APD leadership; penalty for insolence and lying not high enough to deter it.

The Albuquerque Police Department has a unit called the Repeat Offender Project. Until very recently, a wall mural in their unit office included a hangman's noose. Not the most politically sensitive move. It has been there a long time. A lot of very high ranking police officers walked by it.

A Journal reporter; link, called APS Commander Doug West.
West, who oversees the unit, responded to the reporter's questions in a manner I find profoundly disturbing.

When asked whether they were using a hangman's noose as an icon, West said, he

"wasn't a knot expert."

"I don't know a whole lot about knots."

The knee jerk response from a police supervisor to a question about the public interests and his public service, was to be a wise-ass.

He is a wise-ass because he knows he can get away with it.  If he was afraid of any consequences, he wouldn't shoot off his mouth.

And that was after he initially lied to the reporter about the noose.

When asked about the image in a telephone interview, West said he was not familiar with it, had never seen it on any document and didn’t know whether it had anything to do with the ROP team.

After putting the reporter on hold for several minutes, West came back on the line and said it has been the ROP team’s “symbol” for 20 years and that APD now plans to change it.

He lied for the same reason; no fear of consequences, no accountability.

photo Mark Bralley

There is a tone in the leadership of the APD, and apparently it doesn't include a whole lot of respect for some very important values.

There needs to be an independent investigation and fact finding on the leadership Albuquerque Police Department.

One done by someone beside Chief Ray Schultz.