Federal Judge Calls City's Asset Forfeiture Program Unconstitutional

from the which-pretty-much-means-all-civil-asset-forfeiture-programs-are-unconstitutional dept

In 2015, the state of New Mexico overhauled its asset forfeiture program. The reform bill all but eliminated civil asset forfeiture by creating a conviction requirement. This eliminated roadside shopping trips by New Mexico law enforcement in which "perps" were free to go, so long as they left everything else (cash, vehicles) behind.

Despite the passage of this law, the Albuquerque PD continued to engage in asset forfeiture on pre-reform terms. The especially aggressive program saw citizens losing their vehicles to law enforcement because of acts committed by other drivers and the PD seized cars by the dozens during DWI arrests. The PD was sued by state legislators for its continued violations of the new law while the law enforcement agency repeatedly claimed the legislation just didn't apply to it.

The plaintiff in this case -- who has just received a ruling that may cause serious problems for asset forfeiture programs elsewhere in the nation -- had her vehicle forfeited by the Albuquerque PD after her son drove it drunk. A ruling in this case allowed Arlene Harjo's lawsuit against the city to proceed, and also resulted in the PD dropping its unlawful -- if not unconstitutional -- program.

Albuquerque announced this week that it will end the program following a federal judge's recent decision to allow Harjo's lawsuit against the city to proceed. "Given changes in state law and recent court rulings, it's time to update the city's policy on vehicle seizures," Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller said in a statement to the Albuquerque Journal. "As part of constitutional policing, [the Albuquereque Police Department] can continue to seize assets in cases where there has been a conviction. I directed APD to implement this change and have requested City Council to update the ordinance."

The city tried to end Harjo's lawsuit by returning her car to her in 2016. Fortunately, Harjo had the help of the Institute for Justice, which wasn't amused by this attempt to circumvent litigation targeting the whole of PD's asset forfeiture programs.

The earlier ruling cited above allowed Harjo's lawsuit to proceed. This ruling [PDF] -- delivered August 1st -- drives judicial nails into the program itself. [h/t Volokh Conspiracy]

The lawsuit questioned the constitutionality of the incentives created by the program used by the PD. The PD directly profits from these seizures, so the question is whether the incentive is perverse enough to invite abuse of civil liberties. The court says, "Yes. Yes it is."

The Court concludes that the City of Albuquerque has an unconstitutional institutional incentive to prosecute forfeiture cases, because, in practice, the forfeiture program sets its own budget and can spend, without meaningful oversight, all of the excess funds it raises from previous years. Thus, there is a “realistic possibility” that forfeiture officials’ judgment “will be distorted by the prospect of institutional gain” -- the more revenues they raise, the more revenues they can spend.

This would be the case in most asset forfeiture programs. Few are subject to independent oversight and almost all of them allow for discretionary spending. The distorting effects of these programs can be seen… well, pretty much everywhere.

The court goes on to note that it's unlikely those overseeing forfeiture proceedings (mainly city attorneys and forfeiture administrators) are likely not as affected by this distortion since their salaries aren't tied to successful conversions. But it goes on to note the program itself, irrespective of questionable financial interests, is unconstitutional because it incorrectly shifts the burden of proof to the person whose property has been seized.

The City of Albuquerque has determined that innocent owners -- owners who could not have reasonably foreseen that their vehicle would be used in a way that would subject the vehicle to forfeiture -- have a right to keep their vehicles. Thus, the City of Albuquerque has a constitutional obligation, under Mathews v. Eldridge, to implement accurate procedures for determining an owner’s innocence. The City of Albuquerque’s hearing procedures do not discharge that obligation, because proving that the City of Albuquerque has probable cause to seize a vehicle does not reveal anything about what the vehicle’s owner could or could not have reasonably foreseen. Thus, the City of Albuquerque’s hearing procedures are constitutionally inadequate…

As things stood before the city dropped the program, all the city had to prove was the operator of the vehicle committed a crime (usually DWI, but also driving with suspended/revoked licenses). It left the burden of proving the owner's innocence (not the actual driver) to the owner, which is the wrong way to handle things in terms of due process.

This is the way all civil asset forfeiture hearings are handled. The government has to only offer suspicions. It's up to victims to come up with all the proof of innocence or the property's legal provenance. These two declarations by a federal court strike at the heart of civil asset forfeiture everywhere. What's unconstitutional here is unconstitutional elsewhere. If any appeals are involved (and Harjo continues to prevail), the influence of this opinion will spread to the entire district. So, it's potentially a huge ruling, even if it's current impact is limited to Albuquerque's (now abandoned) forfeiture program.

