Back in my day, all was not well. My precocious political antennae were attuned to the threat to democracy posed by Wisconsin senator Joseph McCarthy, who exploited a widespread fear in the late 40s and early 50s of communism and communists. ( “A,” not “the,” widespread fear because another was atomic bombs—which meant to us elementary and junior-high students the need to crouch under our desks during air raid drills.) His abusive investigations targeted many, some prominent, left-wing individuals; tarnished reputations with reckless accusations of being communists or “fellow travelers,” spreading communism, committing espionage, and undermining America; and thus ruined many careers and many lives. Although McCarthy was only a senator, he managed to erode constitutional rights and damage government institutions. Loyalty oaths existed before McCarthy, but, at the height of this “Second Red Scare,” even now-liberal California acquired a certain notoriety in requiring public employees at The University of California to swear “loyalty oaths.” The irony of McCarthyism is that, in his presumptive effort to protect democracy, he undermined it.
In our day, all is also not well, and it takes no precociousness to detect its ailments. We now have a small-minded, mean-spirited, smut-mouthed president in Donald Trump, who exploits fears of immigrants and LGBTQ+ people, operates like an authoritarian, and lacks any cause except himself, his wealth, and his power. In addition to golf and groping women, his pleasures derive from humiliating and hurting people and destroying public institutions; name-calling—“radical left lunatic,” “terrorist”—and insults are his specialty. His conduct based on the resentments of his fragile ego is unbounded by decency or law. He knows nothing of truth, empathy, or service to others. He believes in none of the political ideals, principles, or provisions of the Declaration of Independence or the Constitution. His enemies are no part of objective reality. Immigrants are less a criminal threat than citizens; LGBTQ+ people, minorities, and women are no bigger threats than straight, white, males. “Woke” threatens no one; DEI threatens no one. Many of his directives are petty and perverse—and potentially dangerous. He has directed that, until further notice, TSA’s K-9 dogs, who are used to detect drugs and bombs, be withdrawn from service and then not be fed, kenneled, or treated by vets. Not fed? Yet he claims to be the man to make America great again.
But smash-and-grab tactics are Trump’s latest tactics to deport immigrants regardless of their status, whether or not they have proper credentials or criminal records. The hundreds recently rounded up for deportation to El Salvador were not all liable for deportation. The doctor refused re-entry and sent back to Lebanon had nothing to deny her, only some literature about Hezbollah and pictures of a dead Hezbollah leader—materials protected by the First Amendment.
Smash-and-grab tactics used on the East Coast have recently been used in New Mexico. In mid-March, 48 Hispanic men were “disappeared” in Albuquerque, Roswell, and Santa Fe. In a recent blog, I warned of such police conduct. “As the federal government moves against targeted groups by infringing on their legal rights, state and local governments follow or are forced to follow its lead. [Trump] has warned state and local police to obey federal demands or face prosecution for obstruction. Police are responding with promptitude. They have begun to violate safe havens like churches and temples, schools, and hospitals.”
I did not imagine that police would be targeting school buses and private homes—or so soon. As reported, Border Patrol agents at the checkpoint near Hatch boarded a Las Cruces school bus and demanded documentation from students on high-school swim teams. According to a rumor, personnel in uniforms labeled “police” conducted a local raid involving several SWAT vehicles and other police cars. They seized and “disappeared” three immigrants, status unknown, seized the Las Cruces judge in whose house they were seized, but later released him. Such is the authoritarian way by which police violate civilians’ civil rights. I have tried to refute or confirm this rumor; ICE says that it conducts so many raids that it cannot identify this one without more information, and the LCPD says it knows nothing about it—not a denial. You may take its word.
I do not. I believe the rumor; its details and the fact of raids elsewhere in the state make it credible. I also believe that the LCPD would know—it certainly should know—whether ICE conducted a raid in the city. The lack of professional discipline by LCPD officers—their use of profanity, insults, rough handling, and excessive force reflecting escalation, not de-escalation—suggests that they would readily comply with requests for feigned ignorance or silence about a raid involving violations of constitutional rights, including “disappearances” of citizens. In this context, I note the Department’s request for funding for five SWAT vehicles (and Councilor Cassie McClure’s obliging support simply because Police Chief Jeremy Story asked for them).
More than ever, citizens are right to be distrustful of the police, as then-Deputy Police Chief Dominguez testified before Council 5 years ago, and fearful of the police, as I infer them to be. His statement was a remarkable one. But no one on Council remarked; no one on Council asked the obvious question—why. Why not? Because no one on Council wanted to know the answer. Everyone was afraid of the truth about the LCPD because each was afraid of the police.
Thus, Council members and Story oppose a truth-seeking organization under Council auspices. Which explains why Council has hired a business dedicated to whitewashing police departments. OIR processes data selected by the LCPD according to OIR’s narrow contractual guidelines, reports bland findings and conclusions, and suggests a few tweaks to improve the Department. Only those who fear the truth and refuse to believe ill of the LCPD accept OIR reports. Others are justifiably skeptical. In the 5 years during which OIR has earned its fee by making Council members feel good about the Department, its officers have crippled or killed about one harmless civilian per year—a rate higher than before OIR began its auditing.
Council members incapacitated by fear of the Department thus oppose efforts to reform it. Their paralysis has cost lives, diminished services, and multi-million-dollar settlements. These costs will grow if Council does not reform the LCPD; citizens’ distrust and fear of police, who disregard public safety, the law, and the Constitution, will also grow.
Council members must overcome their fears and reform the LCPD to bring it under control. A first step should be to charter a citizens’ commission to solicit information about the police unfiltered by the Department and undistorted by OIR, so that the commission can discern and report the truth. If, instead, they prefer personal comfort and political safety by avoiding the problem of out-of-control police, they will enable the Department to control Las Cruces in compliance with the wishes of the nation’s first autocratic president.