Party Patrol Says Ruling Won't Alter Practices

Party Patrol Says Ruling Won't Alter Practices

Albuquerque Journal
By Jeff Proctor
Journal Staff Writer
Albuquerque police party patrol officials say a recent court ruling that found three of its officers guilty of a Fourth Amendment violation won't change the way the unit does business.
That's because many of the issues that arose during the case already had been addressed, party patrol Lt. Mike Geier said.
U.S. District Court Judge William "Chip" Johnson ruled the officers were liable for entering Mary Roybal's home on April 8, 2005, without a search warrant. The action violated Roybal's protection against illegal search and seizure.
Geier pointed to a form party patrol officers use— which is different from the standard APD incident report— to document a bust made by the unit. It requires officers to list the grounds for the citation and whether consent was given to enter a residence.
Officers began using the new form after complaints against the unit prompted APD to hammer out some new procedures. The new form was created with the help of Albuquerque's American Civil Liberties Union affiliate.
Those talks, which began in April 2006, also led to party patrol officers stopping the practice of busting every underage kid at a party— regardless of whether a teen was in possession of alcohol.
Geier said that of the 1,400 parties the unit has broken up since he came aboard in 2002, "only about a half dozen times have we not been given consent to enter a home."
In those cases, party patrol officers always prefer to obtain a search warrant, he said. But in the case of an emergency— such as a teen choking on his or her vomit— another crime being committed on the property or officers pursuing a criminal, police will enter without a warrant.
Would an incident such as the one in 2005 happen today?
"I would say no, because our officers are much more reluctant to go in without really questioning whether it's the right thing to do," Geier said.