By Jesse Jones, The Paper. — In the first full reporting period since federal court monitoring ended, Albuquerque’s civilian police watchdog reported officers violated department policy eight times between July and December 2025. In each instance, city leaders and police reviewed the evidence and discarded the agency’s disciplinary recommendations.
The Paper. reviewed the Civilian Police Oversight Agency’s latest semiannual report, which shows Chief Administrative Officer Samantha Sengel or the Police Reform Bureau, led by Superintendent Eric Garcia, rejected eight CPOA findings across six complaint investigations. In each case, officials eliminated the proposed discipline, which ranged from a written reprimand to a 120-hour suspension. According to the report, most involved Personnel Code of Conduct violations.
Photo by Roberto E. Rosales/City Desk Abq
The number of misconduct findings fell even as disagreements over those findings continued. According to the report, misconduct findings dropped 11.7% in the final six months of 2025, falling to 53 from 60 in the previous period, as the city shifted from federal oversight to local control.
The department upheld 80 misconduct findings but reduced discipline in 47 cases, nearly 59% of the time. Officials placed officers in 20 of those cases into a new pilot program called Enhanced Supervisory Intervention rather than issuing the original discipline. The program replaced three suspensions, nine written reprimands, seven verbal reprimands and one corrective action with coaching, focusing on correcting behavior without placing a formal mark on officers’ disciplinary records.