On December 9, 2025, Mayor Tim Keller was elected to a historic third consecutive four-year term as Mayor of Albuquerque. His election now provides him with the very unique opportunity to completely reshape and reorganize the Albquerquerqu Police Department (APD) for a third time with a new generation of leaders and police officers to address the city’s crime efforts.
This article is an in-depth analysis of APD staffing with Commentary and Analysis.
INTERIM APD CHIEF APPOINTED
On December 31, Mayor Tim Keller announced his appointment of APD Deputy Chief Cecily Barker as Interim APD Chief after the retirement of former Chief Harold Medina on the same day. Mayor Keller also announced he would do a national search for a new chief. The city hired the out of state firm Public Sector Search & Consulting Inc. to assist in the search for a new Police Chief. The firm specializes in police executive searches. The firm’s contract began January 2 and has a maximum limit of $100,000. At least six people have applied and Interim Chief Baker has said she will be applying.
APD REORGANIZATION
On January 9, APD Interim Chief Cecily Barker announced a reorganization of the APD. The reorganization includes new executive appointments and the elimination of 12 command staff positions. The 12 command staff potions are being eliminated are a combination of sworn personnel, such as Deputy Commanders for both Internal Affairs division, and professional employees, such as the Director of Analytics.
The changes in staff are expected to save the city upwards of $2.4 million.
Interim Chief Barker announced the following changes as part of her new executive team:
- Major Luke Languit was named Interim Deputy Chief of Field services.
- Medina’s former Chief of Staff Miker Hernandez was named Interim Deputy Chief of Support Services.
- Commander Aaron Jones was named Interim Chief of Staff.
- Deputy Chief George Vega will continue as Deputy Chief of the Investigations Bureau.
- Deputy Chief Josh Brown will continue as Deputy Chief of the Special Operations Bureau.
Despite the announced cuts made by Interim Chief Barker, APD is continuing to recruit sworn officers. The department has 47 people in training at the police academy. The next cadet class is scheduled to start in March. APD currently has 913 sworn officers, or 921 with a corrected number identified, and 93 police service aides.
Chief Barker said this about her announced appointments and the reorganization:
“We have an experienced team in place to lead the department forward , while we transition into a new era of public safety in Albuquerque. We are experiencing new challenges in law enforcement , especially in response to the national political climate. We want our community to be assured that APD is prepared.”
“Many of these executive positions were created to help manage important initiatives as we navigated the final push to complete the settlement agreement with the Department of Justice. We no longer need the same level of management. We need to prioritize our resources to maintain the cities reduction in crime.”
The link to a quoted or relied upon news source is here:
The postscript also contains the link to a relied upon news source.
COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS
This News and Commentary article is an in-depth analysis of APD’s organization and its personnel staffing relying on the department’s organization chart, its personnel summary as well as discussions with confidential sources for fact checking and to confirm accuracy.
The link to review the most current APD organization chart that was updated on January 9, 2026 consisting of 9 pages is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-division-org-chart-1-7-26-draft-pdf.pdf
The link to review the one page “Department Summary: Sworn Personnel” which was replaced and updated as recently as January 23, 2026 is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-staffing-numbers-2026.pdf
Examination and analysis of the APD Organization Chart and the Summary of APD’s personnel reflects a law enforcement agency that is clearly top heavy and bloated with management in need of a major reorganization, deletion of positions, reassignment of personnel and the recruitment of a new generation of police officers.
BAKER APPOINTS DEPUTY CHIEFS
Interim Chief Baker has appointed or retained all former APD Chief Harold Medina’s loyalist as Deputy Chiefs. The appointments Barker made are:
- Major Luke Languit named Interim Deputy Chief of Field Services
- Medina’s former Chief of Staff Miker Hernandez named Interim Deputy Chief of Support Services.
- Deputy Chief George Vega will continue as Deputy Chief of the Investigations Bureau,
- Deputy Chief Josh Brown will continue as Deputy Chief of the Special Operations Bureau.
- Commander Aaron Jones is named Interim Chief of Staff.
