OPINION: City Council was right not to pursue a no-confidence vote against Police Chief Medina
Albuquerque Police Chief Harold Medina鈥檚 weak suit has always been his political awareness.
After all, Medina was elevated to police chief as part of a no-confidence campaign against former Police Chief Michael Geier.
Geier had complained Medina had been insubordinate and he had wanted to reassign his first deputy chief, but he needed the mayor鈥檚 approval. Instead, it backfired and led to Geier鈥檚 ouster, which was unceremonious, to say the least.
Keller broke the news to Geier during a 2020 Labor Day rendezvous in a small neighborhood park in Albuquerque鈥檚 far Northeast Heights. Geier鈥檚 47-year law enforcement career essentially came to an end at a park bench during the discrete meeting with Mayor Tim Keller, who was clad in sunglasses and baseball cap to keep it on the down low. The mayor鈥檚 team later accused Geier of being an 鈥渁bsentee chief.鈥�
The following Monday, Keller named Medina acting chief. The mayor named Medina permanent chief in March 2021 after a national search.
There are a lot of internal politics in police agencies. It was Medina鈥檚 political maneuvering that got him behind the chief鈥檚 desk, and it鈥檚 only the mayor鈥檚 loyalty that鈥檚 keeping him behind it.
Meanwhile, there鈥檚 no love lost between Medina and Geier, who may be watching events unfolding with his successor with a 鈥渨hat goes around comes around鈥� chuckle.
Indeed, Chief Medina is under fire. Going after him has become a bit of a blood sport of late. And it鈥檚 gone far enough.
Medina is perhaps having the toughest year of his law enforcement career, even after APD had its best year in a decade last year, with more arrests and significantly fewer uses of force, increases in warrant arrests in both felony and misdemeanor cases, and inching ever so closer to compliance with a 2014 Court Approved Settlement Agreement regarding use of force after nearly 10 years and more than $10 million of federal oversight costs.
Then the storm hit in 2024.
In January, the DWI scandal came to light when FBI agents searched the homes of APD officers, a prominent local defense attorney鈥檚 office and a paralegal鈥檚 home. The FBI investigation into drunken driving case dismissals had led to five officer resignations and the dismissal of nearly 200 pending DWI cases filed by the suspended officers, whose credibility could have been challenged in court because of the ongoing FBI investigation into allegations of corruption within APD鈥檚 DWI unit for a decade.
鈥淐hief Medina has made it seem like there are just a few bad officers acting on their own,鈥� suspended officer Joshua Monta帽o wrote in his recent resignation letter. 鈥淭his is far from the truth.鈥�
Monta帽o鈥檚 attorney says the resignation letter shows the alleged conduct 鈥渄idn鈥檛 happen within a cell or a silo.鈥�
Investigators are now reviewing recordings captured by body-recording devices and surveillance video and identifying witnesses. Next, investigators will compile questions for witnesses. The investigation could drag on for years.
Meanwhile, an ominous shadow will continue hanging over APD while the FBI and APD investigate the biggest potential scandal in APD history. It must be known how far the DWI scandal penetrated the department, and what Medina knew, when he knew it, and what he did about it.
Was he the man who knew too much, or the man who knew too little?
Next, on Feb. 17, on the way to a Saturday morning news conference with his wife in the passenger seat of his unmarked APD truck, Medina T-boned a car on East Central while he said he was trying to avoid gunfire. The other driver was seriously injured and appears likely to sue and collect significant sums from the city in damages. Fortunately, 55-year-old Todd Perchert survived the high-impact collision, albeit with multiple broken bones and numerous other injuries.
The police chief鈥檚 split-second decision has come under heavy scrutiny, and was the final straw for City Councilor Louie Sanchez, who introduced a no-confidence resolution.
We鈥檝e said before we do not fault Chief Medina for trying to protect himself and his family. Many of us, and many in uniform, would have done the same thing under similar circumstances. Expecting Medina to jump out of his truck and effect an arrest while his wife was close by and under gunfire is totally unreasonable.
Medina checked on the other driver and used his radio to call for an ambulance. He did what could reasonably be expected of an officer caught up in a crime scene while driving with his wife.
It鈥檚 been a tough year for Medina alright, but it needs to be put in perspective.
No one questions Medina鈥檚 dedication to APD and the public. He鈥檚 been on TV so much at crime scenes that he鈥檚 a familiar face in town.
Medina is responsive to the media and communities within Albuquerque. He holds frequent substantive news conference and his team will get us answers. Medina himself is no stranger to the Journal鈥檚 offices, nor community meetings.
All told, he鈥檚 been a very visible and effective police chief, not an 鈥渁bsentee chief鈥� by any means.
That鈥檚 why a no-confidence vote against Medina had to be withdrawn at Wednesday鈥檚 City Council meeting.
Councilor Sanchez knew he didn鈥檛 have the votes and moved for a two-week deferral of the bill to allow for additional time to answer the council鈥檚 questions. But the motion for deferral failed on a 5-4 vote, and Sanchez withdrew the declaration, which had little or no legal binding anyway.
It was an unnecessary show of City Hall division and dysfunctionality.
Regarding Medina鈥檚 accident, members of the Crash Review Board said at Wednesday鈥檚 City Council meeting the board had voted unanimously to deem Medina鈥檚 crash non-preventable.
The Fatal Crash unit, a different group than the Crash Review Board, conducted its own investigation, concluding that while Medina failed to obey a traffic signal and didn鈥檛 activate his emergency lights and sirens, officers would not pursue criminal charges.
Medina鈥檚 crash was serious, but not grounds for removal.
A no-confidence vote at this time is simply premature until we know more about the DWI scandal and what Medina did or didn鈥檛 do about it. The City Council was correct not to pursue a no-confidence vote and should keep its powder dry until we know more.
Yes, what goes around comes around.
But Chief Medina doesn鈥檛 deserve to be drummed out of office the way Geier was. Not unless and until there鈥檚 evidence he mishandled the DWI scandal. He should be retained and allowed to continue doing his job to the best of his ability.
