welcome to al jazeera america. i'm dell del in new york, these are the stories we are following for you. the department of justice preparing to weigh in on a rash of shootings in new mexico. and the president set to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act. and fears that a widely used flu medicine has been a huge waste of money. ♪

you are looking live in a moment at the scene in albuquerque, new mexico, the justice department about to release its findings on the ewes of -- use of force by the police department. since 2010 there have been more than 37 police shootings, 23 of them fatal. heidi zhou castro is there, and joins us live by phone. what are we expecting to hear today? >> we're expecting a list of reforms from the department of justice. they have been investigating the albuquerque police department now for more than a year and a half. and we're expecting to hear reforms regarding training, hiring officer, and how to deal with deescalation of police confrontations with suspects in particularly in dealing with the

mentally ill. the city of albuquerque has been preparing for the announcements for quite a while. the police chief has asked for million dollars to fund the changes from the department of justice, including funding for extra training and the mayor's goal for having 100% of officers trained in crisis intervention. and tuesday they announced the hiring of a new deputy chief who has been assigned to oversee these changes. again, the doj has been looking at this police department since november of 2012, which would make it the longest federal probe of a police department in history. they are reviewing the fatalities that have taken place since 2010. they have met with members, and they are hoping today finally

the meetings and investigation will result in some changes. >> heidi, isle give you the standard apology going into that we'll be going to this news conference live. but was this one specific incident that lead to this investigation? >> there has been a chain of shootings since 2010, 23 people have been fatally killed. but the police eye has turned to the police department in march of this year, because of the shooting of the mentally ill man who was killed on march 16th while the police talked to him about illegal camping in the foothills of albuquerque. watching that video has illicited outrage here and around the country and world, and they are also pointing to

this as just another case of what the community calls a rampant overuse of force, of lethal force in albuquerque, and they point to that statistic of 23 people killed since 2010 -- now there's no national entity that keeps track of how many people police departments kill per year and how that compares, but take new york city for example. nypd covers ten times the population, but there were only three times the number of fatalities. so people say those numbers just don't make sense here. we saw protests two weekends ago that had protesters take to the streets of albuquerque for 12 hours, taking down street signs, police throwing tear gas. all of this public anger has been -- to meanting.

del? >> this is the u.s. attorney about to hold a fews conference concerning the number of shootings in albuquerque, new mexico. >> my name is damon martinez, i'm the acting u.s. attorney for the district of new mexico. i am honored to have my colleagues, the acting assistant attorney general for the civil rights decision, the department of justice, and jonathan smith, who is the chief of the special litigation section of the civil rights division join me today to make a very important announcement regarding the department of justice's civil investigation into the use of force by the albuquerque police department. we are joined by members of our

community who rep sent families who have lost loved ones to office-involved shootings, and organizations that petition -- petition the department of justice for this investigation in early 2012. we thank them for the invaluable information and support they have provided to the department of justice throughout the investigation. and we look forward to working with you as we continue forward. it has been a privilege for the u.s. attorney's office to work with the civil rights division over the past 16 months on the department's civil investigation into whether the albuquerque police department engages in a

pattern or practice of violating the fourth amendment by using excessive force. we're here today to announce our findings and conclusions and the next steps for the department of justice, the city, and the people of albuquerque. acting assist important attorney general samuels will address the scope and conclusions of the investigation and discuss our next steps. before she does, i would like to make a few important points. today marks a critical milestone in our community and for the albuquerque police department. understanding how we arrived here is very important, but just

as important how we move forward. the coming days and months will determine the next generation of what policing will look like in our city. we are at a unique time and police where the city can decisively determine the culture of the albuquerque police department and its relationship with the community it serves. we are in a place where the city and the community can collaborate and develop a productive working partnership to rebuild and to maintain the foundation of trust that is essential for effective productive law enforcement. although there are difficult and systemic issues to resolve, we

embrace these challenges and are very optimistic for the future of the albuquerque police department. our optimism is based on three important factors. first, although our investigation has found serious constitutional problems that acting assistant attorney general samuels will discussi dt has also confirmed that the great majority of ap officers are honorable law enforcement professionals, who risk their physical safety and well-being for the public good on a daily basis. their work is not easy, and their duties often are performed under difficult and dangerous circumstances. for most officers, policing is not just a job.

