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."