Originally published in the Albuquerque Journal (New Mexico) May 11, 2001
Copyright 2001 Albuquerque Journal
By: Rene Romo Journal Southern Bureau
Minorities Claimed Malicious Practices
The American Civil Liberties Union and the Hobbs Police
Department this week settled a class-action lawsuit that alleged
widespread discriminatory practices against minority residents.
The lawsuit, filed in March 1999 in federal court in Santa Fe, alleged that Hobbs police
used excessive force, warrantless searches and maliciously filed false
charges against residents to the point that black residents became
"afraid to walk down the street or sit on their porches."
The settlement agreement calls for improved police procedures in the use of force, detentions, searches, seizures and arrests.
It also requires the Hobbs Police Department to pay $605,500 in damages as well as injunctive relief.
Plaintiffs'
lawyers viewed the settlement, agreed to Monday by Hobbs'
representatives, as vindication for Hispanic and black residents who
had endured an alleged "campaign of intimidation."
But Hobbs Police
Chief Tony Knott said he considered such statements to be
"sensationalistic" and said the settlement orders the department to
comply with policies it already largely follows voluntarily.
"We have to get past this, get past the old hateful rhetoric and name-calling," Knott said Thursday.
Knott
said the settlement was "a financial, a business decision" intended to
avoid paying legal fees that could have exceeded $1 million if the
lawsuit dragged out and Hobbs lost on even a few of the allegations.
But
Santa Fe attorney Daniel Yohalem characterized the settlement
differently, praising the seven plaintiffs who "heroically came forward
to press their complaints against the police department in order to
address the widespread terror and intimidation felt by minority Hobbs
residents in the 1990s."
And Peter
Simonson, executive director of the state chapter of the ACLU, called
the case the "biggest" the organization has handled in New Mexico in
terms of its impact on a community.
The
settlement must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez
at a hearing 10 a.m. June 8 in Santa Fe when objections to the
agreement can be lodged.
Hobbs police must receive a minimum of 40 hours of training each year
on appropriate arrest procedures. Emphasis will be on avoiding racial
profiling, using techniques to avoid confrontations, and working with
integrity and ethics.