DTS went to the International District (ID) on mother’s day—it was crawling with cops.
The Albuquerque City Council just passed an ordinance allowing for the mayor to designate special “zones” for increased police harassment of homeless people. This ordinance allows for $500 dollar fines or 30 days in jail for sleeping, sitting, or lying on the sidewalk.
The city of abq already disorganizes and harasses homeless people on a regular basis. this new ordinance is one of many ways that the city criminalizes the homeless and attempts to justify cruelty against them.
Though the special “zones” have yet to be designated, people in the ID have told us APD harassment is increasing. On Sunday, we witnessed the emboldened ordinance enforcement first hand.
One sweep we rolled up on included five police cruisers and a dump truck. at the scene, one woman sat on the curb in the sun, 3 cops stood towering over her, and one cop stood shooting the shit with a garbage man. a single makeshift tent leaned against a wall, the sidewalk in front of it was clear.
The cops involved are part of a specialized unit called the encampment team. their stated purpose is to breakup encampments, issue citations, and connect people on the streets with resources (aka calling Albuquerque Community services (acs) or telling people they can either go to jail or the shelter).
We asked one of the cops what they were doing. He said “helping people.” We asked him how throwing away people’s stuff and issuing them citations that will rack up a fine or turn into a bench warrant will help anyone. He didn’t have an answer.
What he calls “helping people,” we would more accurately describe as harassing and robbing them.
when ACS pulled up, the woman told them that she had a plan to meet a social worker the next day in the same spot she was being forcibly removed from. they told her to keep going with the services she already had in the works. they provided nothing new.
She told us later that she wasn’t sure how she would meet with the service provider she had a standing appointment with. She had no way to contact them and now was being kicked off the block where they knew to find her.
After an hour, the cops left the scene. The delusional ones patted themselves on the back for “helping people.” The others left with a twinkle in their eye, ready to terrorize and dehumanize more homeless people.
The woman left the hour long harassment session with most of her belongings, three new citations (obstructing the sidewalk and 2 counts of public camping), and a warning from apd that they didn’t want to see her on that street again.
This encounter with APD did nothing for this woman except stick her with more citations and likely contributed to a lost opportunity to get services or resources.
This is not an isolated event. This is how the encampment team operates on a daily basis in the war zone. They hold people up, scattering them, throwing away their personal items, and write hundreds of vague citations that will open up the opportunity to arrest them down the line.
Dare to Struggle 