Copyright 2001 Albuquerque Journal  

By: Rene Romo Journal Southern Bureau

Minorities Claimed Malicious Practices

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Hobbs Police Department this week settled a class-action lawsuit that alleged widespread discriminatory practices against minority residents.

The lawsuit, filed in March 1999 in federal court in Santa Fe, alleged that Hobbs police used excessive force, warrantless searches and maliciously filed false charges against residents to the point that black residents became "afraid to walk down the street or sit on their porches."

The settlement agreement calls for improved police procedures in the use of force, detentions, searches, seizures and arrests.

It also requires the Hobbs Police Department to pay $605,500 in damages as well as injunctive relief.

Plaintiffs' lawyers viewed the settlement, agreed to Monday by Hobbs' representatives, as vindication for Hispanic and black residents who had endured an alleged "campaign of intimidation."

But Hobbs Police Chief Tony Knott said he considered such statements to be "sensationalistic" and said the settlement orders the department to comply with policies it already largely follows voluntarily.

"We have to get past this, get past the old hateful rhetoric and name-calling," Knott said Thursday.

Knott said the settlement was "a financial, a business decision" intended to avoid paying legal fees that could have exceeded $1 million if the lawsuit dragged out and Hobbs lost on even a few of the allegations.

But Santa Fe attorney Daniel Yohalem characterized the settlement differently, praising the seven plaintiffs who "heroically came forward to press their complaints against the police department in order to address the widespread terror and intimidation felt by minority Hobbs residents in the 1990s."

And Peter Simonson, executive director of the state chapter of the ACLU, called the case the "biggest" the organization has handled in New Mexico in terms of its impact on a community.

The settlement must still be approved by U.S. District Judge Martha Vazquez at a hearing 10 a.m. June 8 in Santa Fe when objections to the agreement can be lodged.

Hobbs police must receive a minimum of 40 hours of training each year on appropriate arrest procedures. Emphasis will be on avoiding racial profiling, using techniques to avoid confrontations, and working with integrity and ethics.