ALBUQUERQUE — David Young started out working for the city in fleet maintenance. He ended up prowling Albuquerque's streets, arresting prostitutes and their clients for the Police Department's Special Investigations Division.
At no time, however, was Young actually a sworn police officer. A civilian employee of the department for 10 years, he worked as a volunteer reserve officer when he made his arrests. Under New Mexico law, arresting officers handle misdemeanor prosecutions in metropolitan court. Young appeared as the prosecuting agent in several cases.
Since news of Young's role surfaced in late August, the criminal justice system here has been thrown into turmoil. One prostitution case that he handled was dismissed before it went to trial, and defense attorneys are preparing to appeal nearly a dozen more.
The Police Department has suspended its reserve program and identified 46 other criminal cases that reserve officers handled, ranging from traffic tickets to domestic violence. Those other cases also may end up challenged in court.
"It's pretty wild," said Mary Han, a civil rights attorney tapped by the public defender's office to handle the cases involving Young. "If you or I were to go out and impersonate a police officer, we'd go to jail. . . . It's a real perversion of the legal system."
Police officials say Young, who has not been accused of wrongdoing, was acting with the blessing of the department -- and always with sworn officers close by. "This will end up being an attorney discussion and a ruling by attorneys," said police spokesman John Walsh, who described the issues involved as "technicalities."
The key question is: What makes someone a cop?
Young's attorney, John D'Amato, said that, like all of the department's 63 reserves, Young spent time at the local police academy -- more than 700 hours -- learning investigative procedure and other staples of law enforcement.
D'Amato added that, like full-time police officers, Young goes to the firing range every month to remain qualified to carry a firearm.
D'Amato said his client, who is employed by the department to help police set up electronic surveillance equipment, is "more trained and certified in more areas than most police officers are." Young joined the reserves six years ago.