As a bonus, here's some "fun" facts about the PD's forfeiture program (all taken from the ruling, with additional commentary in brackets):

“The City’s Chief Hearing Officer has stated that ‘about half of the vehicles that APD seizes are not owned by the offender that we confiscate it from’”; rather, “‘it’s the mothers, the fathers, the wives, the girlfriends, the brothers, [and] the uncles’” who own the vehicles…

No one from the City of Albuquerque Police Department contacts the owner to “conduct an interview prior to proceeding with the forfeiture” and no one from that department “investigates to determine whether the owner might have a valid innocent owner defense.”

Should the owner prevail in state court, the state court can still “impose storage fees as a condition of the vehicle’s release.”

“One of the most significant expenses paid out of program revenues is employee compensation.” During fiscal years 2009 to 2016, “the City used $3.7 million in program revenues to pay employee compensation,” which amounts to twenty-seven percent “of all expenses paid with program revenues.” Every fiscal year, “the City makes a lump-sum transfer” out of the forfeiture program’s account to pay the entire “salaries and benefits of employees associated with the program.” [This seems to be at odds with the finding that the program does not distort incentives for city forfeiture employees.]

“As a practical matter, the program’s spending is limited by its revenue, not by the City Council.” If the forfeiture program has more funds “available than [the] City Council has appropriated, it can spend even more and [the] City Council will pass a clean up bill retroactively authorizing the spending.”

“Annual performance evaluations for employees in the DWI Seizure Unit -- which serve to assess individual job performance -- list as an ‘Output Measure[]’ to ‘increase the amount of revenue generated from Seized vehicles.’”

“The head of the DWI Seizure Unit agreed that these Output Measures serve as a ‘measure of the unit’s success or failure at meeting its objectives.’”

In recent years,” the forfeiture program’s revenues have “declined, as fewer people are being caught driving under the influence.” “The City ascribes this decline to a variety of factors, including the rise of companies like Uber and Lyft that make it easier to drink outside the home without driving.”

Revenue decline in recent years “has adversely affected morale in the DWI Seizure Unit.” [loooooooool]

Filed Under: albuquerque, albuquerque police department, arlene harjo, asset forfeiture, new mexico, tim keller

Departing District Attorney To DOJ: Albuquerque Police Department Is A 'Continuing Criminal Enterprise'

from the rotting-from-the-top-down dept

District Attorney Kari Brandenburg is done with Albuquerque. More to the point, she's decided not to seek re-election because she's especially done with the city's police force. On her way out the door, Brandenburg -- who found herself locked out by the PD after bringing murder charges against two officers for shooting a homeless man -- is letting the Department of Justice knows its work with the PD isn't done yet.

In early 2014, the DOJ released its report on the Albuquerque Police Department. In it were descriptions of the department's indiscriminate, unchecked uses of force.

Our investigation looked at officer-involved shootings that resulted in fatalities from 2009 to 2012 and found that a majority of them were unreasonable and violated the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution. We found that officers used deadly force against people who did not pose an immediate threat of death or serious harm to officers or others, and against people who posed a threat only to themselves. In fact, sometimes it was the conduct of the officers themselves that heightened the danger and escalated the need to use force.

We found that officers use other types of less lethal force, especially electronic control weapons, or Tasers, in an unconstitutional manner. Our investigation looked beyond just the use of deadly force and found a significant number of improper uses of force in our review of over 200 force reports generated between 2009 and early 2013. We found that officers routinely fired their Tasers, which discharge 50,000 volts of electricity, against people who were passively resisting and non-threatening or who were unable to comply with orders due to their mental state. Indeed, we found that encounters between police officers and persons with mental illness or in crisis too frequently resulted in a use of force or a higher level of force than necessary.

Since that point, accusations have arisen that APD officers routinely delete and alter dashcam and body cam footage, allegedly at the behest of supervisors who don't care for recordings that don't sync up to the official narratives contained in incident reports. These allegations came in the form of a signed affidavit from a contractor who worked with the police department for several years.

Former DA Brandenburg makes note of these recent allegations in her angry letter [PDF] to the DOJ. But the primary focus of her letter is the toxic Albuquerque police culture, which has turned these public servants into an unaccountable mess.

Since the Settlement Agreement was reached between APD and the Department of Justice, we have seen little progress. Please refer to the independent monitor's reports for more specific information. In his most recent report, James Ginger, noted the behind the scene reality was that APD has almost no appetite for correcting behavior that violates existing policy." Further, it was pointed out that investigations looking into use of force by officers appears to rationalize or explain away officer conduct." Throughout the monitoring process, APD has failed to comply and meet agreed upon standards and measures. In fact, their performance can accurately be characterized as grossly noncompliant.

