Opinion: Is a police review board the solution?

The effort to create a civilian review board for the Las Cruces Police Department threatens to create a rift between the City Council and some progressive voters during a municipal election year, when police and crime will undoubtedly be a major topic.

There’s little disagreement as to the need for reform. Fatal police interactions with Amelia Baca (settled for $2.5 million) and Antonio Valenzuela (settled for $6.5 million) have cost taxpayers $9 million, and taken beloved members from two families.

Jonathan Strickland survived being shot 12 times by police, but Presley C. Eze Jr. was shot in the back of the head and killed after a scuffle with police that started with a can of beer stolen from a convenience store. That has led the local chapter of the NAACP to request a federal investigation into allegations that there is a pattern of civil rights abuse committed by police. I don’t believe we need the same level of oversight as Albuquerque, but I do hope the Feds will at least look into the charges.

Las Cruces’ current system of police oversight has been outsourced to a private firm called the OIR Group. They audit the city’s process for handling complaints and recommend systematic improvements, but don’t actually look into the complaints themselves.

There is no outside investigation in cases where the actions of police result in death. Those continue to be investigated by a task force of fellow officers from the same or nearby departments. They conduct a secret investigation, then file a secret report that inevitably leads to a public declaration by the district attorney that the officer had done nothing wrong.

The only time the public gets to hear any of the details is if the lawsuit filed against the city goes to court. And that is usually prevented by multimillion-dollar settlements at the expense of city taxpayers, who remain in the dark.

A civilian review board would be one solution to that problem. The question is, would it be the best solution?

A 2001 report by the Department of Justice found there had been an increase in the use of civilian review boards, but noted that “many of these procedures have a troubled history involving serious — even bitter — conflict among the involved parties.”

There is a mixed history as to the effectiveness of civilian review boards around the nation. Given the proper organization, funding and mission, a civilian review board can play a small role in the overall reform effort. But it won’t solve the problem of who determines accountability following fatal interactions with police.

Recent legislation introduced in Santa Fe would have moved the investigation of police killings from the local agencies to the state Law Enforcement Academy. That would allow for a more unbiased and detached review.

I don’t know if the recent spate of fatal or near-fatal interactions represents a pattern or is an unfortunate coincidence. But the response by police leadership has done little to reassure residents.

This fall, Las Cruces will elect a mayor and three positions on the City Council. Candidates need to be thinking about how to increase police accountability without interfering with the vital work that officers do every day.

Walt Rubel is the former opinion page editor of the Las Cruces Sun-News. He lives in Las Cruces, and can be reached at:

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