Albuquerque sued over ‘policing for profit’ program

Two New Mexico state senators announced a lawsuit against the City of Albuquerque Wednesday in an effort to stop the civil forfeiture program.

The program allows law enforcement officials to seize and keep private property without a criminal conviction. The practice put New Mexico into the national spotlight last year when Las Cruces City Attorney Pete Connelly called civil forfeiture “a gold mine.”

Earlier this year, the state legislature unanimously passed a bill outlawing the practice of civil asset forfeiture in New Mexico, but some state senators and the Institute for Justice want the program shut down for good.

The Institute for Justice says the city of Albuquerque earned $1 million over the last year through its program.

“The profit incentive created by civil forfeiture is so strong, officials charged with upholding the law are now the ones breaking it,” Institute for Justice attorney Robert Everett Johnson said in a statement. “Albuquerque’s law enforcement officials seem to think that they are above the law. But if they won’t listen to the state legislature, they’ll have to answer to a judge.”

“The city of Albuquerque runs a civil forfeiture machine,” Johnson continued. “Every year the city takes over 1,000 cars and rakes in over $1 million using civil forfeiture.”

The lawsuit was filed by Sens. Daniel Ivey-Soto, D-Albuquerque, and Lisa Torraco, R-Albuquerque, and the Institute for Justice.

Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry issued a response to the lawsuit Wednesday afternoon:

“New Mexico has a long history of DWI issues and now we have two state senators who want to make it harder for the city of Albuquerque to keep repeat drunk drivers from getting behind the wheel. We believe we have the right and the obligation to protect our families and we hope the court system upholds our ability to do just that.”

City Attorney Jessica Hernandez says what the city is and has been doing is legal.

“We evaluated this. We certainly are not ignoring the law,” she said. “We looked carefully at how the law would impact the city, and by its own terms, the state law only applies to forfeitures under laws that apply to the State Forfeiture Act. The city law is completely separate from the State Forfeiture Act.”

Originally published with Elizabeth Reed at KOB.com