it is an honor and a profession. it is about promoting public safety and service to their neighbors and the community, but dangers they face on a job are real, and they must have the tools they need to protect the public and themselves. we are optimistic for the future of the albuquerque police department, because so many of its officers are committed to making our neighborhoods safer places to live, to work, and to play, and in compliance with the constitution and the law. second, we are also optimistic because the city and the albuquerque police department allowed the investigative team access to every document and person requested during the

investigation. additionally, major berry, and other city officials have expressed a strong desire to address the deficiencies uncovered and have assured us that they are committed to working with us to remedy the problems. we have every reason to believe that we will move forward in a twha honors both the men and women working in the apd, and the residents of this great city they serve. finally, we are optimistic because the people of albuquerque want and rightfully demand the highest standards for their police force. the residents of albuquerque want safe neighborhoods, they want the police to succeed.

clearly, the residents of albuquerque support the changes needed to fix the problems present in the albuquerque police department. during our investigation, we have heard from many people coming from all walks of life in our city. they came forward because they care about this city, and because they care about the police department that serves them. the people of albuquerque are committed to being part of the critical dialogue necessary to ensure that reforms are in place, to promote constitutional policing, while giving the men and women of the albuquerque police department the support they need to fight crime effectively. these three critical factors

give us great optimism that the city, the albuquerque police department, and the community will come together to ensure that the deficiencies identified by the investigation are corrected. i now turn the podium over to the acting assistant attorney general samuels who will discuss the results of the investigation. >> good morning, thank you all for joining us today. thank you damon for your work in albuquerque and across new mexico. the u.s. attorney's office has been an important partner in our efforts and in enforcing the nation's civil rights laws in this state, and we thank you and your staff for all that you do. i also would like to thank my colleagues from the civil rights division special litigations section who have conducted the

investigation along with our u.s. attorneys partners, and have brought us to this release today. we're here this morning to announce the results of our investigation of the albuquerque police department. our team of attorneys and staff from both the civil rights division and the u.s. attorneys office have been working hard to complete a thorough and independent review of the albuquerque police department and its use of force. when we opened this investigation in late 2012, we set out to uncover the facts and to follow them wherever they took us. i am here today to report that we have done just that. since opening the investigation, the team has conducted an exhaustive review of the albuquerque police department to determine not only whether a pattern or practice of exsensitive force exists, but also to diagnose the causes and patterns contributing to that practice, so that we can move

forward to have systemic reform. we conducted hundreds of interviews, including officers, city officials, and community members. we examined thousands of pages of document, including incident reports, internal investigations, shooting files, and external oversight and task force reports. we conducted four well-at tends community meetings to listen to the communities concerns. we conducted numerous ride alongs with officers in the field, and held exit briefings with albuquerque police leadership and the city attorney's office. we heard from hundreds of community members through our community email address and toll free hot line that we established to anyone with relevant information could provide it. we engaged expert police consult acts to assist in our

evaluation. o&ms the investigation was not an easy one, but through all of these efforts we made certain to gather the facts and apply the law to the facts to reach our conclusions. we thank the major and the police department for their cooperation out there our investigation. we have determined that there is reasonable cause to believe that the albuquerque police department engages in a pattern or practice of use of excessive force, including the use of unreasonable deadly force. this conduct violates the violent crime in law enforcement act of 1984 which is a powerful civil rights law that has allowed us to reform police dps across the country. including police departments in pittsburgh, cincinnati, new jersey, los angeles, and washington, d.c. we also continue to work with other police departments across the country, including portland,

oregon, seattle, new orleans, and puerto rico. in brief, we found that the albuquerque police department engages in a pattern or practice in violating residents 4th amendment rights by using excessive force. officers use deadly force in an unconstitutional manner. our investigation looked at officer-involved shootings that resulted in fatalities between 2009 and 2012 and found that a majority of them were unreasonable. we found that officers used deadly force against people who did not pose an immediate threat to the officers or others, and against people who posed a threat only to themselves. in fact we found that sometimes it was the conduct of the officers themselves that

