The most remarkable fact about the police killing of Sra. Baca is the week-long silence of government officials and city employees. Neither the Mayor nor any City Councilor has said a word. The City Manager has said nothing. The Chief of Police first refused to give even the name and age of the victim; when he grudgingly gave out that information, he invoked the on-going investigation as a reason to say nothing else. Then, today, the city and the police released a 5-minute presentation about the police killing.
Once again, the City and the LCPD lie, mostly by omission. No soundtrack goes with the body-camera recordings, an edited mix of movie clips and stills. The silence conceals the officer’s violent and vulgar language; it omits “fucking,” a term indicating the officer’s aggressive and disrespectful attitude toward an elderly Hispanic woman living downtown and suffering from dementia. (Would he have behaved similarly toward an elderly White woman living in the Sonoma Ranch area and suffering from dementia?). The editing does not show the movements of the woman or the officer throughout the encounter. In short, the presentation misrepresents the totality of the situation in ways clearly intended to justify yet another police killing.
The dishonesty of this presentation reflects the persistent dishonesty of government officials and city employees. Start with government officials. After a lapse of about 18 months, Council secured a police auditor. Despite demands for police transparency and accountability, Council wanted to ensure a whitewash. So, at the likely instigation of Mayor Miyagishima, perhaps with an assist by the City Attorney, Council, despite Gabe Vasquez’s professed desire for trends, unanimously set a deadline for reviewable cases which omitted all cases during the lapse, particularly mine. In fact, those most vocal about police reform and most knowledgeable about my case—Councilors Johana Bencomo and Kasandra Gandara—spoke most notably to prevent my case from being part of the police audit. Among other motives, the dominant one was that it exposed the LCPD as interchangeably corrupt and incompetent from its lowest to its highest officers.
When Miguel Dominguez succeeded Patrick Gallagher as Police Chief, he presented himself as “Mr. Transparency.” He created a new web page dedicated to transparency—opaque as far as information relevant to actual LCPD police work—and displayed his picture prominently (since removed). As Deputy Police Chief, Dominguez stated to Council that citizens did not trust the police and that the LCPD, when it makes mistakes, admits them. The first statement is true, but no Councilor asked why or what the LCPD intended to do about establishing trust. The second statement is false. It has never admitted its many mistakes in my case, and, in this police killing, it now not only admits no mistakes, but also tries to cover them up and conceal the truth.
The Council’s dishonesty about seeking an honest assessment of the police department sets the tone for the LCPD’s dishonesty. That moral congruence makes it complicit in the dishonesty of the department. So it is not surprising that no Councilors still serving from the previous Council have said anything about this killing. Their silence testifies to their guilt.
The technical questions involved in the investigation are innumerable, but the answers will establish serial corruption and incompetence, from recruitment through training through operations. The call indicated violence resulting from a medical condition. The officer arrived first and ensured that other family members were safe. He did not wait for medical personnel or other people trained in dealing with disturbed citizens. He intervened but did nothing to de-escalate the situation. Instead, he escalated it with violent actions—drew a gun, not a taser—and vulgar language—shouted “fucking.” He used a stand-your-ground approach instead of retreating when—if?—the woman, armed or not, moved toward him. He could have backed up, even left the house, until those better prepared for such a situation arrived.
In the aftermath, lessons can be drawn that do not depend on a secret, corrupt investigation to extenuate, excuse, or elide as much officer misconduct as possible. First, the LCPD has all sorts of fine policies—the police auditor commended the LCPD on this point—and no enforcement. Even in my case, the veteran officer ignored policy to record calls; his citation was the least the department could do to look as if it had done its job (assuming it did not destroy the recording in its cover-up). Second, the LCPD is so thoroughly corrupt and incompetent that it cannot be transparent and accountable. But its dishonesty and corruption does not exist in a vacuum; it reflects that of leadership in the City Manager and his administration, and the Mayor and City Council. And a silent media tolerates, thereby enables, their dishonesty and corruption. In a week, not a word from The Sun-News, The Bulletin, and commentators like Walt Rubel and Peter Goodman.
Police killings will continue with the tacit consent of those government officials and city employees trusted with public safety, but who may well reflect a citizenry which seems not to care. Otherwise, Las Cruces is a city in need of a government do-over.
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