ACLU of New Mexico Applauds APD Policy Standardizing Firearms
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CONTACT: 212-549-2666, media@aclu.org
ALBUQUERQUE – Today, the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico (ACLU-NM) hailed the Albuquerque Police Department’s (APD) decision to standardize officer equipment, no longer allowing officers to use personal firearms as their duty weapon.
The following statement can be attributed to ACLU-NM Executive Director Peter Simonson:
We believe that APD made the right decision in standardizing officers’ duty weapons. Permitting officers to bring high powered, non-standard issue weapons to work is a tacit encouragement of the “aggressive culture” the Department of Justice uncovered in their investigation. An officer’s duty weapon should be a tool of last resort and it should deploy a level of force that is properly modulated by the department.
This reform is only one of many the APD must enact to fully address the litany of problems plaguing the department, as outlined in the Department of Justice’s recent findings letter. That said, the ACLU-NM recognizes that this decision begins to move APD in the right direction toward becoming a responsible, professional police department that can safely protect the people of Albuquerque.
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