APD places Internal Affairs commander on leave
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Albuquerque Police Department has placed the commander of the Internal Affairs Division on administrative leave as part of the department’s ongoing investigation into allegations of wrongdoing by DWI officers.
Mark Landavazo, who has been with APD since 2007, became commander of the Internal Affairs Division in 2021.
“We are investigating every aspect of these allegations, from the role of officers to supervisors,” Chief Harold Medina said.
Landavazo joins the growing list of officers who have been placed on administrative leave. One of those officers, Lt. Justin Hunt, has resigned. None of the officers reportedly involved have been charged at this time.
“We will ensure that any officer or any personnel belonging to the City of Albuquerque that was involved in any part of this scheme or knew about it and didn’t report it will be held accountable,” said Kyle Hartsock, the APD commander leading the internal investigation.
KOB 4 has linked the other officers to a local attorney who is being investigated by the FBI – Thomas Clear III. Clear’s office was raided by the FBI in January and represented many of the defendants in a list of dismissed cases from the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office.
KOB 4 looked at Landavazo’s arrest history and found 27 cases from 2007 to 2014 where Clear was the attorney on Landavazo’s DWI arrest. Out of those 27 cases, 10 of them were dismissed.
One of those cases, from 2009, involves Hunt – the APD lieutenant who resigned.
“I have nearly daily calls with our federal partners to make sure that appropriate information is passed on,” Hartsock said. “As the chief pointed out, when criminal allegations come out that we believe are new, we will pass that on, but our goal is different.”
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