You see that man in the picture to the left. That’s officer D. Guzman. He is an asshole. The kind of cop that gives good cops a bad name.
Read the story and check out the video. And then try not being outraged like I am right now.
This is outlandish and should not be tolerated. I urge you all to contact APD to complain, contact their leadership directly and contact your regional and national NPPA leadership to urge them to file a formal complaint with APD.
This is bulls*th!
While in ABQ I dealt with the cops here on many occasions and I wish I could say this was a rare mistake, but it was more like something inevitable. Out of every city I’ve worked in: San Jose, Oakland, San Fransisco, Santa Cruz, Hollister, Los Angles, Houston, DC, New York, Miami, Orlando and many others… I can say without a doubt that the APD beat cops are the worst. Rude, self-righteous, arrogant and looking for any excuse to cuss you out, arrest you or in this case beat you.
I don’t want to say every officer I’ve encountered has been this way (I can remember two that were pleasant and professional) but from my experience, 98% of them were bullies with a badge.
The issue I think isn’t with the leadership within APD or with training, the issue is that like many police forces around the country, ABQ is facing a shortage of officers. Adding to the pressure is a voter mandated quota to have a certain amount of new officers on the streets each year. This had lead to the department, IMHO, hiring anybody with a pulse that’s willing to do the job. The result is a lower quality of officer and well, you saw the video.
A disgrace.