On Friday, January 10, the City of Albuquerque filed a Motion to have certain portions of the federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) suspended and placed into “sustained compliance” and “suspend monitoring” of those requirements by the Federal Court approved monitor. The city’s Motion highlights the progress made by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) in implementing the court mandated reforms under the CASA.

It was on November 16, 2014, that the City and the Department of Justice (DOJ) entered into the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA). The agreement contains 276 requirements for reforming the police department. The settlement required the appointment of a Federal Court Monitor to perform audits on the progress of the all reform. Thus far, 11 federal monitor reports have been filed. The link to the CASA is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/mental-health-response-advisory-committee/documents/court-approved-settlement-agreement-final.pdf

According to the Motion, the Albuquerque Police Officer’s Association, the sole intervenor in the case, agreed with the relief being sought by the City in the original motion to suspend filed. The court appointed federal monitor took no position on the City’s motion. In the city’s motion, the city was seeking that APD self-assess upwards of 25% of the 276 settlement agreement requirements.

The requirements that would be self-monitored would be the operation of a Mental Health Response Advisory Committee, field officer recruitment and training, and management of the department’s Special Operations Division. The DOJ and the monitoring team have been working with the City and APD on a “self-assessment” plan. The plan was to determine to what extent APD has in fact come into compliance with all the reforms and the extent of the need for further monitoring. In March, a 51-page self-assessment plan was filed with the Federal Court for approval.

MOTION TO WITHDRAW

On Friday, August 21, the City Attorney’s Office filed a “Motion to Withdraw” its “Motion to Suspend” certain portions of the settlement and allow for self-assessment and monitoring. Since the filing of the motion, hearings on the motion and the plan for self-assessment have been repeatedly scheduled only to be continued because of the pandemic. As grounds for withdrawal, the City Attorney is now citing the ongoing impact of the COVID-19 public health crisis and pandemic’s lockdown orders.

According to Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Gilbert Gallegos, the decision to put off consideration of the plan indefinitely was made in consultation with the other parties in the case. The U.S. Attorney’s Office, the APD Police Union, the Federal Monitor and all the others stakeholders in the case do not oppose the Motion to Withdraw. An agreed order sign by the parties and the Federal Judge granting the request will be filed. APD will continue to work on the plan for self-assessment and will revisit the issue once things have settled down with the pandemic. APD spokesman Gallegos had this to say in a statement:

“APD was forced to devote additional time and resources over the past six months to deal with the impacts of COVID-19, while also ensuring public safety during 35 protests in the city. … APD will need to continue to devote time and resources to the COVID-19 impact for at least the next few months. In addition, we want to continue to get input from the amici groups on these plans.”

The agreement, signed in 2014, lays out 276 requirements for reforming the police department, ranging from when and how officers should use force, how the use of force should be reported and how it should be investigated, to how special units such as SWAT or Crisis Intervention Teams should operate.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1490089/city-halts-efforts-to-seek-release-from-parts-of-doj-agreement.html

DOJ INVESTIGATION

On April 10, 2014, the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), Civil Rights Division, submitted a scathing 46-page investigation report on an 18-month civil rights investigation of the Albuquerque Police Department (APD). You can read the entire report here.

https://www.justice.gov/sites/default/files/crt/legacy/2014/04/10/apd_findings_4-10-14.pdf

A significant number of the use of force cases reviewed involved persons suffering from acute mental illness and who were in crisis. The investigation found APD’s policies, training, and supervision did not ensure that officers encountering people with mental illness failed o to ensure rights were respected and police did not act in a manner that was safe for all involve.

What differentiates the DOJ’s investigation of APD from the other federal investigations of police departments and consent decrees is that the other consent decrees involve in one form or another the finding of “racial profiling” and use of excessive force or deadly force against minorities. The DOJ’s finding of a “culture of aggression” within APD dealt with APD’s interactions and responses to suspects that were mentally ill and that were having psychotic episodes.

APD REQUIRED STAFFING FOR DOJ CONSENT DECREE

It is the APD Compliance Bureau that is primarily responsible for enforcing the mandates under the CASA. The Compliance Bureaus consists of the Internal Affairs Professional Standards Division, Policy and Procedure Division, Accountability and Oversight Division, Internal Affairs Force Division and the Behavioral Health and Crisis Intervention Section and includes funding for training provided by the APD Academy for constitutional policing practices.