Mayor Keller should replace the entire Chief’s command staff and completely reorganize the department with a new generation of leadership. If the entire command staff that Chief Medina put in is not replaced, including all the Deputy Chiefs, there is little to no chance APD will change. Medina management policies and style will remain. APD will revert back to the old ways that brought on the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree that lasted for 10 years with the city paying millions of taxpayer dollars to institute constitutional policing practices.
APD is still reeling from 10 years of a DOJ consent decree and a DWI bribery dismissal scandal where 20 cops from 3 agencies have been implicated and 9 APD Officers have plead guilty and are still awaiting sentencing. What Mayor Keller should consider doing to restore confidence in APD and restoring its reputation is appointing a new APD Chief and two, perhaps 3 Deputy Chief’s, who would be recruited from outside of APD ranks and hired at the same time as a whole new management team. They would be brought in together to assume command of APD. This would ensure a new era of command staff to restore confidence and faith in APD and new ideas on how to run a department that has been run into the ground the last 16 years by Mayors Berry and Keller.
APPOINTMENT OF PERMANENT CHIEF
Interim Chief Cecily Barker is considered the strongest Medina loyalist. When Medina retired, he advocated for one of his appointed Deputy Chief’s to take his place and he said this: “I hope that I left a strong bench for mayor to look at and choose.” It is common knowledge that Medina groomed Chief Barker to replace him. All 5 appointments underscore the need to do a national search for a new APD Chief and Deputy Chiefs and not just with Medina loyalists and cronies.
Speculation runs rampant amongst City Hall and APD observers that despite Mayor Keller’s public announcement that he will do a national search for a new Chief, he has already made up his mind and will appoint and make Interim Chief Barker permanent. The major reason people feel that Keller will make Barker permanent is that he is following the identical pattern he has followed with his appointments in the past: appoint an interim chief, announce a national search, going through the motions of accepting applications, having extensive public input, and doing interviews only to appoint his interim permanent saying the most qualified person for the job “was right in front of our eyes all along who has been interim chief”.
After 8 years being Mayor and after appointing two APD Chief’s, Keller likely has no doubt what he is looking for in an APD Chief. One nagging rumor is that Mayor Keller is “champing at the bit” to appoint the first female chief of police thereby making Barker his favored choice.
Now that Mayor Keller has had the city hire a private firm to the tune of $100,000 to help with a national search, he should go forward himself, along with his Chief Administrative Officer and the City Attorney and do the interviews himself. Mayor Keller needs to decide sooner rather than later who to appoint Chief. If in fact Interim Chief Barker is who he really wants, he should avoid wasting peoples time and the politcal sham of doing a national search and just go ahead and appoint Barker.
ELIMINATE UNECESSARY MID MANAGEMENT POSITIONS
APD is top heavy with mid-management positions that are very difficult to justify, who do administrative work, who do not take calls for service and who do not do basic police work. During the last four years, APD has created a whole new level of mid-management that is unnecessary, consisting of the positions of Major and Deputy Commander. Spread out over the six APD Bureaus are 11 Deputy Commander positions and 3 Major positions for a total of 14 positions. None of these officers are assigned to the field to patrol the streets, they do not respond to calls for service, they make no arrests and they do not carry investigation caseloads. They perform administrative and support duties. All 14 positions should be eliminated and the personnel reassigned.
ANALYSIS OF SIX APD BUREAUS
Following is an Analysis and Commentary on APD’s six bureaus:
- THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF
Simply put, the Office of the Chief is bloated. According to the APD Department Summary of Sworn Personnel, it has a total of 43 fully staffed positions yet incorrectly reports a total of 35. This miscalculation would mean that the total staffing figure for APD sworn would be 921 and not the 913 reported. The Office of the Chief includes the executive staff of 10 comprised of the Chief,1 Chief of Staff, 1 Executive Director and 4 Deputy Chiefs. There are 35 others assigned to the Office of the Chief which includes 3 Majors, 1 Commander, 7 Lieutenants, 5 Sergeants, all of which are lower or mid management positions. It also has 20 Officers/detectives listed as assigned to it.
