“HERE comes the rabble,” a woman said. She was joining hundreds of citizens filing into Albuquerque’s City Hall on April 7th to voice their frustration about a police force they think has lost its way. It was local politics at its rawest. Temporary pallbearers set down in front of the dais a coffin bearing the names of dozens of victims of police shootings. As the nine councillors listened grimly, speaker after speaker expressed their fear of a department that is meant to protect them, or their anger at police killings that seem to go unpunished. Some were well-known activists; others admitted it was their first visit to the chamber. It took over five hours for everyone to have their say.

The fuss was triggered by the release of a video that appears to show two police officers killing James Boyd, a homeless man camping illegally in the foothills east of the city. Boyd, a paranoid schizophrenic, is seen threatening to kill the police and wielding knives, but he seems to be turning away from the officers when two of them fire six rounds at him. Another then unleashes an Alsatian on his prostrate body.

Defenders of the police point out that the video shows only the last few minutes of a three-and-a-half-hour standoff. As the officers were aware, Boyd had a history of instability and violence; in 2010 he broke a woman officer’s nose. Yet the video spread quickly on social media. Nine days after its release, a largely peaceful demonstration against police violence turned ugly at night; provocateurs blocked traffic and spat in officers’ faces. The police reacted as, perhaps, some protesters had hoped they would, with horses, riot gear and tear gas.

Police in Albuquerque, home to slightly over half a million people, have shot 23 civilians dead since 2010: more than in many comparable cities. No police officer has been prosecuted for unlawful killing, yet the city has had to pay out $24m in legal settlements to victims’ relatives. The Police Oversight Commission is weak, underfunded and quarrelsome. Only a quarter of officers have been trained to deal with “crisis intervention”, as in the Boyd case.

In 2012 the Department of Justice (DOJ) began an investigation into the police department for alleged civil-rights violations. Richard Berry, the mayor, was wary at first, but last week he urged the department to get a move on. The DoJ was due to release its findings just after The Economist went to press; many locals hope to see an outside monitor appointed to implement changes, with the backing of a federal judge. Others want to see a police oversight commission with teeth.

Some think the police department has expanded too quickly in recent years, not vetting candidates properly. Killings spiked in 2010, Mr Berry’s first full year in office, but, the mayor says, over 50 changes have since been pressed on the force, including the compulsory body cameras that filmed the Boyd incident, and more will follow. Shootings have levelled off in the past few years. Six separate investigations into the Boyd killing have opened. The mayor adds that he understands the city’s anger. None of this has stopped some locals from calling for his head.

The row comes at an unhappy time for Albuquerque’s home state. While most of its western neighbours are recovering at a fair clip, last year Gallup found that the job-creation rate in New Mexico was the second-lowest in America, behind only tiny Rhode Island. Chamber-of-commerce types fret that the policing spat will deter investors. Joe Monahan, an Albuquerque-based blogger, says he can’t remember the last time things were this bad. Hours after the council meeting, four police stations were vandalised.