The 2020 -2021 City Council approved budget has a line item funding of $34,042,000 for APD Professional Accountability. This funding is essentially funding for the Compliance Bureau and the 5 divisions it consists of and includes APD Academy training associated with the Department of Justice Consent Decree reforms and enforcement. According to the August 1, 2019 “Staffing Snapshot”, the Compliance Bureau has total staffing of 61 sworn police consisting of 40 Detectives, 1 Deputy Chief, 3 Commanders, 1 Deputy Commander, 6 Lieutenants, 10 Sergeants.

One of the major concentrations of the Compliance Bureau is the ongoing cooperation with the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree (CASA) and its implementation of its terms and conditions. Internal Affairs deals with investigation police misconduct cases. Crisis Intervention deals with the crisis intervention teams who deal with the mentally ill. Policy and Procedures deals with the review and writing of standard operating procedures.

The city currently employees one Assistant City Attorney who is the former United State Attorney for New Mexico paying $150,000 and one retired Federal Magistrate billed and paid for on contract to review and write APD Policy.

COMPLETED MANDATED REFORMS

On November 16 , 2020, it will be a full 6 years that has expired since the city entered into the CASA with the DOJ. It was originally agreed that the settlement implementation would be completed within 4 years, but the previous Republican Administration engaged in delay and obstruction tactics found by the Federal Monitor. Now after almost 6 full years the following mandated reforms under the CASA have been completed:

1. After a full year of negotiations, new “use of force” and “use of deadly force” policies have been written, implemented and all APD sworn have received training on the policies.

2. All sworn police officers have received crisis management intervention training.

3. APD has created a “Use of Force Review Board” that oversees all internal affairs investigations of use of force and deadly force.

4. The Internal Affairs Unit has been divided into two sections, one dealing with general complaints and the other dealing with use of force incidents.

5. Sweeping changes ranging from APD’s SWAT team protocols, to banning choke-holds, to auditing the use of every Taser carried by officers and re-writing and implementation of new use of force and deadly force policies have been completed.

6. “Constitutional policing” practices and methods, and mandatory crisis intervention techniques an de-escalation tactics with the mentally ill have been implemented at the APD police academy with all sworn police having received training.

7. APD has adopted a new system to hold officers and supervisors accountable for all use of force incidents with personnel procedures implemented detailing how use of force cases are investigated.

8. APD has revised and updated its policies on the mandatory use of lapel cameras by all sworn police officers.

9. The Repeat Offenders Project, known as ROP, has been abolished.

10. Civilian Police Oversight Agency has been created, funded, fully staffed and a director hired.

11. The Community Policing Counsels (CPCs) have been created in all area commands and the CPCs meet monthly.

12. The Mental Health Advisory Committee has been implemented.

13. The CASA identified that APD was understaffed. The City and APD are in the process of spending $88 million dollars, over a four-year period, with 32 million dollars of recurring expenditures, to hire 322 sworn officers and grow the department to 1,200 officers. As of January 1, 2020, APD has 949 full time police officers, up from 878 sworn police. The expansion thus far is attributed primarily to hiring from other departments and returning to work APD retirees.

14. In November, 2018 APD achieved 99.6% compliance with primary tasks, 75.4% secondary compliance and 59.5% operational compliance with APD making significant progress in overall compliance.

15. According to the Use of Force Report for the years 2017 and 2018, APD’s “use of force” and “deadly force” is down dramatically , which was one of the primary objectives of the CASA reforms.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

It is disappointing that the city decided to withdraw the “Motion to Suspend” portions of the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA). The city arguments are very weak at best that “APD was forced to devote additional time and resources over the past six months to deal with the impacts of COVID-19 …” and that APD needs to “continue to devote time and resources to the COVID-19 impact for at least the next few months.” The truth is 61 fully funded APD positions are devoted to the DOJ reform process, positions that are not likely being used at all to deal with the pandemic.