The link to the “Department Summary: Sworn Personnel” is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-staffing-numbers-2026.pdf
The Organization Chart for the Office of the Chief reflects it has three public spokespersons who do interviews, prepare press releases, respond to the media inquiries and who post on the department’s FACEBOOK page and social media outlets with all three reporting directly the Chief. APD should cease any and all of its social media efforts given the lengthy history of very negative antics an abuse by the main APD Spokesperson. Most city departments have only one spokesperson calling into question the need for 3 APD spokespersons when there should be only one. Three spokespersons for APD is nothing more than the APD’s effort to control the narrative with the media in the most positive light.
The Organization Chart for the Office of the Chief reflects that the Chief of Staff has direct “chain of command” over the Operations Review Division, APD’s Human Resources, Compliance & Oversight and APD Policy ostensibly staffed with sworn personnel including one Commander over the Operations Review and one Lieutenant over Compliance & Oversight. The duties and functions of these sections should be assumed by trained civilian staff reporting to sworn mid management. The Mayors Detail consisting of 4 officers who provide Security for the Mayor is in the direct chain of command of the Chief. They should also provide security to the Albuquerque City Council when deemed necessary or appropriate during a public crisis or when elected city councilors are threatened.
The Office of Chief should be compromised of the very uppermost management of the department and include the Deputy Chiefs who oversee the APD Bureaus, the Chief of Staff along with designated APD civilian staff that are in charge of administrative matters, including budgets, grants, accounting and human resources matters. The fact that the Office of Chief has 3 Majors, 1 Commander, 7 Lieutenants, 5 Sergeants, all of which are mid management positions along with 20 Officers/detectives reflects that the Office of the Chief it is bloated with sworn police that are performing functions that trained civilian staff should be performing.
The Office of the Chief has the Compliance and Oversight Section managed by a Lieutenant with assigned sworn officers and detectives. This section should be completely removed from the Office of the Chief and reassigned to the Office of Superintendent, which then should be reorganized and designated as the Internal Affairs, Compliance and Oversight Bureau.
- THE OFFICE OF SUPERINTENDANT
The Organization Chart and Summary of Personnel for the Office of Superintendent reflects 29 sworn personnel who are assigned to the bureau. It includes 1 Executive Director, 2 Majors, 2 Commanders, 3 Deputy Commanders, 2 Lieutenants, 10 Sergeants and 9 Officer/Detectives for a total of 29 sworn police personnel. The Office of Superintendent is divided into the bureau of Police Reform/Professional Integrity, Behavioral Health and Peer Support.
The link to the “Department Summary: Sworn Personnel” is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-staffing-numbers-2026.pdf
The most critical function of the Office of Superintendent is Internal Affair functions of investigating police misconduct. Three civilian monitors, which include 2 retired former judges, are on contract and monitor APD training, discipline and use of force misconduct and are believed to work only part time.
Under the APD Organization Chart, the Superintendent of Police Reform reports directly first to the Associate Chief Administrative Officer who reports directly to the City’s Chief Administrative Officer. The Superintendent does not report to the APD Chief nor to the Mayor which is how it should be to ensure complete autonomy and to avoid even the appearance of undue influence by the Chief or the Mayor. Three civilian monitors, which include 2 retired former judges, who are on contract, report directly to the civilian Associate Chief Administrative Officer and the Chief Administrative Officer and are not within the chain of command of the Superintendent.
The Superintendent position was created in response to implementation of the Federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement, and the primary function is Internal Affair functions to investigate police misconduct, including use of force and deadly force. In May 2025, the U.S. District Court approval the termination of the federal consent decree known as the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) covering the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) since 2015.
The Office of Superintendent should be streamlined, reorganized and designated as the Internal Affairs Compliance and Oversight Bureau with a Deputy Chief who would not be in the Chief’s direct chain of command, but who would report to the Associate Chief Administrative Officer and the City’s Chief Administrative Officer.
