Disciplined N.M. Officers Retain State Certification

At least 60 police officers statewide who have been disciplined by the departments they work for -- some even fired -- are still licensed to carry badges and guns, the Journal has learned.

Staff at the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy, which certifies men and women to be cops, also say the state Attorney General's Office is doing a lousy job of making the state's case for sanctions against officers' certifications during administrative hearings.

If the AG's Office is unable to get sanctions against an officer's certification, or if the officer's case languishes in a backlog, even those who have been found guilty of misconduct by their own departments can go to work for another agency.

So the academy's board, whose chairman is Attorney General Gary King, has scheduled an emergency meeting Tuesday. One of the items on the meeting's agenda is the "ineffective prosecution by Attorney General's Office."

"My understanding is that some of the (academy's) hearing officers are concerned that the cases being brought forward against officers aren't being presented in the most efficient manner," said Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz, who is a member of the academy board. "The AG's Office is not as prepared as the hearing officers think they should be. So we called this meeting to get input from the hearing officers. We want to make sure the citizens of the state of New Mexico don't have to worry about someone who shouldn't be a police officer patrolling the streets of their communities."

King's spokesman, Phil Sisneros, said the AG was on vacation and unavailable for comment. King did not respond to an emailed request for comment.

Through Sisneros, Chief Deputy Attorney General Albert Lama issued the following statement:

"The issues raised in the emergency meeting agenda of the Law Enforcement Academy Board are important ones, and the Attorney General looks forward to discussing them in detail with fellow board members at the meeting. It is not clear to us at this time why the meeting has been identified by the Director as constituting an emergency; typically emergency meetings are appropriate only in instances where immediate action must be taken to avoid substantial harm to the health, safety or welfare of the public. Once it is clear that the proper procedures for convening the meeting have been followed under the New Mexico Open Meetings Act and Board rules, AG King and members of his staff will be happy to participate in the meeting and provide any information to the Board regarding the status of administrative prosecutions, as is appropriate."

Law enforcement officials are required by state code to file reports with the Law Enforcement Academy after an officer has been convicted of a crime or has been disciplined for conduct "which indicates a lack of good moral character" or dishonesty.

Once the report is filed, the officer meets with the academy's director to discuss potential sanctions against the officer's state certification.

In many cases, Schultz said, an agreement is reached during that meeting on sanctions that range from a twoweek suspension to a lifetime revocation. He said many officers who are arrested on felony charges simply ignore notifications from the academy about sanctions and as a result, relinquish their certifications.

But those who do not relinquish their certification and who cannot reach an agreement, Schultz said, go before a hearing officer, usually accompanied by a defense attorney. An attorney from the AG's Office presents the state's case for sanctions.

Hearing officers say it's during those proceedings that the AG's Office is falling down on the job, Schultz said.

Among the hearing officers is Nate Korn, owner of Kaufman's West Army and Navy Supply store in Albuquerque and a member of the academy board, as well. Korn's name appears adjacent to the agenda item about the AG for next week's board meeting. He did not return telephone calls or emails seeking comment Wednesday.

A backlog of 60-plus cases has built up at the academy, Schultz said. That's problematic, especially in the more egregious cases in which an officer has been charged with a crime or fired for other reasons.

"When these cases wait in a backlog, those officers who have been terminated at one department can then be hired by another agency because they are still certified," he said.

He said that phenomenon has occurred, but he could not immediately name any specific cases.

The same thing happens, Schultz said, when the AG's prosecutor is unprepared in an administrative proceeding because the hearing officer doesn't get a sufficient argument in favor of sanctions.

There are at least a halfdozen cases slated to enter the academy's pipeline this month, he said. Some of those are probably APD officers who have made headlines for misconduct this year.

"We're always very cognizant of the number of outstanding cases we have," Schultz said. "We need to do an audit of those, and we may need to come up with a new priority system so the most egregious ones are handled first."

Copyright 2011 - Albuquerque Journal, N.M.

McClatchy-Tribune News Service