New Mexico
APD files joint motion with DOJ to end oversight
The Department of Justice has been looming over the Albuquerque Police Department since 2014, providing oversight in an effort to reform the department after the Feds found a pattern of excessive force. Now, the DOJ says APD is in compliance and filed to end its oversight.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – The Albuquerque Police Department is making new moves to be released from federal oversight. The Department of Justice and APD agreed in new court filings that compliance has been met.
While the motion still has to be approved by a federal judge, Albuquerque city leaders took a victory lap Saturday morning.
“This is a victory for the men and women of the Albuquerque Police Department who have changed their culture,” said APD Chief Harold Medina. “They are the ones that have put the most blood, sweat and tears into this.”
It all began in 2014 after the DOJ found a pattern of excessive force within the police department. The DOJ then mandated reforms ranging from the use of guns and lapel cameras, to how deadly force cases are reported.
Taylor Rahn, the lead attorney representing APD in the settlement, says the department is now in 100% compliance.
“I just remind the public that this was not only approved by the Department of Justice and the city, it was approved by the other party in this matter, the union, as well as the court monitor,” Rahn said.
Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Medina called on future city leaders to continue pursuing reforms in the post-DOJ era. Keller believes enough changes have been made to outlast his administration, while Medina shared a message for future police leaders.
“I hope and I pray that the future leaders of this department continue to respect what was built and that we must always be looking to see how we could improve,” Medina said. “That sometimes in order to be able to improve, we must admit that we were wrong.”
More than ten years after the infamous James Boyd killing in the Albuquerque foothills and the ensuing protests, APD still has plenty of critics.
Daniel Williams with the ACLU of New Mexico points out a disconnect between APDs compliance with the DOJ, and the experience on city streets.
“We’ve seen the last couple of years APD really starting to check those boxes, and get into technical compliance with the CASA,” said Williams, referring to the settlement agreement. “Unfortunately New Mexico still leads the nation in terms of per capita people killed by police and APD does account for a big part of that.”
Mayor Tim Keller recognized the possibility of problems still appearing within the police department, but expressed optimism on how they would be dealt with in the future.
“Will there be bad actors in the police department? That will also happen. The difference is that we will hold them accountable, and we will efficiently get the bad actors out of the department,” said Keller.
New Mexico
Grants cancels Christmas parade due to shootings
GRANTS, N.M. – The City of Grants is canceling this year’s annual Christmas light parade, citing the safety of the public and their own officers.
Dozens of floats were supposed to roll down Santa Fe Avenue on Saturday night, but Grants police are holding off until next year after three incidents where someone shot at law enforcement officers.
“It was definitely a difficult decision, but due to the incident that took place on December 8, where law enforcement was shot at in the area of Santa Fe Avenue, we made that decision to protect the citizens of Grants,” says Grants Police Chief Maxine Monte.
She says a New Mexico State Police officer was shot at while making a traffic stop. The officer walked away uninjured, but this was too much for the chief.
“We’ve had three different incidents where law enforcement was shot at. One was May of 2025, the other one was August of 2025, and then the recent event of December 8 of 2025,” says Monte.
It’s not a risk the chief wants to take, and points out people would be standing exactly where the last shooting happened.
“We have a lot of citizens that attend our parade, and our main concern was that they were out in the open in the middle of the night, and in the same area that our latest shooting took place.”
Grant residents will be able to see the floats during the day on Saturday. But even some daylight isn’t convincing some residents.
“I’ll be staying home,” said Amy Brigdon. “There’s too many people in the world that want to see bad things happen to other people. I’m not one of them.”
Police still don’t have a suspect for this week’s attempted shooting. Anyone with information is asked to get in touch with the Grants Police Department.
New Mexico
Colorado wolf rereleased in Grand County after crossing into New Mexico
Colorado Parks and Wildlife rereleased a wolf into Grand County this week after it had traveled into New Mexico, according to a news release.
The New Mexico Department of Game and Fish captured gray wolf 2403 and returned the animal to Colorado.
Colorado wildlife officials decided to release the wolf in Grand County yesterday because of the proximity to “an unpaired female gray wolf,” nearby prey populations and distance from livestock, according to the release.
“Gray wolf 2403 has been returned to Colorado and released in a location where it can best contribute to CPW’s efforts to establish a self-sustaining wolf population while concurrently attempting to minimize potential wolf-related livestock conflicts,” said acting director of CPW Laura Clellan, according to the release.
The wolf was once a member of the Copper Creek pack but departed from it this fall.
A memorandum of understanding between Colorado and Arizona, New Mexico and Utah requires that any gray wolves that leave Colorado and enter those states be returned. That was created in part to maintain the integrity of a Mexican wolf recovery program.
“We recognized during the planning process that we would need to have consideration and plans to protect the genetic integrity of the Mexican wolf recovery program, while also establishing a gray wolf population in Colorado,” said CPW’s Wolf Conservation Program Manager Eric Odell, according to the release.
New Mexico
New Mexico man sentenced to nearly 20 years for distributing meth
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A judge sentenced a New Mexico man to nearly 20 years in prison for distributing meth and having guns in his possession to use while doing so.
Court records indicate 43-year-old David Amaya sold meth from a trailer on his parents’ property in Anthony throughout July and August 2024. Agents executed a search warrant Aug. 22 and found 1.18 kilograms of meth, two firearms and ammunition in the trailer and a makeshift bathroom.
Amaya pleaded guilty to possession of meth with intent to distribute it. A judge sentenced him to 235 months in prison.
Once he is out, Amaya will face five years of supervised release.
The FBI’s Albuquerque Field Office and the Las Cruces Metro Narcotics Task Force investigated the case. Assistant U.S. Attorney Kirk Williams prosecuted it.
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