The 2 Majors and 3 Deputy Commanders positions and 8 Sergeant positions, should be removed and reassigned, leaving two Sergeant positions and the 29 sworn police personnel. The position of Superintendent would be abolished and the new Internal Affairs Compliance and Oversight Bureau created that does not report to the Chief but the Chief Administrative Officer.
The three contract monitors over police training, discipline and use of force should be consolidated into one full time contract position.
- THE FIELD SERVICES BUREAU
The Field Services Bureau is by far the largest of all the six major bureaus of APD. It should be reorganized to include the Problem Response Teams (PRT) and Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) do more patrols of area commands and to take more calls for service.
The Field Services Bureau has assigned to it 519 sworn personnel out of the whole department of 913 or a 927 adjusted figure. The Field Services Bureau includes APD’s seven area commands (Foothills, Northeast, Northwest, Valley, Southwest, Southeast, University). The number of officers assigned to the area commands is contingent upon the calls for service volume in the area commands.
The link to the “Department Summary: Sworn Personnel” is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-staffing-numbers-2026.pdf
There are 351 out of 519 sworn, or 67%, sworn police assigned to the six area commands in the Field Service Bureau patrolling the streets, with the balance of 168 being management. The 351 are the sworn officers who bid for the assignment. The 351 are broken down into 3 shifts and patrol the streets and neighborhoods responding to hundreds of thousands of calls for service a year.
STAGGERING NUMBER OF CALLS FOR SERVICE
The 2025-2026 approved APD budget reports on the staggering number of calls for service APD responded to throughout the city for the years 2023, 2024 and mid year 2025 as follows:
Number of 911 calls received:
- 2023 Actual Calls Received: 434,083
- 2024 Actual Calls Received: 421,907
- 2025 Mid-year Calls Received: 214,948
Number of 911 calls answered:
- 2023 Actual Calls Answered: 386,014
- 2024 Actual Calls Answered: 385,200
- 2025 Mid-year Calls Answered: 192,784
EDITORS NOTE: Many 911 calls are diverted to the Albuquerque Community Safety Division and Transit security, but they have no arrest authority.
FELONY AND MISDEMEANOR ARRESTS
The 2025-2026 approved APD budget contains statistics on felony arrests and misdemeanor arrests made by all APD sworn and it is presumed that a good portion of those arrests were made by area command sworn police. Following are the statistics
Number of Felony Arrests:
- 2023: 8,034
- 2024: 7,519
- 2025 Mid-year: 4,331
Number of Misdemeanor Arrests:
- 2023: 11,293
- 2024: 13,573
- 2025 Mid-year: 7,094
Source: APD 2025-2026 approved budget, page 161.
https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy26-proposed-budget-web-version.pdf
GROSS UNDERSTAFFING
Simply put, 351 sworn police officers spread out over the entire city over 3 shifts handling hundreds of thousands of calls for service amounts to gross understaffing. Actual shift numbers working are repeatedly reduced because of annual leave, sick leave, military duty leave, terminations, retirements, voluntary departures or other reasons.
Area Commanders are known to attend and report to Neighborhood Associations and Coalitions on crime statistics and staffing levels. It is not uncommon for Area Commanders or other APD staff to report during neighborhood association meetings that staffing levels during shifts are extremely low and that too many times only 2 or 3 sworn police are patrolling entire command areas.
A. PROBLEM RESPONSE TEAMS
The Field Services Bureau includes APD’s Problem Response Teams (PRT). The PRTs staffing includes 6 PRT Sergeants and 42 PRT sworn officers who conduct proactive enforcement in crime areas and community engagement and outreach. They work mostly in inform but can work in plain cloths capacity, at times undercover, and they are assigned government take home vehicles. Their primary law enforcement duties do not officially include being dispatched and responding to 911 calls for service nor doing regular patrols of the streets and neighborhoods like field officers. The PRT teams can likely do more responding and being dispatched to 911 calls for service and to do regular patrols of the streets and neighborhoods. All 42 PRT Officers should be in the loop and made available to be immediately dispatched to take 911 Calls for service.
