THE FIX IS IN: TASK FORCE OFFICERS IN CONFLICT OF INTEREST ENSURE BIASED BACA KILLING RECOMMENDATION

       For all I know, Morton salt containers still bear the slogan “when it rains, it pours,” which I remember from my childhood (I do no salt these days).  So, too, new facts about the investigation of LCPD Officer Jared Gosper killing of Sra. Amelia Baca.

 

In a previous blog (“Baca Investigation Compromised by Conflict of Interest - Non-Prosecution Almost Certain” [20 June]), I wrote,

 

Investigators from three of the four agencies in the law enforcement community—the NM State Police, the DAC Sheriff’s Office, the NMSU Police Department—staffed a task force to report on the killing.  Because its officer is under investigation, the LCPD was limited to a supporting role to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.

 

No one corrected this statement, which I based on presumably reliable sources.  But it is incorrect.  For I have learned that the LCPD has been involved in the investigation after the incident.  I can double-down on my claim of a compromised task force recommendation.

 

At a 13 June 2022 meeting to review the task force report of that investigation, twenty police or lawyers attended from all four agencies and the District Attorney’s office.  The breakdown: 7 NMSP officers; 6 LCPD officers, including the Chief of Police Miguel Dominguez; 4 DASO officers; 1 NMSUPD officer; and 2 DA lawyers.

 

The inclusion of LCPD officers undermines the independence and integrity of the investigation because of their conflict of interest and the appearance of a conflict of interest.  Even their silent presence would influence the exchange of opinions in any discussion of the report.  However, the facilitator of this task force was LCPD Detective Kenny Davis.  Moreover, LCPD Police Chief Miguel Dominguez also attended; the PR flick which he directed had likely been viewed by all and understood to represent his and the LCPD’s position.  So LCPD influence on the report is certain and likely to lead to a recommendation to exonerate Officer Gosper.  That recommendation, though tainted, would support the LCPD’s interest in dispelling criticism of Dominguez’s prejudicial handling of the incident and the department’s unprofessionalism, and perhaps influence any future judicial proceedings against the officer or penalties against the city.

 

In addition, four of the five officers solicited for their approval of the release of the PR flick and giving it—NMSP: Williams, Candeleria, James; NMSUPD: McGuire—also participated in the final review of the task force report.  In short, exactly one-half of the attendees had organizational and participatory biases favoring exoneration even before the meeting began.

 

In the context of my previous blogs about police misconduct and dishonesty, more comments on the ethical standards thus revealed by this determined indifference to conflict of interest or the appearance of conflict of interest would be superfluous.