Tuesday marked the first of 10 meetings of the Collaborative on Police-Community Relations in Albuquerque. Police officers and commanders attended, along with grieving families, mental health advocates and neighborhood association representatives.
Mayor Richard Berry said the process should yield a document that outlines expectations for effective community policing. The Department of Justice investigated APD after a high-number of officer-involved shootings, and findings indicated city police use excessive force.
“We’re in the process of crafting a court-enforceable agreement with the Department of Justice,” he said. “If that’s where we stop and we don’t have the community voice, we’re going to find ourselves, I’m concerned, in the place where other cities have found themselves, where you have just the technical fixes, which are good, but it’s not enough.”
A list of solutions suggested at the meetings will be compiled by the University of New Mexico—not the city.
The next meeting will be Monday, Oct. 27, at 6 p.m. and will focus on mental health. Register in advance of the meeting here.
For more of this interview and a full list of the meetings, read the web exclusive on publichealthnm.org.