heightened the danger and escalated the need to use force. we found that officers used other types ofless lethal force in an unconstitutional manner. our investigation found a significant number of improper use of force in our review of over 200 force reports generated between 2009 and early 2013. we found that officers routinely fired their tasers which discharge 50,000 volts of electricity against people who were non-threatening or unable to comply with orders due to their mental state. we found that encounters between police officers and persons with mental illness or in crisis too frequently resulted in a use of force or higher levels of force than we necessary. our investigation revealed that the causes of these patterns or

practices were systemic and resulted from organizational deficiencies. chief among these is the departments failure to implement a objective and rigorous internal system. these deficiencies combined with inconsistent implement of policies, inadequate training, and a broken civil oversight process contributed to the use of excessive force. you are listening to the acting assist important attorney general in albuquerque, new mexico, responding to the investigation into that city's police department investigation began when there were reports that there were as many as 37 different police-involved shootings dating back to 2010, 23 of those being fatal. one of the incidents that sparked the inquiry was the

shooting of a homeless man that was captured on videotape. the man is surrounded by police and yet he is fatally shot. we want to point out that this particular situation in albuquerque, new mexico sent a lot of people on to the streets protesting what they said was excessive force by the city's police department, the assist act attorney general saying there are serious constitutional problems in albuquerque, and that that police department too frequently uses deadly force, saying that those deficiencies are organizational in nature. we're going to take a break. we'll be right back. ♪

we want to get you caught up on some of the day's owe events, namely a huge gathering in texas. it has been nearly 50 years since the civil rights act

outlawed discrimination. lyndon banes johnson changed history. president obama and three other presidents are marking the anniversary at the lbj library in texas. mike viqueira is it surprising to see a summit getting so much attention. >> well when you consider the land mark legislation, the civil rights act 50 years ago, this year in june, certainly no surprise, the president, the sitting president, and all of the living past presidents are there to mark the occasion. obviously a significant event for this president. and frankly, del, lbj's legacy now being rehabilitated to some

extent. he has worn the albatross of vietnam, but when you look at everything he accomplished. known of course as the master of the senate, the voting rights act, medicare, and the civil rights act, all being enacted under lbj's tenure, politics were a lot different back then, and i think you are going to hear president obama speak very point nextly about the issues of race and the legacy of lbj, del. >> and this harkens back to a time when both sides of the aisle came together and got something done. >> it has a nixon to china feel to it, doesn't it? lbj came from the hill country, and there were some senators that would not be known as democrats today, remember the

bow weebel democrats. and filibustering nothing less than the civil rights act. so a lot has changed certainly. president obama of course has chafed at some of the comparisons that have been made between him and lbj over the health care. but times have changed. he got it done, and he is down there in austin today to laud lbj's memory. >> mike thank you very much. if you noticed behind mike you might have seen the cherry blooms blooming. spring and sprung. more news and weather straight ahead.

welcome back to al jazeera america, i'm del walters. these are your headlines at this hour.

the justice department releasing its finding of the use of force by the albuquerque police department. saying there are serious constitutional problems and deadly force was used too frequently especially against those who are mentally ill. the president is in austin, texas this hour. attending a summit marking the 50th anniversary of the civil rights act. and 16-year-old is charged today after attacking 21 at his high school. police are saying the teen is confused and unaware of the injuriesing he caused. ♪ we're looking at a bright sunny day across much of the east coast, but an increased

fire threat actually. we have reports of a brush fire in edison, new jersey, and we have live pictures coming in. the area hasn't received significant meaningful rainfall for quite a bit of time. we're looking at this ridge of high-pressure staying in control. eat thing to mention is the winds will be gusting up to about 20 miles an hour. when you factor in that with low relative humidity, gusty winds and high-pressure being in control, that's when you get the increased fire threat. in terms of temperatures, philadelphia climbs to a high of 70, washington, d.c. at a high of 73 degrees. the winds are gusting quite a bit out ahead of a cold front that continues to track in. we'll continue to monitor this through the course of the day. >> we leave you with something a little lighter, an aztec pyramid in mexico may be sinking.

it is too dry on one side. see meant was added to try to fix the problem but now be causing more problems. thank you for watching. i'm del walters in new york. "the stream" is next. >> hi, i'm lisa fletcher and you're in the stream. out of the box thinkers share their tool kit for racing smart successful well balanced kids. my co-host and digital procedures wajahat ali.