This part lets the DOJ know just how useless its consent agreements are if it's not interested in doing anything to ensure the PD lives up to the promises it made to the federal government. So far, the APD appears to be rolling forward with "business as usual" policing -- virtually unchanged despite a DOJ investigation and consent decree.

On top of that, the APD appears to be in the (ongoing) business of covering up misconduct and excessive force. The letter notes that whistleblowers have come forward with allegations that police supervisors tend to hand out promotions to officers who help keep department misdeeds under wrap.

Brandenburg sums this up for the DOJ's convenience, using terms it understands.

Frankly, if any other group of individuals were acting the way APD has allegedly been acting, some of us in law enforcement might refer to them as a continuing criminal enterprise and/or engaged in the act of racketeering. I appreciate how bold a statement that is.

Brandenburg also admits her own office's culpability in the APD's toxicity. Since 2010, the APD has shot more members of the public than the NYPD despite policing a population sixteen times smaller. And it's done this largely without repercussion, thanks to a DA's office that generally considered itself to be working for cops, rather than working for the public.

One of the major areas of concern are the number of officer involved shootings and instances of unreasonable use of force by APD. In all fairness, our office has been part of that controversy, as we declined to criminally prosecute any officer involved in an officer involved shooting until January 2015.

Of course, Brandenburg now knows from firsthand experience why cops tend to go uncharged in incidents like these. No one wants to bite the hand that feeds it prosecutions, especially not when the bitten entity can bite back just as hard. If the DOJ's Civil Rights Division is truly serious about fixing American policing, it will need to take a trip back to Albuquerque and start throwing its federal weight around.

Filed Under: albuquerque, albuquerque police department, kari brandenburg, police

Albuquerque Police Dept. 'Complies' With Records Request By Releasing Password-Protected Videos... But Not The Password

from the still-feeling-above-the-law,-thanks-for-asking! dept

If there's one thing the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) does well -- or at least, frequently -- it's shoot and kill Albuquerque residents. Its officers' obvious preference for excessive and/or deadly force attracted the notice of the DOJ, which issued a (mostly) scathing review that was tempered somewhat by the DOJ's appreciation of the inherent risks of the job, as well as all the hard work the city's officers do when not shooting Albuquerque residents.

On May 3rd of last year, Gail Martin called the APD to help her when her husband, Armand Martin, threatened her and her two children with a gun. This turned into a lengthy standoff which finally ended when APD officers shot Martin as he ran from the house. According to the police, Martin was holding two guns at the time.

The APD released a number of records, including footage captured before and after the shooting, but nothing containing the shooting itself. Local law firm Kennedy Kennedy & Ives, representing Gail Martin for a possible civil rights lawsuit, requested a copy of police recordings containing the actual shooting under New Mexico's Inspection of Public Records Act (IPRA).

Over a month later, the APD responded. Sort of.

The Kennedy Kennedy & Ives Law Practice in the lawsuit said the department in mid-August released six CDs containing records on the May 3 shooting death of Armand Martin, a 50-year-old Air Force veteran, in response to the firm’s records request. But three of the CDs were password protected.

Now, this could have been a simple oversight, but if so, the problem would be solved already. Instead, it looks as though the APD is looking to keep the law firm from viewing the videos it requested.

The firm has tried to get the password from APD records, evidence and violent crimes personnel to no avail, according to the complaint…

Now the APD's being sued. The firm is seeking not only access to the password-protected videos, but also damages and legal fees. According to the firm, access to these videos is crucial to determining whether or not Gail Martin has a legitimate civil rights case. Without them, the firm is no better positioned to make this call than the general public, which has only seen the lead-in and aftermath of the shooting.

This isn't the APD's only legal battle related to its IPRA non-compliance. Late last year, KRQE of Albuquerque sued it for "serial violations" of the law. That's in addition to the one it filed over a 2012 incident, in which the PD stalled on its response to a journalist's public records request before releasing the requested footage at a press conference, basically stripping the reporter of her potential "scoop."


It's common knowledge that law enforcement agencies are less than helpful when it comes to releasing documentation of alleged wrongdoing. It's the one part they can't completely seal off when circling the wagons. This leads to weeks, months… even years of obfuscation. And this often leads to lawsuits, paid for by the same public it doesn't want to hold it accountable.

Filed Under: albuquerque, albuquerque police department, armand martin, gail martin, new mexico, open records