and APD is in 92% operational compliance. He states in the report that “The project with EFIT has been very successful, influencing the quality and timeliness of use of force investigations at APD.”

“APD has made substantial progress this reporting period,” the latest independent monitor report says. “Force investigations continue to be professionally and timely completed and are well-documented.”

APD officers are also using force less than they were three years ago, according to the report, with 284 incidents compared with 484 in 2020. There were 47 of the highest level — Level 3 — uses of force in 2022, a year when police shot at a record-high 18 people, killing 10 of them. Ginger said “there remains work to be done however” in terms of compliance; with some use-of-force incidents still being misclassified and the quality of reviews by some members of the Force Review Board decreasing, again.

As he has done in past reports, Ginger cautioned that APD needs to ensure quality investigations continue once EFIT passes oversight responsibilities wholly back to the Internal Affairs Force Division — testing its abilities to sustain the progress made.

In a press release, APD Chief Harold Medina stated, "We have gone from 70% to 92% in reaching operational compliance in the last year, which demonstrates how close we are to reaching the end of the consent decree. This doesn’t mean we are done with reform. It means we know what it takes to be in compliance, and we are proving we can stay in compliance with all of the changes we’ve made.”

With the monitor’s latest progress report, the police department says they’re getting near the end. In order to get out from under the consent decree, APD has to reach and continue a 95% operational compliance (day-to-day compliance) level.

Read more on KRQE News:
https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/albuquerque-police-celebrate-progress-in-settlement-agreement-but-some-say-theres-more-to-be-done/

And on Albuquerque Journal:
‍https://www.abqjournal.com/2599689/apd-near-full-compliance-with-mandated-reforms.html

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^{Photo: File:Albuquerque Police Department - Traffic Unit 01.JPG" by Skarz is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.}

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