I am offering the information below out of a sincere concern for the men and women serving Albuquerque Police Department as well as the people of Albuquerque. Morale among police officers is at an all-time low. Officers tell me they feel unsupported and they are leaving at an alarming rate. The actions—more accurately, inaction—by Mayor Berry counter the efforts to rebuild APD as mandated by the Court. The latest evidence of this fact is contained in this email.
The City's Internal Auditor's contract review for APD is by psychologist, Dr. Troy Rodgers, who has been contracted to deliver psychological services and essential crisis training for police officers. Serious ethical issues were discovered surrounding Dr. Rodgers' work with his many conflicting responsibilities within contradictory roles. The report findings cast doubt in particular on the quality of crisis training Dr. Rodgers was giving. It was recently replaced by a new version that was vetted and observed by experts in the field. (The first version was not.) Independent Monitor Dr. James Ginger described the course materials received from Dr. Rodgers as "not acceptable."
What is left now is two-tiered—over 800 officers trained under the "old" version and a smaller number under the "new" or current version. Despite the presentation of a workable solution, the mayor has refused to consider either the proposed solution or any other findings in the report.
The second document, copied below, is my letter to Mayor Berry. I described a meeting with City officials in which a reasonable solution was determined to address any disparity between the versions of training. It has now been a month without a reply. I did get a short meeting with him, during which he admitted not having read either the Auditor's report nor my emailed letter. He didn't see any need to read them. According to Mayor Berry, if no illegal acts occurred, further action is unnecessary.
Mayor Berry is fully aware of potential risk to the public. Presumably he wants to protect police officers. He says he understands the importance of well-trained police officers. He certainly knows crisis training is key to meeting court expectations. A solution agreed upon by Dr. Ginger, two Councilors, and the City Attorney was clearly stated and summarily ignored.
Police officers are leaving because they feel unsupported by City officials. They deserve better. And after years of a troubled department, a commitment going forward— and millions spent—the people of Albuquerque also deserve to have the best-trained professional police department possible. There is doubt this is being achieved.
Councilor Diane Gibson
Albuquerque, NM
Psychologist Non-Audit Service 15-309
Gibson, Diane G.
Thursday, November 5, 2015 3:25 PM
Dear Mayor Berry,
I hope you have had an opportunity to read the Internal Auditor's "Results of Non-Audit Service No. 15-309, Psychologist Contract Review, Albuquerque Police Department." A number of serious issues are identified in the report that serve to further undermine the faith and trust of the Department and the City Administration. Beyond the contract mismanagement, questionable roles and responsibilities and training cost increases, two particular concerns call for your attention and action:
1) Dr. Rodgers continues his role as Acting Director of Behavioral Sciences Division. This contradicts statements made by the CAO and Chief Huntsman during the October 28 meeting of the AGO during which they said he had been removed from the position "about three months ago." An Albuquerque Journal article references Dr. Rodgers as Acting Director in mid August. His administrative assistant acknowledged on November 2 that he was still the Acting Director and that she still works for him. I am appealing to you to formally discharge Dr. Rodgers from this position and announce his discharge throughout APD.
2) In light of the practices outlined in the report by both the City administration and Dr. Rodgers, reasonable doubt exists regarding the quality of CIT training. This was discussed on Monday, November 2, in a meeting with Jessica Hernandez, Dr. Ginger, Dr. Ginger’s staff, Councilor Benton, Director Yoshimura, Jon Zaman and myself. I will outline the meeting in the bullets below:
a. The development of effective crisis intervention skills is critical to our City’s success in reforming our police department.
b. The training materials submitted by Dr. Rodgers were not acceptable.
c. A new version of CIT training was beginning that day (November 2) using materials vetted by Dr. Ginger. The first class was being observed by a member of Dr. Ginger's staff.
d. Rather than retraining all previously CIT-trained officers under the “old” training version, the current end of course test will be administered. Only officers failing the test will be retrained. We agreed that this measured approach will remedy the current two-tiered trained officers.
I hope you agree to the proposed outcome of our meeting. It meets the intent of quality training at a manageable cost to the City. I will anticipate your response and if you disagree, please present your alternative. It should also be expected, with respect to the City’s promise of transparency, that a plan is shared with Council to indicate how testing will be conducted and when necessary re-training will be accomplished.
A final concern I will state here is the administration’s response to the Internal Auditor’s report. Both City Legal and the CAO surpassed usual critical interpretation and disparaged the report and the report’s author. The CAO aggressively attacked the report and maintained the Auditor had been untruthful. After studying the report, the memo addressed to Director Yoshimura from City Legal, and attending the AGO meeting when it was discussed, I have found no evidence of bias or deception. The administration's efforts are better suited to repairing the problems identified in the report than challenging their findings.
I appreciate your service to the City and your commitment to rebuilding our police department.
Best regards,
Diane Gibson