Police Shootings in NM, UNM Clery Act Violations, Listening to the Gila River

This week on New Mexico in Focus, we have an in-depth, two-part conversation about police shootings in New Mexico. According to an analysis by Searchlight New Mexico, police shot 357 people statewide over the last 10 years — more than in any other U.S. state per capita during that period. Executive Producer Jeff Proctor asks a special roundtable why cops shoot so many people in New Mexico and whether failures at other levels of government too often leave life-and-death decision in the hands of the police. In the second part of their discussion, Jeff asks the group why legislators are advocating for the creation of a centralized, independent office to investigate and review police shootings cases. Plus, the roundtable considers what’s at stake for the potential criminal trial of Las Cruces police officer Brad Lunsford, the second cop in the state’s modern history to be charged in an on-duty fatal shooting. 

Earlier this month, the Daily Lobo student newspaper broke a story documenting the University of New Mexico’s violations of a federal transparency law. Jeff joins the two reporters, Lily Alexander and Lauren Lifke, in our studio and asks them to walk us through their investigation of problems with the campus security alert systems. 

Rarely in the United States do we remember that rivers are living beings themselves — and they have something to teach us. With funding from The Water Desk at the University of Colorado Boulder, Our Land’s Laura Paskus visited the Gila River, including a stretch that would have been changed forever if New Mexico had built on a controversial diversion. In this special segment, we consider what lessons the Upper Gila River holds for the future — and the rest of the Colorado River Basin. 

Host: Lou DiVizio 

Segments: 

Police Shootings in New Mexico: The Investigations  
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor 
Guests: Sharon Walton, Retired Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Judge  
Leon Howard, Deputy Director, American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico 
Joshua Bowling, Investigative Reporter, Searchlight New Mexico 

Police Shootings in New Mexico: The Prosecutions 
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor 
Guests: Sharon Walton, Retired Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Judge  
Leon Howard, Deputy Director, American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico  
Joshua Bowling, Investigative Reporter, Searchlight New Mexico 

Daily Lobo Journalists Uncover Clery Act Violations at UNM 
Correspondent: Jeff Proctor 
Guests: Lily Alexander, Reporter, The Daily Lobo 
Lauren Lifke, Reporter, The Daily Lobo 

Listening to the Gila 
Correspondent: Laura Paskus 
Guests: Martha Cooper, Freshwater Director, The Nature Conservancy 
Joe Saenz, Chihe´ne (Warm Springs Apache)