Mayor vetoes request for DOJ help

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Mayor Richard J. Berry is not happy about the idea of a possible federal probe of the Albuquerque Police Department and a string of police shootings.

Thursday he vetoed a bill from the Albuquerque City Council that asked for the U.S. Department of Justice to meet with APD to see if it needs to open an investigation.

A few weeks ago the council narrowly endorsed the call by several community groups for the feds to come.

But in the end, the council vote and the mayor's veto really do not mean much.

There have been 19 shootings since January of last year, 13 of them deadly.

In September the mayor paid an outside firm $60,000 to look into what the police department could do better to cut down on the shootings.

He said his office is already tackling the issue and that is one of the reasons he vetoed the council's request.

Berry also said there is no need to call in the feds, because they are already holding meetings in Albuquerque to see if they need investigate APD.

The DOJ said they held the meeting at the request of citizens and community groups, not the city council.

Berry said the council asked for something to be done, but the wheels are already in motion with the outside firm.

"Not only did they come up with a very comprehensive and readable report, they came up with 39 recommendations," Berry said. "Chief Schultz has come up with an additional 19 recommendations. How you can call that less then comprehensive? I don't know."

Some of those recommendations include a better screening process when hiring officers, adding dash cameras to all police cars and requiring all officers to carry Tasers.

Councilor Rey Garduño brought up the bill requesting federal help. He called the mayor's veto a hollow statement.