Ex-APD chief files suit against Attorney General
Apr. 3—A former police chief has filed a lawsuit against the state Attorney General's Office — the agency that enforces compliance with the Inspection of Public Records Act — alleging it violated the act since it has not turned over documents requested last year.
Michael Geier was chief of the Albuquerque Police Department from late 2017 when Mayor Tim Keller took office until he was asked to resign in September 2020.
Last May his attorney, Thomas Grover, requested all documents and correspondence between APD and the AG's Office related to Geier and his former executive assistant, Paulette Diaz, since the beginning of the year.
He still hasn't received any records.
In a statement to the Journal, a spokeswoman for the AG's office said it will review the lawsuit when it receives it and will contact Geier and his attorney.
"We value transparency in government and make every effort to provide full and open responses," spokeswoman Jerri Mares said.
In early May 2021, KRQE-TV aired a story finding flaws in an investigation into Geier's former chief of staff John Ross. The story found that, at best, the investigation "was bungled. At worst it was intentionally whitewashed" to find Ross had committed no serious misconduct.
At that point, Chief Harold Medina and Mayor Keller said they asked the attorney general and the state auditor to investigate.
"I am very concerned. We've asked the AG to look into it. And if there's any wrongdoing, I'll hold folks accountable," Mayor Keller told KRQE-TV.
The same month, Grover made his request for documents.
"We wanted to know what it was that Chief Medina sent to the agency's office — what correspondence, what investigative records, whatever it was that he sent to the agency's office for them to review," Grover said in a phone interview with the Journal.
Eleven months later, Grover said he still hasn't received any documents.
According to a petition filed in 2nd Judicial District Court, a couple of weeks after the request was filed, the AG's office records custodian asked for more time, but referenced the wrong case. That was cleared up but the documents still were not provided.
Between June 2 and Oct. 8, the custodian sent eight letters saying "although we anticipated having some records available today, we will require additional time to continue a thorough search and review to determine if we possess any records that are responsive to your request and available for inspection."
No records were released.
The petition asks for a judge to order the AG's office to comply with the law and produce the records and award damages, costs and reasonable attorney fees.
"I think the record in this case is really the most compelling example of yet another agency's indifference to a very serious and very important state law, which is the Inspection of Public Records Act," Grover said. "Here we have the state's own point agency for enforcing IPRA not following IPRA, and I think it's going to be a problem."
