After the case against Unser was thrown out, then-APD Chief Ray Shultz opened a new investigation — into Costales, for breaching the “blue wall of silence” and turning on fellow law enforcement agents. Costales said he was forced into retirement, but was eventually awarded $662,000 in a lawsuit against the city.
Since then, Costales has become an activist, speaking out against the brutality and abuse of power he witnessed during his 20-plus years as an APD officer.
At the second in a series of lectures on police brutality on Thursday, hosted by UNM associate professor of American studies David Correia and his Police Violence and Social Control class, Costales spoke about a culture of unwarranted violence, unconstitutional arrests and intimidation.
“I really think this needs to be said: I’ve already taken the hardest road — coming out initially. I don’t want to turn back now,” Costales said. “People often ask, ‘When will it be over for you, as far as your activism against the police department?’ And I say, ‘When I die.’”
At the lecture, students, activists and members of the public asked Costales questions about his career, his transition from officer to activist and what can be done to change the department.
Correia, who was arrested last year at a protest against APD, said it was important to keep the event open to the public as well as students because of the high level of interest and discussion.
“The lecture series is about exposing the students to people in the community who can talk about their experience, either as police officers like Sam, or people who have been working to reform APD, elected officials, activists,” Correia said. “It brings the students into contact with people who can educate them better than I can.”
Costales said that the culture of intimidation at APD causes good officers to remain silent about the things they see on the job.
“People say there’s a few bad apples. That’s not true: there’s more bad apples than there is good,” he said. “People are afraid to come forward against these officers. I’m as guilty as the rest of them. I kept my mouth shut.”
He told a story about a woman who came to him complaining she’d been pulled over by a male officer who said she had a warrant out for her arrest. She was sure she didn’t, but the officer told her he would let her go if she gave him oral sex.
Costales said he relayed the woman’s complaints to his superiors, but they didn’t take any action. Eventually the officer was fired after several other women accused him of the same thing, but no criminal charges were brought against him.
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
Costales also talked about being harassed by fellow officers for choosing to use pepper spray to arrest a robbery suspect instead of shooting him, as well as his training officer who used his baton to wake up sleeping homeless people.
“I regret that I didn’t say what I saw. I didn’t have the guts to come forward and speak about the abuses that I witnessed,” he said.
The lecture series is being moderated by students in Correia’s class, and on Thursday business major Jac Cox led the discussion.
“It was a real honor to speak with Sam, basically one-on-one, and try to understand what he went through and how we can maybe combat that and get some more information,” Cox said. “If APD is in the wrong, they really need to be cracked down on, even without the (U.S. Department of Justice’s) support.”
Costales said he is currently involved with a group of officers from Ferguson, Missouri; New York; Los Angeles and other cities who are working to reform police departments around the country.
“We’re going to speak out to Congress and to whoever will listen to us and let other officers know that there’s a place that they can turn to,” he said.
The next lecture in the series is scheduled for March 19 in the SUB’s Santa Ana room from 2 to 3 p.m. It will feature family members of people who have been killed by APD officers.
Although he doubts he will be allowed to participate in the official process of reforming APD, Costales said he won’t stop speaking out.
“I’ll be involved in this until I see some sort of change. Some changes I don’t think I’ll ever see in my lifetime, but there’s some that I think can be accomplished,” he said. “It’s through people speaking up, and I want to be one of those.”
Jonathan Baca is the news editor at the Daily Lobo. He can be contacted at news@dailylobo.com or on Twitter @JonGabrielB.