B. CRISIS INTERVENTION TEAMS
The Field Services Bureau includes Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT). There is a total of 25 sworn police assigned to the Crisis Intervention Teams consisting of 1 CIT Commander, 2 CIT Deputy Commanders, 3 CIT Sergeants and 18 CIT Officer/Detectives. The CIT Teams should be streamlined with the elimination of Deputy Commanders. Sworn Officers assigned to CIT are not in uniform, work in plain clothes and are assigned government take home vehicles. Sworn police assigned to CIT do not do regular patrols of the streets and neighborhoods like field officers. The Crisis Intervention Teams work with people who are subject of emergency calls for service and who exhibit chronic behavior patterns or who are suffering from psychotic episodes that may pose risks to themselves or others. One of the primary goals of Crisis Intervention Teams (CIT) is to ensure that situations involving people in crisis are diffused so that use of force and deadly force may be avoided and that proper medical attention can be provided or referrals made to appropriate service agencies. The duties and responsibilities of the Problem Response Teams should include being in the loop taking 911 calls for service and to regularly patrol the streets and neighborhoods like all field officers.
- THE SPECIAL OPERATIONS BUREAU
According to the APD organization chart, the Special Operations Bureau has a total staffing of 123 sworn personnel as follows:
- 1 Deputy Chief
- 4 Commanders
- 2 Deputy Commanders
- 6 Lieutenants
- 19 Sergeants
- 91 sworn officers/detectives
The link to the “Department Summary: Sworn Personnel” is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-staffing-numbers-2026.pdf
The Special Operations Bureau is divided into the four separate divisions of Special Services Division, the Aviation Division, the Tactical Division and the Metro Traffic Division with each having a Commander.
The Special Services Division includes the specialized units of Homeland Security Unit, the Horse Mounted Unit, the Air Support Unit, the Open Space Unit, the Special Services Unit, the Metro Court Protection Unit and the Emergency Response Team.
The Aviation Unit is believed to be the unit that provides security for Albuquerque International Airport.
The Tactical Division includes Tactical Support, SWAT Unit and the K-9 unit.
The Metro Traffic Division includes the Motors Unit, the Aggressive Driving Unit, the Abandon Vehicles Unit the Fatal Accident Team, the Swing Motors Unit and the DWI Unit
The 2025-2026 approved APD budget contains statistics on the Number of DWI arrests as follows:
- 2023: 1,385
- 2024: 1,063
- 2025 Mid-year: 479
Source: APD 2025-2026 approved budget, page 161.
https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/documents/fy26-proposed-budget-web-version.pdf
The two Deputy Commander positions should be eliminated. Given the eclectic functions of this bureau, and after the elimination of the two Deputy Commander positions, the ratio of command staff to sworn officers is deemed necessary and at appropriate levels.
- INVESTIGATIVE BUREAU
According to the APD Organization Chart, the Investigations Bureau consists of the 3 Sections: the Criminal Investigations Division, the Scientific Evidence Division and the Investigative Services Division. Investigations Bureau has a total staffing of 145 sworn personnel as follows:
- 1 Deputy Chief
- 3 Commanders
- 3 Deputy Commanders
- 5 Lieutenants
- 19 Sergeants
- 114 Officers/ Detectives
The link to the “Department Summary: Sworn Personnel” is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-staffing-numbers-2026.pdf
The Investigative Bureau should be reorganized and personnel cuts made. The 3 Deputy Commander positions are unnecessary and should be eliminated with their duties and responsibilities assumed by the Commanders and the Lieutenants.
The 19 Sergeant positions should be cut to 10 and the 114 Officer/Detectives should be cut to 60 with the 133 balance of sergeants and Officer/Detectives positions reassigned to Field Services area commands to respond to calls for service in patrol.
The duties and responsibilities of the Scientific Evidence Division should be performed and assumed by civilian staff, and all sworn reassigned and the one vacant Lieutenant position should be eliminated.
The Investigative Services Division should be streamlined and designated as the Property Crimes Division to deal exclusively with the Auto Theft, Organized Crime, Burglary, Robbery and Narcotics and Intelligence. The Investigative Support and Electronics Support services officers should be replaced with trained civilian staff to do these support services.
