The Southwest Public Policy Institute (SPPI) has initiated legal action against the City of Albuquerque due to concerns regarding the transparency of records from its automated speed enforcement program. SPPI asserts that the records in question are public and there should be no hurdles in accessing them. The Institute believes there could be potential biases in the policies, possibly affecting minorities and low-income drivers more than others. While the city shared a partial data sheet, SPPI claims it doesn’t encompass the entirety of the records they had requested.
“It’s not a matter of whether we’re going to win, this is public record, there’s no question about that,” said president of SPPI, Patrick M. Brenner. “We will get access to it, it’s just a matter of how many games the city wants to play.”
Brenner continued, “The City of Albuquerque’s public records inspection process is obviously flawed and in desperate need of reform. Through our litigation, we hope to hold City Clerk Ethan Watson accountable for his failure to uphold his transparency obligations under the law.”
The full story and video coverage can be found on KRQE’s website.
