Police promote commander in ‘excessive force’ case (Albuquerque)

Associated Press ^ | May 15, 2014 11:56 PM EDT | Russell Contreras

[Olog-hai]

Albuquerque police promoted a commander who was accused in a lawsuit of burning off part a homeless man’s ear with a stun gun, officials announced Thursday.

Albuquerque Police Department Chief Gorden Eden said in a statement he was promoting two Albuquerque commanders to the newly created rank of major in response to a harsh U.S. Justice Department report that was critical of Albuquerque police’s use of excessive force and demanded the agency adopt a number of reforms.

Foothills Area Commander Timothy Gonterman and Criminal Investigations Commander Anthony Montano will now oversee the East and West Side Field Services Divisions respectively, Eden said. …

[2ndDivisionVet]

Major threat? Major problem? Major wattage?

[pepsionice]

This will continue until someone wins a lawsuit of a significant amount, and the insurance company handling the cities policy....comes up....tripling the yearly cost. The town hall meetings will get interesting at that point. Property owners will say no hike on their side. And business owners will say no more sales tax hikes. So who would pay for the town’s stupidity?

[ThunderSleeps]

I was considering Albuquerque as a possible retirement site. Granted, that is probably ten+ years off but... Not if their local LEOs have this attitude and make a habit of excessive force. ABQ is off the list unless and until this changes.