Channel 4 Does Major Disservice To APD Chief Selection Process And Viewers

Channel 4 did a story about APD Interim Chief Michael Geier who is applying to be appointed permanent APD Chief.

You can see the entire story here:

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/abqs-interim-police-chief-talks-life-department-goals/4935945/#.WxZyRh4aWVE.facebook

The story starts out from the get go reporting that “Albuquerque could learn who its next police chief will be as soon as this week.”

As background, Mayor Keller has appointed Geier Interim APD Police Chief.

Interim Deputy Chiefs have also been appointed who are either retired or from within APD and shuffled and reorganized the APD command staff and personnel staff.

CHIEF SELECTION PROCESS

Keller has appointed a five-member Chief Selection Committee who are tasked with doing a ”national search”, collecting resumes and do interviews.

The city administration is also paying a private company $10,000 to assist in the recruitment, selection and interview process.

Keller announced the appointment of a 5-member selection committee for a permanent APD chief with the goal of hiring a chief by mid-June, 2017.

The selection committee consists of a former APD Captain, the Fraternal Order of Police President and 3 Keller Administration employees with no one from the general public nor affected groups.

There are no representatives on the chief’s selection committee from the American Civil Liberties Union, APD Forward, the District Attorney’s Office nor Public Defenders Office, nor any Hispanic, Native American or other minority groups nor communities affected by police actions.

There is no representation on the selection committee from any one of the stake holders in the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) mandating implementation of reforms and no representation from the Police Oversight Commission nor the Community Policing Counsels.

GEIER’S CHANNEL 4 “NEWS” REPORT

The news report points out that Chief Geier has more than four decades of police work under his belt, including his employment as the Chief in Rio Rancho.

Before being the Rio Rancho Police Chief, Geier worked 20 years with the Albuquerque Police Department and before that he spent nearly 20 years on a force in the Chicago suburbs.

The Channel 4 news story was highly flattering of Interim Chief Geier.

The report makes it clear that Geier is in the running to be appointed permanent Chief.

City hall insiders are saying Geier is the front runner for the position and that Mayor Keller has already made up his mind to make Geier permanant.

The Channel 4 reporter failed to ask Interim Chief Geier any substantive questions regarding his defense of APD in the collection of evidence gathering in a child abuse case where the blood-stained underwear of a seven-year-old child was collected by the child’s teacher.

The APD officer refused to take the child’s blood-stained garment and tag it into evidence.

Interim Chief Geier insisted that no one with APD violated any policies or procedures, including when an APD officer tossed out the evidence.

Geier doubled down when he said that officers and detectives “did everything they could with the information they had at the time.”

After a full week of negative news coverage, Mayor Keller ordered an Internal Affairs Investigation into the handling of the evidence gathering.

COMMENTARY

Interim Chief Geier defending the actions of APD when he knew absolutely nothing about the case, even after courtroom testimony of the teacher, speaks volumes of either his management ineptness or worse his reluctance to hold APD accountable showing nothing has changed in management at APD that lead to the federal consent decree.

The Channel 4 news report could not have been a better job interview video and Geier should just give it to the Chief’s Selection committee and decline to be interviewed by the committee.

Mayor Keller’s interim appointments are a reliance on the past management of APD and that alone should disqualify them from being retained permanently in the positions of Chief and Deputy Chiefs.

Channel 4 did its viewers a major disservice by failing to report on all the applicants for APD Chief.

Channel 4 could have interviewed all the applicants as well, but that would be real news and of course would have taken some time, but why bother to inform the public.

The Channel 4 news report was nothing more than a “fluff piece” that seems to confirm that the selection committee and the “national search” is nothing more than a farce and that Keller intends to make Geier permanent.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2018/05/03/no-need-for-charade-if-fix-already-in/

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About

Pete Dinelli was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He is of Italian and Hispanic descent. He is a 1970 graduate of Del Norte High School, a 1974 graduate of Eastern New Mexico University with a Bachelor's Degree in Business Administration and a 1977 graduate of St. Mary's School of Law, San Antonio, Texas. Pete has a 40 year history of community involvement and service as an elected and appointed official and as a practicing attorney in Albuquerque. Pete and his wife Betty Case Dinelli have been married since 1984 and they have two adult sons, Mark, who is an attorney and George, who is an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). Pete has been a licensed New Mexico attorney since 1978. Pete has over 27 years of municipal and state government service. Pete’s service to Albuquerque has been extensive. He has been an elected Albuquerque City Councilor, serving as Vice President. He has served as a Worker’s Compensation Judge with Statewide jurisdiction. Pete has been a prosecutor for 15 years and has served as a Bernalillo County Chief Deputy District Attorney, as an Assistant Attorney General and Assistant District Attorney and as a Deputy City Attorney. For eight years, Pete was employed with the City of Albuquerque both as a Deputy City Attorney and Chief Public Safety Officer overseeing the city departments of police, fire, 911 emergency call center and the emergency operations center. While with the City of Albuquerque Legal Department, Pete served as Director of the Safe City Strike Force and Interim Director of the 911 Emergency Operations Center. Pete’s community involvement includes being a past President of the Albuquerque Kiwanis Club, past President of the Our Lady of Fatima School Board, and Board of Directors of the Albuquerque Museum Foundation.