Let me begin with a digression to declare myself a “domestic terrorist.” Others march and wave placards to protest police and other governmental abuses; I file complaints and write blogs to protest government misconduct. To each, his own, I say. I am safer; the police are not likely to claim that my desktop computer looked like a handgun. But if the pen is mightier than the sword, then I attempt massacres.
At a time when the federal government is perpetrating outrages and trying to secure the cooperation of state and local governments, I write this blog as warning that, in New Mexico, state, county, and local governments seem predisposed to capitulate to federal pressures. I cite previously discussed incidents to stress the failures of the legal establishment and law enforcement in Las Cruces, Dona Ana County, and New Mexico. Some of these incidents resemble those which have occurred elsewhere and augur ill throughout all levels of government everywhere. If New Mexican citizens do not take the threats seriously, the threats will assuredly take them seriously.
Few New Mexicans give much thought to law and order. By not thinking about it, they do not have to do anything about it. Their reason: they like to think that abuses at the local, state, and national level in the name of “public safety” do not happen in the Land of Enchantment or happen somewhere else. In a state noted for its persistent inability to address its major problems directly and effectively, such a response is entirely in character. In other areas of public services—food security, health care, social services, public education, New Mexico ranks near or at the bottom of national assessments. Seemingly, no one cares.
Elsewhere, many care. The ICE and CBP killings of Renee Nicole Good and Alex Pretty have aroused citizens in Minneapolis and St. Paul to take action to protect and support their neighbors who are people of color. The killings are discrediting the Trump administration and the MAGA movement, probably because both victims were white and both killings were abundantly covered. Obviously, many whites, in addition to people of color, now realize, if government thugs can kill innocuous whites on public streets in broad daylight, they can kill anyone anywhere for any or no reason.
One problem with public safety—law and order—is interlocking jurisdictions committed to protecting police officers from accountability. One example: the response of the public safety community to LCPD Officer Jared Cosper’s killing of Sra. Amelia Baca in 2022. First, LCPD Police Chief Miguel Dominguez responded with a pre-investigation creation of a highly edited recording and narrative which sought to justify the killing by representing Sra. Vega as a threat to Cosper. Second, Dominguez convened the Multi-Agency Task Force to analyze the event. According to a Memorandum of Understanding by the agencies involved—state, county, city, and campus police—, the LCPD, whose officer was the subject of the investigation—a clear conflict of interest ignored by all members of this group—led the investigation. Third, the Task Force report went to Third Judicial District Attorney Gerald Byers for his determination whether to prosecute Cosper. After promising a decision within a few days, Byers took several weeks before sending the case to Attorney General Raúl Torrez. Fourth, Torrez hired Steve Ijames, an expert witness in use-of-force, who, in three-fourths of his cases, has defended officers charged with excessive use of force. His report exonerated Cosper with problematic claims about mere possibilities to justify Cosper’s claims of fears for his life. So, in a highly publicized case in which the unedited audio-visual recording persuaded most viewers that Cosper recklessly and aggressively killed Baca, public safety agencies rallied at all levels of government to protect the police officer.
In my far less dramatic case of police misconduct, local and state officials went out of their way to protect a police officer and to deny my constitutional rights. Officer Juan Valles made five false allegations of code misconduct; the warning notice was placed in my file. Internal Affairs took over five months to investigate my formal complaint; it found the allegations unfounded—that is, false. But the LCPD hid the results; Police Chief Patrick Gallagher neither sent me IA’s report nor reported its findings, which I obtained only after filing an Inspection of Public Records Act request. On the basis of that report, I filed a complaint with IA about a violation of due process; it was rejected. I then filed a complaint with IA about bias-based policing; it was rejected on the grounds that it was no different from my previous complaint. I filed both complaints separately with the New Mexico Office of the Attorney General, which did not acknowledge either complaint. When I asked LCPD Police Chief Jeremy Story to remove the warning notice from my file, he first lied that there was no such file. When I said that I could prove the file existed, he asked that I send him the proof; when I did, he promised to look into it, but he broke that promise and neither responded to me nor cleared my file. I have to think that Story deals similarly with other citizens in minor matters and would very likely tell bigger lies and break bigger promises in major ones. I pushed my case to make a point: police officials and senior attorneys go to great lengths to avoid accountability for themselves or co-professionals whenever possible.
Another instance of colleague protection: when I filed an 11-page complaint with 48 citations of supporting documents about Las Cruces City Attorney Jennifer Vega-Brown with the Disciplinary Board of the New Mexico Supreme Court, Deputy Disciplinary Counsel Christine E. Long took fewer than 20 days to reply that my complaint lacked “insufficient evidence to support allegations that Ms. Hays [sic!] has violated the Rules of Professional Conduct.” The quality of the investigation is evident in the typographical error.
In short, the legal establishment and law enforcement exist to protect themselves before protecting public safety in matters large and small. The New Mexico Office of the Attorney General investigates and prosecutes civilian and commercial violations of codes and laws; it avoids investigating or prosecuting violations by government officials. Instance: I filed a complaint about evident violations of the Open Meeting Act by the three members of the Las Cruces City Council on the Public Safety Select Committee. My complaint was first assigned to an intern. Upon my criticism of that superficial treatment, my complaint was assigned to a regular attorney, who reported many citations to rationalize its secret meetings over a period exceeding 3 years. However, the attorney did not address four major issues: the need for a secret committee; the failure to deliver, as chartered to do, information or recommendations to the City Council; an account of what the committee was doing instead; an explanation for its sudden closing after its secrecy was exposed. I infer that the reason for rationalizing the committee’s secrecy was the threat posed by my complaint to the candidacies of two Democratic politicians running for office: former Las Cruces mayor Ken Miyagishima and current incumbent District 2 congressman (and former Democratic senator Martin Heinrich staffer) Gabe Vasquez., both of whom participated in this secret cabal.
Locally, in emulation of the federal law enforcement policies and practices, Dona Ana County Manager Scott Andrews, with the presumed concurrence of County Commissioners, is allowing abuses at the Dona Ana County Detention Center which match or exceed those at ICE detention camps, including Camp Montana East at Fort Bliss, where the death of one internee was recently ruled a homicide. Likewise, Story is emphasizing petty crime to justify militarizing the LCPD. He requested state funding for five SWAT vehicles but refused to explain his reasons to me, City Councilor Cassie McClure, and State Representatives Joanne Ferrary and Nathan Small. LCPD officers pointed rifles at Hispanic demonstrators last summer in the name of providing security to them. He is exploiting Dominguez’s lowered recruitment standards—minimums: 19 years of age, high-school diploma, no college—by using film clips of police chasing fugitives to attract those, mostly young males, with aggressive propensities. Worst of all, he invited federal police to help the LCPD deal with local crimes and justified it with the falsehood that such cooperation is commonplace. In the context of current federal police policies and practices, I suspect Story of establishing his credentials for advancement with federal enforcement agencies. I wish him well (elsewhere).
This reiteration of old facts and this revelation of new ones intend to suggest that the abuses of justice nationally have parallels at all levels of New Mexico government. It is easy enough to point out the abuses by Trump and the agencies under the direction of his administration. But it is more difficult to face up to such abuses and the potential for more abuses closer to home. Because of the cultural propensity and the abundance of sand, New Mexicans are likely to bury their heads to avoid worrying about what can and seems increasingly likely to happen here.
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