Following the recent shakeup in the legislature, bills that would substantially undermine civil liberties in New Mexico now have a much greater chance of passing during the 2015 legislative session. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico is gearing up to fight several threats to liberty this session:

Limitations on access to safe and legal abortions – We expect to see a host of bills de­signed to make it harder for women to access reproductive healthcare, including efforts to force young women to notify their parents before getting an abortion.

Restrictions on voting – Age-old efforts to make it more difficult for seniors, students and low-income New Mexicans to cast a ballot by requiring them to show a photo ID at the polls will likely have more traction this session than in the recent past. The ACLU of New Mexico stands ready to defend this most important of freedoms – the right to vote.

Increased criminal penalties and the creation of new crimes – We expect to see a slew of bills introduced that would create new crimes or increase criminal penalties that would chan­nel more New Mexicans into our already over-crowded prisons and jails. These efforts reflect tough-on-crime political rhetoric that is out of touch with public safety and sound public policy. The ACLU of New Mexico will work to defeat these bills and rein in our runaway criminal justice system.

Driver’s licenses for immigrants – Unlike many of its closest neighbors, New Mexico has a long tradition of maintaining a diverse and welcoming environment for all people who live in our state. We need to keep it that way. Unfortunately, changes in the legislature make vindictive efforts to strip away drivers’ licenses from hard-working immigrant families even more difficult to block than in past sessions.

In addition to fending off attacks on civil liberties, the ACLU of New Mexico will fight to push through bills that will make our criminal justice system more fair, just, and humane:

Solitary confinement – We are crafting a bill to dramatically limit the use of solitary confinement in New Mexico prisons and jails by banning the use of this inhumane practice on children and those with serious mental illnesses. This proposal would also ban the use of solitary confinement for periods over 15 consecutive days, for a maximum of 60 days in any calendar year.

Civil asset forfeiture – Right now, police in New Mexico can seize a person’s car or other prop­erty, sell it, and use the proceeds to fund their own budgets – all without ever even charging him or her with a crime. We’re working on a bill that would prohibit this grotesque abuse of police power.

SWAT deployment – Police often deploy heavily-armed SWAT teams to raid people’s homes in the middle of the night, often just to search for drugs. These militarized raids have led to unnec­essary deaths and destruction of property. We are working with legislative leaders to introduce a bill that would require law enforcement agencies in New Mexico to report when they deploy SWAT teams and provide justification for these deployments.

Marijuana legalization/decriminalization – Our country’s failed drug war has eroded civil liber­ties, exploded our prison population, and unfairly targeted communities of color. For these rea­sons, the ACLU will support efforts to legalize or decriminalize marijuana in New Mexico during the upcoming session.

ALBUQUERQUE, NM—Today, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of New Mexico responded to the news that the Albuquerque District Attorney’s Office will charge Albuquerque Police Department (APD) officer Dominique Perez and former APD officer Keith Sandy with murder for the March, 2014 shooting of homeless camper James Boyd. The following quote may be attributed to ACLU of New Mexico Executive Director Peter Simonson:

“The charges filed today against the officers who shot and killed homeless camper James Boyd are a sign that our city is no longer willing to ignore the use of excessive force against people in our community. Law enforcement officers have a difficult job, but they are not above the law. A badge is not a license to kill without consequence, and officers must be held accountable before the laws they are sworn to uphold.”
 

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By Micah McCoy, Communications Director

You may have seen the viral video making the rounds on social media: a millionaire “Secret Santa” donated $100,000 to the sheriff’s department in Jackson County, Missouri, to hand out to the less fortunate in the community. The generous donor said that this year, he wanted to give law enforcement officers an opportunity to have a positive interaction with members of the community they serve. In the video, officers record the encounters in which they seek out people in run-down cars, homeless people, and other folks who look down on their luck. Instead of giving them a ticket, they give them a thousand dollars!

First of all, this is way cool. I’m even going to admit that I got a little misty-eyed when I watched the video. Shut up. You did too. But there is something troubling that lives beneath the surface of this heartwarming story. It is an unfortunate fact of life for millions of people in America that if you drive a beat-up car, are homeless, or have the wrong color of skin, you stand a much higher chance of being targeted by law enforcement. And most likely, they won’t be stopping you to make sure your kids have presents under the tree.

Where I live in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the Department of Justice has found that the police department has a pattern and practice of violating the civil rights of people in our city. Since 2010, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) has shot 41 people, killing 27. Many of those killed were a lot like the people targeted in this heartwarming Christmas video. They were poor. They were homeless. They looked like they could have used some help. One particularly shocking incident in which APD officers gunned down a homeless man for camping illegally was recorded by an officer-worn camera, sparking city-wide protests and calls for police reform.

Knowing from our experience in Albuquerque how important officer worn cameras are, I asked the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office whether their deputies wear cameras in the field all the time, not just when they’re deputized by Santa. It turns out that they don’t. They don’t have the budget for it yet. That doesn’t seem right to me. We should make sure officers are always able to wear body-worn cameras on duty, not just when they’re handing out Christmas presents.

In the first year that the Rialto, California, police department outfitted its officers with body-worn cameras, complaints against police dropped 88 percent and officers’ use of force fell by 60 percent compared to the previous year. Body worn cameras not only hold officers accountable, they also protect them from false accusations of wrongdoing, a Department of Justice review of body camera studies cautiously concluded.

What we have here then is potentially a win-win solution that makes both officers and the public safer when body cameras are used judiciously, meaning adequate privacy policies are in place and the technology isn’t turned into a surveillance tool.

If we, like the Secret Santa in Missouri, want officers to have better interactions with the public, there are a few things we can do. We can pass better laws that don’t criminalize people for being poor, sick, or marginalized, and we can make sure that law enforcement officers are equipped with cameras for everyday use.

These steps would go a long way towards the peace on earth and goodwill towards men we could all use a little bit more of this holiday season.

 
To learn more about the ACLU of New Mexico's police reform work in Albuquerque, visit APD Forward, the community campaign working to end excessive use of force and restore police accountability in Albuquerque.