Listen up, you people. You are getting what you are letting: vicious maimings and violent deaths of local Hispanics. Even Progressive Hispanic leaders like Councilor Kasandra Gandara and Johana Bencomo are cool with dangerously bad policing so long as the former can run for mayor and the latter can get media exposure. The difference between police officers and city councilors: proximate and remote threats to life or limb.
Let’s look at the record during their time in office. In February 2020, LCPD Officer Christopher Smelser used a contrary-to-policy chokehold to kill—“I’m going to fucking choke you out, bro”—Antonio Valenzeula after he ran from a traffic stop—a traffic stop. In November, a local headline read, “Las Cruces City Council discusses police reforms after $6.5M death payout.” There is more. “As part of the $6.5 million settlement, the city has agreed to adopt numerous policies, including:
- Banning all forms of chokeholds
- Requiring officers to intervene if they witness an "unconstitutional use of force" by another officer
- Bi-annual de-escalation training for every officer
- Bi-annual training in empathy and racial bias for every officer
- Requiring all uses of force to be reported, investigated and stored under the length of time required by the New Mexico Retention of Records Act
- A red flag warning system to track use of force
- Requiring the Las Cruces Police Department to report all uses of force to the Las Cruces City Council every six month[s]
- Requiring officers to have a mental health exam on an annual basis with a licensed psychiatrist”
Numerous policies: does anyone know whether the city adopted them? Police reforms: does anyone know which were discussed or which, if any, approved? Does anyone want to bet on compliance with them or their enforcement?
Odds are bad. City Council rejected the opportunity to examine practices as opposed to policies in my case. Gandara and Bencomo knew all about it but led the opposition to including my case in the police audit because government officials wanted a whitewash. The auditor, silent about enforcement, liked LCPD policies.
In the past 10 days, an LCPD officer, presumably given the “Bi-annual de-escalation training for every officer” and “Bi-annual training in empathy and racial bias for every officer,” killed a 75-year-old woman suffering from dementia because she did not obey shouted orders to put down her “fucking” knives. Then about a dozen armed officers ordered a man to show his “fucking hands” and get on the “fucking” ground—“fucking” used about a dozen times in the encounter—and, despite a requirement “to intervene if they witness an ‘unconstitutional use of force’ by another officer,” did nothing while a K-9 handler let his unrestrained dog attack and maul their compliant prisoner. The City is in for at least two, multi-million-dollar settlements and a two more agreements to “adopt numerous policies.” Council loves policies but leaves compliance or enforcement to chance.
If I could make only one police reform, it would be to abolish the word “fucking” in the LCPD; it seems to trigger deaths or maimings in violation of policies. No “fucking,” fewer civilian casualties.
If I could fire people, I would fire Chief of Police Miguel Dominguez first. He has repeatedly demonstrated that he suffers from managerial incompetence. Nothing in his previous career in police administration prepared him for a leadership position. He has neither the skills nor the temperament to lead. Leadership confuses him. So he is uncertain about his responsibilities to the public but reflexively protective of the police.
We should have known as much when, as Deputy Chief of Police, he spoke at a City Council work session on 15 June 2020. Council was addressing the “8 Can’t Wait” proposals and wanted the LCPD opinion on them. In response, Dominguez made an appeal for understanding and sympathy.
“Our officers are professionals. ... We will respond to your calls without fail. We know that there’s a lot of mistrust out there. We want you to know you can count on us. We are all professionals doing a tough job. We are not perfect. We make mistakes. We will own up to our mistakes. We love Las Cruces. We are a tight community. We are Las Cruces. We are here to back you up. Please reach out to us and know we are a professional organization. We really do care about our community.” (Las Cruces Sun-News, 17 June)
Is this not laughable? Is this not embarrassing? What the public thinks is shameful the Mayor and Councilors find honorable. They want the bullshit of comforting, empty pieties from their police chief: “We own up to our mistakes.” But they no longer tout a new “Transparency” website (initially featuring the chief’s picture, since removed). The public wants the truth: all raw footage about the old-lady cop-killing, not some sleazy PR video, and unedited footage about the K-9 mauling. They are not going to get it. The idea of immediate, complete disclosure, now standard best practice elsewhere to promote public trust, is anathema to a government culture of arrogance, secrecy, and corruption.
I would fire City Manager Ifo Pili second. From the start, he showed himself the led, not the leader. Instead of taking the time to size up the city and its administration to make sensible decisions about personnel and policies, Pili accepted bad advice from the city’s puppet-mistress, who wanted a pliable police chief. Pili took her advice, picked Dominguez for police chief, and has been too venal or weak to fire this disgrace. His only success is ingratiating himself with the Mayor and City Councilors. His agenda of amiability disqualifies him from continued city employment.
I would not fire City Council. I would hope for an LCPD officer to walk into chambers and order them to stop their fucking meeting. I would let him do the firing.
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