By: ABQRAW staff
Posted: 01/23/2024 @ 6:00PM
Albuquerque – APD said minutes ago that they are launching their own administrative investigation following a federal investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by officers who currently work for, or who have worked for the DWI Unit in the past.
APD says that five officers are being notified that they are targets of the investigation. Four of the officers are already on administrative leave and one officer is on administrative assignment.
APD goes on to say that Chief Harold Medina initially opened an investigation over a year ago based on allegations related to the handling of DWI cases by unknown officers. Then, last fall, Chief Medina learned of new, but similar allegations of wrongdoing by officers and others in the criminal justice system. Chief Medina allegedly informed the FBI himself and provided information about APD’s own investigation.
Then apparently last week, five active duty officers were placed on administrative leave as news of the federal investigation became public. One of the officers started working for the DWI unit over a decade ago, in 2011.
“This case goes to the heart of public trust in the criminal justice system and I immediately opened an investigation when I learned of allegations of wrongdoing,” Chief Medina said. “APD investigators have been made available to assist the FBI and leadership has full confidence in the FBI and the U.S. Attorney to see this investigation to its conclusion, and expose anyone who played a role in this.”
Mayor Kellers office also made a statement basically saying he will fire the officers involved when he issued the following statement regarding the current investigation of a group of officers in the Albuquerque Police Department:
“This investigation involves a handful of long-time officers at APD, going back a decade; if true, what these individuals did is a disgrace to the badge, and erodes faith in law enforcement. APD leadership fully supports this investigation and continues to work with our partners to serve justice. Any individuals who engaged in this conduct will never work for the City again, and should be held accountable to full extent of the law. The department’s willingness to drive accountability, especially on its own, reflects how far we have come.”
It is extremely important that we say that none of the officers involved have been formally accused or charged with a crime at this point in the investigation. We have learned from our own investigations all the officers names involved but will not be naming them until any charges are made public by the US Attorney or other officials able to speak on the matter.
We also noticed today that Chief Medina was made available to channels 4 and 13 for one on one sit down interviews but suspiciously us and channel 7 were snubbed.
We will continue to follow this story as it progresses through the system.