Elaine Maestas had enough. 

“We miss our New Mexican roots, miss home,” she said from a Zoom call. “It was not an easy, decision that I made. I’m going to try not to get emotional.” 

Maestas moved to Missouri, giving up on New Mexico after her sister was shot and killed by Bernalillo County Deputies in 2019, and her subsequent police accountability advocacy roles had run its course. 

“[I] felt hopeless. Like, what’s going to change?” Maestas said. 

Her latest disappointment is detailed in a whistleblower lawsuit against the City of Albuquerque. She claims the city’s newest branch of first responders, Albuquerque Community Safety, misrepresented its working relationship with police, and retaliated against her when she spoke out when she worked as an ACS responder. 

“It seemed like an answered prayer,” Maestas said of joining ACS. She was a Community-Oriented Response Assistance (CORA) responder, a specialized team designed to, “respond with a trauma-informed approach to educate on cycles of grief and healing while connecting people to service providers and resources,” however her lawsuit claims ACS works, “hand-in-glove with Albuquerque Police Department.” 

“There was, again, many calls where it was unnecessary for them [APD] to be there, and it really undermined the purpose of what the department was created to do,” Maestas said. 

The lawsuit claims while out responding, Maestas overheard a conversation between a police officer and another ACS employee about, “roughing up,” a civilian and was prevented from engaging a person by an officer opting for arrest. Maestas said when she spoke up about her concerns, leadership retaliated against her. 

“I found myself on an island. I felt alone many times,” Maestas said. “I had a lot of high hopes for this department and the potential that it could offer the community. But I was pushed out.” 

4 Investigates asked Maestas’ attorney if the city deserves any leeway as she worked for ACS as the young department was getting its start.  

“When you present a program and represent a promise to the public about how you’re going to handle situations in the future, that’s how you need to handle them,” Laura Schauer Ives, Maestas’ attorney said. “It’s not something that you get to work the kinks out on.” 

Maestas also sued Bernalillo County after her sister’s killing in 2019. She was awarded $4 million after a wrongful death lawsuit was settled with Bernalillo County. 

4 Investigates asked if anyone from ACS would sit down for an interview. A spokesman sent us the below statement: 

“Albuquerque Community Safety (ACS) is a civilian-led department that provides trauma-informed, community-centered responses and does not engage in enforcement activities. While only about 1% of ACS field response calls in the past year resulted in a co-response with APD, we are grateful for APD’s partnership in ensuring safety for all involved.  

In addition to field response, ACS’s specialty teams—including the Violence Intervention Program, Community Oriented Response and Assistance Team, and Opioid Education Team —work proactively with APD to address root causes of violence, substance use, and other crises through long-term community engagement. APD is a trusted partner in this work, and we are thankful for their ongoing collaboration with ACS and the community.”  

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