Albuquerque Police police officers shot 15 individuals last year, according to department statistics, an increase from each of the previous two years when the department was under federal oversight.
Data examined by City Desk ABQ shows last year’s total number of police shootings is up from 13 the previous year and 14 in 2023. Those years resulted in six and nine suspects killed, respectively.
The latest figures come months after the Albuquerque Police Department was released from monitoring by the U.S. Department of Justice after reports of high numbers of excessive-force incidents and police shootings.
The Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) was put in place in 2015. District Judge James O. Browning terminated the monitoring at the request of the APD and the Justice Department.
Eleven of those shootings were fatal. In each of those incidents, the subject was armed, APD Spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos told CityDesk ABQ.
Twelve of those individuals had firearms, not counting one person who was armed with a replica firearm, he said.
Another suspect was armed with a knife, Gallegos said, while the remaining individual was striking his girlfriend in the head with a hammer.
“The vast majority of people who have been shot were armed with a weapon, usually a firearm, and under the influence of narcotics, such as fentanyl or (methamphetamine), or had very high blood-alcohol counts,” Gallegos said. “De-escalation is usually not as effective when people are armed and when they are in a drug-induced psychosis.”
In 10 of the 11 fatal shootings, he said, the suspects had taken drugs and/or alcohol.
Gallegos said some of the incidents involved the apprehension of murder or violent-robbery suspects, and that officers made more felony arrests and have cleared more felony warrants in recent years, scenarios that may lead to encounters with dangerous suspects.
The request cited several grounds for the action, including reductions in the frequency and severity of use-of-force incidents, improvements in training, accountability and oversight and the launch of Albuquerque Community Safety, which provides civilian responses to calls for issues such as behavioral health crises.
Gallegos said the APD’s Internal Affairs Force Division now ensures officers are adhering to department standards by investigating all uses of force, including all force-related misconduct allegations. He said the investigations aim to be consistent and objective, and findings are based on a preponderance of evidence.
Gallegos said an investigation will ensure:
- Identification of any officer’s criminal misconduct.
- Collection and analysis of all relevant evidence to determine a finding.
- Resolution of any material inconsistencies between statements — including descriptions of the level of force used and any injuries to officers or civilians — made by officers, complainants and witnesses.
- Identification of all applications of force or policy violations.
- Identification and resolution of all policy, training, tactical, or equipment concerns.
- An independent finding for each use of force and show of force.
All shows of force are reviewed by the supervisor of the officer who showed force, and low-level control tactics are audited by the Performance Metrics Unit, Gallegos said.
Since 2014, Gallegos said, the APD has built a comprehensive framework for developing use-of-force training that has evolved to integrate de-escalation through a multi-faceted approach centered on policy, best practices, and reality-based application.
“The goal has been to create training that reliably improves decision-making, reduces unnecessary force, and translates into safer outcomes for both officers and the public,” he said.
The American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico, a longtime critic of the department’s use-of-force approach, acknowledged some progress led to Browning’s decision, and said at the time that it should be viewed as an early step toward better policing.
ACLU policy advocate Daniel Williams, on Thursday, told City Desk ABQ the officer-involved shooting numbers show there’s still work to be done.
“Until New Mexico changes our paradigm for community safety, too many of our neighbors will continue to die at the hands of APD and other law enforcement officers,” Williams said in a statement. “Our leaders need to take bold action to address the root causes of crime and reduce our reliance on policing and punishment to keep us safe.”
Police officials have reported a large reduction in homicides for 2025 and a 10-year high APD 89% solve rate for those cases.
Williams further said that more effective methods are being ignored.
“The safest communities are the ones where everyone is housed, everyone can access quality, voluntary medical care, and everyone has true economic security,” Williams wrote. Overpolicing fueled by invasive surveillance technology and the criminalization of homelessness won’t make us safer, but it will continue to have devastating effects for our communities.”
The ACLU last year panned New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s authorization of National Guard troops to assist the APD.
Other changes were made to improve investigations of force uses to guide changes in training, tactics, equipment, and supervisory strategies, and to tailor scenario-based training to the most frequent real-world challenges.
“In-service training reinforces lessons learned from recent data trends, specific incidents where investigators identified performance gaps, and focuses on investigative oversight and consistent application of policy,” Gallegos said. “De-escalation has become a core principle in the development of use-of-force policy, training, and analysis of use-of-force incidents. Specifically, de-escalation has been codified in departmental policy along with mandatory documentation requirements. The policy demands that officers, when feasible, utilize key concepts related to de-escalation; focusing on time, distance, verbal and non-verbal communication, and use of resources to mitigate the need to use force.”
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