- SUPPORT SERVICES BUREAU
According to the “Department Summary of Sworn Personnel” the APD Support Services Bureaus has 62 assigned sworn police officers consisting of the following 1 Deputy Chief, 1 Major, 2 Commanders, 1 Deputy Commander, 3 Lieutenants, 6 Sergeants, 18 Officers/Detectives and Cadet and Lateral Hire Classes totaling 30.
The link to the “Department Summary: Sworn Personnel” is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-staffing-numbers-2026.pdf
The Support Services Bureau is divided into the Real Time Crime Center Division with a Major in charge and the APD Academy Division with a Commander in charge.
The Real Time Crime Center Division includes the Emergency Communications Center ( the 911 Dispatch, Telephone Report Unit, Records and data), the Crime Analysis Center, the Records Division (Crime Statistics, NCIC).
The Academy Division includes the APD Academy itself and is responsible for all basic and professional training classes and cadet training classes.
Commanders should be in charge of Real Time Crime Center Division and the Academy Division. The positions of Major and Deputy Commander should be eliminated, with the Major position reclassified as a Commander.
The link to the “Department Summary: Sworn Personnel” is here:
https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-staffing-numbers-2026.pdf
RECRUITE OF A NEW GENERATION OF POLICE OFFICER
On December 1, 2009, when former Mayor Richard Berry was sworn into office for his first term, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) was the best trained, best equipped, best funded department in its history. APD was fully funded and staffed with 1,100 sworn police officers. Over the 8 years of Berry’s two terms, APD went from 1,100 sworn police and hit a rock bottom of 853 sworn police.
When then New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller ran for Mayor, he ran in part on the platform of increasing the size of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) to 1,200 police and returning to “community-based policing” by the end of his first term. When Mayor Tim Keller assumed office on December 1, 2017, there were 861 full time sworn police according to the 2017-2018 city budget figures and payroll records at the time.
To keep his campaign promises on APD, Mayor Keller order his Administration to begin implementing an $88 million-dollar police department expansion program. The announced goal was to increase the number of sworn police officers from 861 positions filled to 1,200, or by 339 sworn police officers, over a 4-year period. Keller promised to increase the number of sworn police in the department to 1,200 by the end of his first term, pledging to hire 100 new police officers a year. It never happened but Keller was elected to a second term.
Over his entire 8 years and two terms, Mayor Keller has never successfully achieved the goal of 1,000 sworn police let alone the 1,200 he promised 8 years ago. The closst Mayor Keller came to 1,000 sworn was on February 8, 2021 when it was reported to the City Council by then Interim Chief Harold Medina that APD had 957 sworn police.
Mayor Keller has said that the goal of achieving 1,000 police is too elusive, and it’s a unicorn never to be seen. Notwithstanding Mayor Keller’s opinion, APD over at least the last 3 years has been given funding for1,000 sworn police positions only to have as many as 100 positions or more go vacant because APD is unable to keep up with retirements. Rather than allowing the funding for the vacant positions to revert to the general fund, APD management has essentially used the funding as a “slush fund” on other APD priorities including retention bonus funding and APD programs not funded by the city council.
APD cannot deal with the city’s high crime rates because APD’s sworn personnel is currently at 913 or 921 depending on which correct numbers are used. For the last 16 years, under both Mayors Berry and Keller, recruitment has been stagnant. APD has not been able to keep up with retirements despite being the best paid law enforcement department in the state.
APD can in fact reach the 1,100 level of sworn personnel with recruitment of a whole new, younger generation of police officers by using same methods that achieved the 1,100 figure in 2019, but it will be costly. The current payment of incentive pay of as much as $18,000 a year to experience officers who are eligible to retire should be phased out and abandoned with the funding dedicated to recruitment efforts.
A program of giving “sign on bonuses” of as much of $50,000 should be made available in exchange for a 5 year commitment from young, new recruits to work for APD and paid out in $10,000 increments per year in addition to their yearly pay. (EDITOR’S NOTE: The Federal government is paying $50,000 sign on bonuses for ICE agents.) A combination of home mortgage down payments, credit card debt reduction payments, student loan reduction payments and bonuses for higher education should be offered.
