sa国际传媒官网网页入口

The office of Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bregman is at odds with the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Police Department over which agency has the responsibility to track and report officer no-shows in court.

As the FBI investigation into alleged wrongdoing by the APD鈥檚 DWI unit over the past decade continues, the question of which agency should have been tracking DWI officer attendance in court has spurred a bout of finger-pointing.

At issue is whether there was an effective system among criminal justice partners in sa国际传媒官网网页入口 that would have detected a criminal scheme in which DWI officers collaborated with defense attorneys to get DWI cases dismissed.

No criminal charges have been filed, and FBI search warrants remain sealed while five APD officers, including a lieutenant who used to work in the DWI unit, remain on paid administrative leave.

The DA鈥檚 office on Monday issued a strongly worded statement that sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Police Chief Harold Medina was mistaken in telling the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 City Council in a letter last week that the DA鈥檚 office has the responsibility to alert the police department when officers miss court.

鈥淭his is simply not true and has never been true,鈥� stated Nancy Laflin, spokeswoman for the DA鈥檚 office in a statement. She said the DA鈥檚 office alerts the APD as a 鈥渃ourtesy鈥� only.

鈥淭he federal DWI investigation is about alleged misconduct by DWI police officers. Instead of focusing on that issue, the sa国际传媒官网网页入口 Police Chief is blaming the District Attorney鈥檚 Office, the Law Office of the Public Defender and the Metropolitan Court for the dysfunction and mismanagement of his DWI unit,鈥� the DA鈥檚 statement said. 鈥淗e should refocus on putting things in place to prevent this type of disaster from happening again.鈥�

APD鈥檚 spokesman Gilbert Gallegos countered on Monday that Medina, as a deputy chief, spoke with then-Chief Deputy DA Chuck Barth about high case dismissal rates, and Barth wanted the DA鈥檚 office to take responsibility for tracking no-shows in court. So the DA鈥檚 office took the responsibility for notification. But after Barth died in 2021, the system appeared to break down and APD wasn鈥檛 notified consistently, Gallegos told the Journal. That has recently changed.

Bregman was appointed DA in January 2023 and is running for reelection. Medina has been police chief since 2021.

鈥淥ur office provided regular updates to all of our law enforcement partners whenever their officers failed to appear, but ultimately each agency was responsible for their officers鈥� attendance in court,鈥� Lauren Rodriguez, spokeswoman for state Attorney General Ra煤l Torrez, Bregman鈥檚 predecessor, said Monday.

Chief Deputy DA Josh Boone told the Journal on Monday his office has updated and improved its system for alerting law enforcement agencies when their officers fail to appear for court hearings. The new system has been in use since January but wasn鈥檛 put in place because of the current allegations.

The DA鈥檚 office staff, including its assistant district attorneys, report the time, date and the reason, if known, that officers have missed court proceedings. Typically, misdemeanor cases, such as DWI, are dismissed without prejudice if important witnesses, such as the arresting officer, aren鈥檛 present to testify in court.

Boone said his office decides whether to refile such charges on a case-by-case basis.

Medina in a letter in late January also accused the upper management of the Law Offices of the Public Defender of ignoring concerns of public defenders who work in Metro Court about attorney Thomas Clear III, whose law office was among those locations searched Jan. 18 as part of the FBI investigation.

Clear at the time was the chairman of the state Public Defender Commission, which oversees the independent LOPD operations. Clear has since resigned. He hasn鈥檛 responded to Journal requests for comment.

In response to Medina鈥檚 letter, state Chief Public Defender Ben Baur issued a statement calling the letter a 鈥渟elf-serving distraction from the ongoing investigation. Chief Medina is responsible for the conduct of his officers. We are responsible to our clients, and are guided by our ethical responsibilities to them, our office and our profession.鈥