Union Of Knives �No More Bounties�
Recent news stories about Albuquerque police union payments of up to $500 for officers involved in shootings have added a new rallying cry for a core group of APD critics and family members of men shot by police who have been asking for a federal investigation of APD for more than a year. �No more bounties!� was among the protest chants bouncing off the outside walls of City Hall and the concrete on Civic Plaza on Wednesday afternoon, as about 40 people turned out to demand that the US Department of Justice commence an investigation it�s been considering for months. �We are very concerned about these union payouts for these shootings,� Ralph Arellanes, director of the New Mexico affiliate of the League of United Latin America Citizens, said at the protest. �And we are only finding out about this now. Can you imagine what we don�t know? The only way we�re going to find out is through a United States Department of Justice investigation.� A DOJ spokeswoman told The Associated Press on Monday that her office is still conducting a preliminary review of the APD shootings, but no decision has been made regarding a formal investigation to determine whether the department has a pattern or practice of violating civil rights. Protesters have packed City Council meetings and held vigils and other demonstrations for months, as the number of APD shootings has continued to climb. In 2010, APD officers shot 14 men, nine of them fatally. Last year, six men were shot by APD …