Multimedia

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3BJQ8zO4p0

On October 22, the ACLU of New Mexico premiered it’s new video, When Freedom Can’t Defend Itself, at the 49th Annual Bill of Rights Celebration. The video follows the stories of four New Mexicans, a Sikh paramedic, a National Guardsman, a Border Patrol agent and a high school student who all turned to the ACLU of New Mexico when their civil liberties were violated.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fx_rYBM1yv8

This footage–taken from YouTube.com– is believed to have been shot by students for the purpose of further humiliating their victims. We show these clips here to illustrate just how far out of control the violence and bullying in Espanola secondary schools has spiraled. All of the following clips are from the past few years and were shot during school hours in either the Espanola middle school or high school.

WARNING: These clips contain strong language and violence.

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By Peter Simonson, ACLU-NM Executive Director

You may have heard about the APD’s sting scheme: plant a daypack by the ATM at 4^th and Gold, wait for someone to take it, then follow and arrest the person for theft.  The APD has nabbed at least five people with the plot, including one person who has spent 14 days in jail.  Presumably those individuals are facing 3^rd degree felony charges–and the possibility of a permanent criminal record–because the APD reportedly filled the daypack with $2,500 worth of valuables, including a laptop.

Yesterday, Public Safety Director Darren White notified the ACLU that he and APD Chief Ray Schultz had decided to shut down the operation.

Stopping the sting scheme was the right thing to do, but troubling questions remain.  Didn’t the officers worry about false arrests?  They couldn’t know that a person’s motives for taking the daypack were criminal.  What if they arrested someone who thought the daypack was abandoned, or someone who intended to turn it over to the police?

Doesn’t APD have enough crime to investigate without manufacturing new crimes?  And baiting otherwise innocent people into turning criminal?

KOAT-TV reported that APD devised the scheme “after several reports of backpacks and purses being stolen in the University area.”  But the University area is miles away from the sting location and lies on the opposite side of the freeway.  Did officers truly think a sting in downtown Albuquerque was going to dampen crime in the University area?  Or was that just a feeble cover for a misguided operation?

The ACLU has learned of a similar entrapment scheme where APD officers set out an expensive bicycle in public and wait for someone to steal it.  Did Mr. White and Chief Schultz shut down this program as well?

The community deserves answers to these questions—some reassurance that APD officers aren’t abusing their authority.  The ACLU has contacted both Darren White’s office and that of the Police Chief to request a meeting and await their response.

WATCH THE PRESS CONFERENCE:

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FXRSPrfxIQI