Until APD, the Mayor and City Council get serious and get aggressive about recruiting a new, younger generation of cop with financial incentives, APD will always be understaffed.
REMOVE MANAGEMENT FROM COLLECTIVE BARGAINING UNIT
Under the City’s Personnel rules and regulations, the APD Chief, the Deputy Chiefs, Commanders, Deputy Commanders, and Majors are all “unclassified” positions making them at will employees and they may be terminated without cause. APD Sergeants and Lieutenants are “classified employees” and can only be terminated for cause.
For decades, APD Sergeants and Lieutenants have been allowed to be part of the Albuquerque Police Officers Association collective bargaining unit. Any and all disciplinary actions taken against APD Lieutenants and Sergeants and sworn officers below those ranks are governed by the union contract. They have due process rights including progressive disciplinary actions and rights of appeal.
The New Mexico Public Employees Bargaining Act, Sections 10-7E-1 to 10-7E-26 H (NMSA 1978), governs the enforcement of the city’s collective bargaining agreement with the APD police union. Section 10-7E-5 provides for the rights of public employees and states in part
“Public employees, other than management employees and confidential employees, may form, join or assist a labor organization for the purpose of collective bargaining … .
The link to the statute is here:
https://www.pelrb.state.nm.us/statute.php
The police union contract violates state law when it allows the management positions of Lieutenants and Sergeants to be part of the collective bargaining unit and it’s a practice that should be stopped. Their membership results in an inherent conflict between management priorities and policies and rank and file priorities that are union policies.
Under New Mexico law, APD Sergeants and Lieutenants should be viewed as management employees and be prohibited from joining the APOA union as a condition of their employment. APD Lieutenants and Sergeants are on the front-line management that oversee those officers who serve under their command. APD Lieutenants and Sergeants are primarily responsible for making sure that all Standard Operating Procedures (SOP’s) are followed by subordinates.
APD Lieutenants and Sergeants need to be removed from the collective bargaining unit, recognized as management and made at will employees so that they can fully represent management and not have a conflict of interest with subordinates. There is a president for doing this. Over 20 years ago, APD Captains, reclassified as Commanders, were part of the collective bargaining unit but were removed through union negotiations.
Mayor Tim Keller should aggressively make the removal of APD Lieutenants and Sergeants as part of collective bargaining negotiations. The city should go so far as file suite to seek decertification of the union in court to prevent Lieutenants and Sergeants from being part of union negotiations and joining the APOA union.
FINAL COMMENTARY
Mayor Tim Keller has the very unique opportunity to completely reshape and reorganize the Albquerquerqu Police Department (APD) for a third time with a new generation of leaders and a new generation of police officers to address the city’s crime efforts. Mayor Keller needs to replace the entire Chief’s command staff and completely reorganize the department for a new generation of leadership.
APD cannot deal with the city’s high crime rates because APD’s total sworn personnel is at 913 or 921 corrected adjusted figure. For the last 16 years, recruitment has been stagnant and the department has not been able to keep up with retirements.
As it stands, there are only 351sworn police officers assigned to the six area commands broken down into 3 shifts and patrolling the streets responding the hundreds of thousands of calls for service a year commands while the entire sworn police staff is 913 or 921. APD is top heavy with mid management. APD must do better to increase the number of police patrolling the streets of Albuquerque.
Simply put, APD needs far more than one new Chief. It needs a whole new generation and management team of top command staff of Chief and Deputy Chiefs that need to be recruited. It needs a complete reorganization and realignment of staffing to get more sworn police onto the street to patrol.
If the entire command staff that Chief Medina has put in place over the last 5 years is not replaced, including all the Deputy Chiefs and Commanders, there is little to no chance APD will change. APD will revert back to the old ways that brought on the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree that lasted for 10 years with the city paying millions of taxpayer dollars to institute constitutional policing practices.”
The link to a quoted or relied upon news source is here: