The newspaper I love to hate, the Albuquerque Journal, gets it right once in a while. Their story on the Albuquerque Police Departments macabre handling of the death of civil rights attorney Mary Han was on the mark today. It seems every high ranking police official wanted to visit and trample the scene where Han allegedly committed suicide. (Our daughter and Mary's daughter were good buddies in their childhood and we often spent time with Mary.)
When stories like this keep oozing out then you know there is a lot more packed inside the issue. Why was it necessary for the cops to swarm the place and take pictures of Mary's body on private cell phones? Just because she nailed them on so many civil rights lawsuits I guess. But, it certainly reveals the institutional problems at the department and that can only be fixed with a wholesale housecleaning.
On another issue you see someone occasionally make a decision to make a bad career move. Here I am talking about the UNM Law School Dean moving out of that job to take one the post of Assistant Secretary of Indian Affairs at the Department of Interior. Knowing what I know about such jobs I think that Kevin Washburn will soon lament leaving the Land of Enchantment. That particular job just grinds up people every two years.
18 comments:
Regarding the Journal, a poster on one of your comments had it right. This is only getting uglier and uglier. I too knew Mary and have been told by cops in APD that the scene was not like anything they've seen as a suicide and couldn't believe it wasn't processed as a homicide. But I guess all forms of objectivity go away when every deputy chief, commander, and even Darren White show up break laws and walk around the scene. Better to lay low or you might end up like her....
Cowards do nothing. The strong scream from the top of mountains that something is wrong. Mary Han did it while she was alive. Now, we citizens of Albuquerque, must demand change from our leadership. Otherwise we are nothing but cowards and hide under every rock because of fear. This is our City. We must get it back.
Why is it that the press is not holding Mayor Berry reponsible for his appointments of Darren White, Rob Perry and even Chief Schultz? You see all the stories involving these three and seldom if ever, is Mayor Berry ask for a response or a reaction. What does Mayor Berry think about his top people swarming to see Mary Han's body? It as though the press does not think Berry is in charge of Perry, Schults or White at the time. Even with the 24 police shootings and 17 fatalities, you cannot find Mayor Berry's reaction or opinion as to what is going on in the Polide Department. All you get from the City Council is one foolish Councillor who thinks we should elect the Chief of Police to solve the Department's problems. Very sad.
One problem is the obvious bias some reporters have at the Journal. In the Krueger column yesterday, we found out that Jeff Proctor, the Cops reporter, has exclusive access to the chief. Ridiculous. Of course, he won't want to jeopardize his access to the chief of police by writing derogatory articles about him. Maybe the Journal needs to use the same wholesale cleaning approach to its reporters, too.
As for our Mayor, he has placed his trust in the wrong people. He needs to get rid of Perry, Schultz, Wilhelm, the administrative leaders of each department and their underlings. Or he will lose the next election. He should lose the next election on performance alone.
If the cell records have nothing incriminating (playing devil's advocate here) why does Schultz et al go to such extremes in resisting their disclosure. First they say they don't exist, then they don't apply, then they're privileged, then it's make us. If the records have nothing substantial, why fight it like this? Is this transparency? Is this how a police department is to operate? Hardly. This is how the guilty operate when there's something to hide.
This of course is in the context of a grotesque "response." I didn't always like you as mayor Jim, but thank you for raising your concerns on this. I think we all agree this is going to get uglier and it's all too obvious something nefarious is afoot....remember, Martinez had just been elected...
I kept expecting that the Journal would publish an editorial admonishing the use of personal, private cell phones by senior public officials but they have not. Maybe they don't want to acknowledge that Jeff Proctor, their Cops reporter, had knowledge of this practice and never wrote about it. Seems very odd considering the wrath the media has given the Martinez administration over private emails. I had hoped the Journal would stop protecting Chief Schultz via their biased reporter but it seems the only nonbiased reporter on the subject is a columnist.
Jeff Proctor and TJ Wilham are still very close friends with one taking care of the kids of the other. Chief Schultz uses TJ to give good stories to Jeff Proctor and the Journal prints it.
Thank you for the background on TJ and Jeff. I wonder how long Jeff has had the Chief's private number? Did he have it when all of these other stories about APD came out and the only comment from APD was from Deputy Chief Feist? Could Jeff have called Chief Schultz and had a quote from him but decided against it? Is Jeff protecting his primary source -- Chief Schultz? If so, how long has this been going on? All questions we should ask. Mayor B needs to get rid of those in his administration that laugh and disregard his promise of government transparency. The Han matter is a symptom of the disease and what another poster described as rotten in Abq.
I have to say, there's something very uncomfortable with there being such a close relationship between a chief law enforcement officer and reporter. I can, begrudgingly accept a PIO, but given that there's a PIO what justification is there if only to provide access to spin? No doubt if it's a favorable story, Schultz knows all the details, but if its disfavorable, then of course APD waits for the IPRA time to lapse and be made to release information by a judge.
With regards to Ms. Han, let's face it...a horrible crime occurred and then was compounded by APD's actions. Many people benefited immediately from her murder, it's only too obvious. And notice how things have gotten so out of control since her death....
Conspiracy theories aplenty but actual news coverage on this is only handled by one columnist? I am beginning to share your disdain for the Journal. I have read your blog and friendship stories about AG King. Why doesn't he investigate the Han death scene? What is he waiting for? King has jurisdiction and no love for the Chiefs of Police who railroaded his people before the law enforcement board. He looks bad enough trying to steal the Foy whistleblower case that has progressed for years without his involvement. He has lost the NMFA battle to Balderas and the Sunland Park fiasco, too. However,APD is wide open and his for the investigating. Do the right thing here AG King and jump in.
25 shootings as of today and still nothing from the Mayor
The Mayor has his head in the sand and it's not coming out anytime soon. Oh unless there's a ribbon to be cut....
I saw on the TV news last night that Mayor B has a lot to say about the Paseo improvement project but he doesn't want to delve into any other issues nor, in all fairness, has any of our lame broadcast and print media dared to ask. Maybe it is time for the alternative newspaper, the Daily Alibi, to ask the hard questions?
It appears I am late to this party but I think Ms Joline Gutierrez Krueger deserves some recognition for her columns on the Mary Han/APD fiasco and her many columns against APD. Credit is especially deserved in the Repulican friendly environment where she works.
One would think that APD would've done a blue ribbon investigation just to prove they had nothing to do with it. With rings and computers missing it doesn't take much to recognize it's a staged murder. But why no outrage? Is it too much to fathom? I agree with poster above, good for the family, their lawyer, and Ms. Gutierrez for keeping pressure on, Ms. Han deserves much more. And as a family member of mine was a recipient of her until recently anonymous law school scholarship, I wish there was more I could do to further an outside/federal inquiry into this matter.
I agree that there should be at least some outrage. Have we become sheep?
The Journal actually had an "email" response from GOP Mayor Berry on the most recent APD fiasco. He said the officer violated SOP but the department does not have systemic problems. If these events had occurred under a Democrat's watch, the Journal would have been outraged and the Mayor would have lost reelection. We can't blame the newspaper though. The circulation is only 200 thousand. We need strong Democratic party leadership. Javier may be a nice guy, but he needs to leave Santa Fe and come down to Albuquerque and get this done already. Or he needs to step down and let Sam Bregman take over.
It looks like your blog made the bigtime:
http://www.abajournal.com/news/article/ex-cop_now_a_law_student_says_albuquerque_civil_rights_lawyer_mary_han_may_/
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