“APD’s Ship of Fools”; Captain Geier And The “Little Buddy” Keller On Gilligan’s Island

Dan Klein is a retired Albuquerque Police Sergeant after 20 years of public service. He has been a small business owner in the private sector now for 15 years. Mr. Klein has been a reporter for both on line news outlets the ALB Free Press and ABQ Reports.

On December 16, 2019 the following article written by Dan Klein, with introductory bullet talking points was published by ABQ Report:

“- Will we see Keller holding anyone accountable for the charade that APD and crime fighting in Albuquerque has become? No.

– Either the people at APD in charge of the crime stat reporting are incompetent fools or they knew exactly what they were doing and purposely deceived all of us, including Mayor Keller.

– Rest assured APD did have some good news for crime-weary Albuquerque. They now have a low-rider APD police car and an APD golf cart to add to the pink APD patrol car they made in October.

BY DAN KLEIN

[The end of 2019 was] very bad for Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Mike Geier and the citizens of Albuquerque.

[The city] broke the record for murders in a year [with 82 homicides]. … We found out that an APD detective tossed a child into jail for six days, based upon a warrant that was clearly lacking in probable cause and facts. APD rolled out their Metro 15 crime initiative, targeting the worse violent offenders in Albuquerque, only to be laughed at when several of the offenders did not have violent backgrounds and were given to APD by the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance. … APD trotted out their six-figure salary brain trust to explain why they have provided incorrect crime stats for two years.

KOB TV, to their credit, was the only mainstream media asking the hard questions of Geier and Keller. It was refreshing to hear Tessa Mentus and Steve Solis not holding back on their opinions of the “spin” that Geier and Keller are tossing out. They said what the entire city has been thinking: Geier and Keller are out of ideas and we can’t trust them when they speak. A damning indictment of Keller’s administration.

I was contacted by a representative of Law Enforcement Training and Consulting Services regarding … the innocent child, Gisell Estrada, and her false arrest for murder by APD homicide. The representative reminded me that his organization had just completed training all APD sergeants, detectives and lieutenants, who investigate and supervise violent crime investigations. A total of 126 APD personnel went through this training at a cost to the taxpayer of $75,000.

The training ended months before Gisell was arrested and Law Enforce Training and Consulting Services wanted me to know that what happened to Gisell is NOT what their training entailed. They reviewed the arrest warrant regarding Gisell and they stated that it went against everything they trained these APD officers. They stated that APD homicide participated in the training and they could provide no reason why homicide made such colossal mistakes.

Which prompts a question to Mayor Keller and Chief Geier: Why did you waste taxpayer money? Geier and Keller have still not opened an investigation into Gisell’s false arrest. There is no accountability at APD and city hall for wasting our money and falsely arresting our children. I wonder if Keller is crying about Gisell, as he did for the border children?

The Metro 15 promotion, errr, initiative, sparked open laughter from many when KOB started asking the agencies that APD said they were corroborating with what names those agencies contributed. KOB reported that several agencies didn’t have a clue what they, and APD, were talking about. Mayor Keller are you sure Metro 15 was in the works for nine months? It seems more like a one-week crisis management response to bad PR.

Furthering the snickering was when the Albuquerque Journal reported that three of the “most violent” offenders in Albuquerque were given to APD by the Office of the Superintendent of Insurance (OSI). These folks had property crime warrants. You would think that a commander making six-figures at APD would at least review the crime history of the offenders and try to make sure they have a violent warrant to fit Metro 15. Sadly, asking anyone in Geier’s command staff to do their due diligence is asking for way too much.

Which brings me to the news conference held by APD command staff that has overseen the crime stat fraud. Geier was AWOL, of course.

The APD command staff spun a tale of “it’s not my fault.” They blamed everything from bad technology, to too many job openings in records, to FBI changes. At the end of the day not one of these six-figure salaried smarties could explain which one of them failed to recognize the crime stat fraud that started two years ago. Not one of them took responsibility for not hiring enough people in records to get the job done. Not one of them said it was their responsibility to correctly inform Geier and Keller and that they had failed. Why haven’t Keller and Geier asked these questions? Why is this APD command staff still employed?

I always find it fascinating when someone in Japan or Korea fails in their job. They publicly apologize and take responsibility for their failures. It’s refreshing. Will we ever see Geier or his command staff publicly apologize to Gisell Estrada for falsely arresting her, a child? No. Will we ever see Geier or his command staff admit that it was their fault that the crime stats were lies for the last two years? That they lied to both Keller and the public because they are incompetent? No.

There are only two conclusions that I can come to regarding the crime stat fraud that APD perpetuated upon Albuquerque. Either the people at APD in charge of the crime stat reporting are incompetent fools or they knew exactly what they were doing and purposely deceived all of us, including Mayor Keller. Either way Keller should hold them accountable and dismiss terminate them.

Will we see Keller holding anyone accountable for the charade that APD and crime fighting in Albuquerque has become? No.

Rest assured APD did have some good news for crime-weary Albuquerque. They now have a low-rider APD police car and an APD golf cart to add to the pink APD patrol car they made in October. If you want coffee with a cop, they have that too. Just don’t expect any officer to respond to your 911 call for hours.

I wonder what six-figured salaried APD commander/chief came up with these great ideas?

I can’t wait to see the golf cart, pink patrol car and low rider all parked outside the latest homicide scene.

Until there is accountability for the fools running APD into the dirt, get ready to laugh at more ridiculous PR stunts, and get ready to see more crime. This is what a ship of fools looks like.”

The link to the unedited ABQ Report is here:

https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/2019/12/16/APDs-ship-of-fools

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Michael Geier need to recognize the fiasco the APD homicide unit as well as what APD continues to be, despite all the implemented DOJ reforms, unless something more is done to improve things with the management of APD and its personnel. Mayor Tim Keller for the last two years has been given essentially everything he has asked for from city council for public safety, and then some. He now needs to start managing and producing results to make this city feel safer.

Given the sure number of homicides and the pathetic homicide clearance rate, the Homicide Investigation Unit needs to be increased from 11 detectives to at least 24 detectives with two separate units, one for the most current homicides and the second for older back logged cases. Further, given the units low clearance rate and past performance, more needs to be done with respect to recruiting and training. APD continues to be in a crisis mode when it comes to our violent crime rates and it needs to concentrate on recruiting seasoned homicide detectives from other departments if necessary.

Within a few months of first taking office, Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Michael Geier completely reorganized APD and put their own management team in place. After more than two years in office, another reorganization of APD is in order because what APD is doing now is not cutting it, nor getting the job done when it comes to the City’s crime rates. It is obvious that the APD command staff Keller handpicked is not getting the job done. Major personnel changes are in order, including asking for more than a few resignations, starting with the APD command staff Keller picked. The reorganization would include increasing the number of officers sworn to patrol the streets and increasing the various units, such as the homicide and investigations units.

A reorganization needs to include abolishing the APD Internal Affairs Unit, with its functions absorbed by other civilian departments. Currently, there are 61 sworn police assigned to the compliance bureaus, which includes APD Internal Affairs. There are 40 detectives involved with the Department of Justice reform enforcement. Those 40 officers would be better utilized in the field services patrolling the streets.

Until then, APD Chief Michael Geier and Mayor Tim Keller will continue to be the Captain and First Skipper Gilligan on the Ship of Fools known as APD.

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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.