After review of the city’s motion, the DOJ investigation report, the 276 CASA mandates, the 11 Independent Monitors Reports and the reforms implemented, a major conclusion that can be reached is the spirit and intent of the CASA has been attained. The motion was viewed by many as a precursor to dismissal of the entire case sooner rather than later.

The biggest complaint of all the DOJ consent decrees in the country is implementation and enforcement “go on and on” for years, costing millions in taxpayer dollars. With expected, continued implementation of the DOJ reforms a 95% to 100% compliance with all the CASA primary, secondary and operational compliance goals should be achievable within 12 months, if not much sooner.

The role of the federal monitor should be reduced, as was being requested in the original motion, as well as the continued costs of the monitoring team reduced. The city should commence negotiations immediately with the DOJ for a stipulated “Order of Complete Compliance and Dismissal” of the CASA, and all causes of action the DOJ has against the city and APD. Otherwise, the city and taxpayers will be sucked into “year after year” of expenses and costs associated with a consent decree whose primary objective has been achieved and whose federal monitor wants another $4 million to audit progress.

Sooner rather than later there must come a time when APD needs to be dismissed from the case. APD needs to be able to do its job without the Department of Justice (DOJ) constantly monitoring and looking over its shoulder. City Hall, the Mayor and the City Council need to be forced do their jobs along with the Police Oversight Commission of civilian oversight and holding APD accountable for constitutional policing practices.

The documents related to APD’s settlement agreement include:

The Settlement Agreement between City and the DOJ
APD Progress Reports
Independent Monitor’s Reports
Compliance Reports
Use of Force Annual Reports
Use of Force Reports
Studies
Audits

The link to review and download the documents is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents-related-to-apds-settlement-agreement

For a related blog article see:

City Moves To Be Released From Portions Of DOJ Consent Decree And Monitoring; Commentary: Intent And Purpose Of CASA Accomplished, Dismiss Case

On Monday, August 31, Mayor Tim Keller and his Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Bhakta, held a press conference to discuss the city’s financial condition, the city’s tax revenues and the impending release of the finalized 2020-2021 fiscal year budget to the City Council for hearing and final approval. Keller reported that the decrease in tax revenue has led to an estimated $27 million shortfall in Albuquerque for the current fiscal year, but by preserving this year’s budget, the city was able to avoid furloughs.

What was also was instrumental in avoiding furloughs and layoffs among the city’s roughly 6,000-person workforce was the city receiving $150 million in restricted federal coronavirus relief funding through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES). Originally, the CARES Act funding was only to be used for pandemic related efforts, but it was amended to allow it to be used and applied to other city expenditures.

City officials reported that for the fiscal year 2020 gross receipts tax revenue finished 5% behind expectations. Another 5% drop in gross receipts tax revenue is projected for 2021. The drop in revenues resulted in a hiring freeze. According to Keller, the hiring freeze translates into meaning fewer people performing code inspections, driving buses and maintaining parks.

For the 2020 fiscal year that ended June 30, the city’s gross receipts tax revenue (GRT) was approximately $19.9 million short of projections, but the GRT still surpassed 2019 GRT because of a new Internet sales tax stream. City officials expect that GRT revenues will continue to dwindle in fiscal year 2021, which began July 1.

Mayor Keller offered the following summation:

“We have our economic challenges, there’s no doubt about that, but our city on a relative basis is actually not doing as bad as we thought. … [W]e tried to first cut costs then we tried to identify savings by banning travel, by examining department budgets for costs savings, restrictions on new hires; we have a broad hiring freeze that’s had a lot of exceptions we’ve had in place now for I think six months. …

But by and large, any major initiative, we expect government to continue on as it normally would with just minor delays in some services. … The job recovery region, Albuquerque and Bernalillo County, is in much better shape. … We should be back to the normal level sometime in 2024.

Keller did acknowledge that it might get worse if local businesses don’t start rebounding, but believes the city’s finances will be fine for at least 6 months assuming the economy gets better. If the economy does not get better, Keller said:

“We are always considering what we need to do and that could include layoffs. That could include wage cuts. That could include furloughs.”

Links to related news coverage are here:

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/city-of-albuquerque-faces-budget-shortfall-but-mayor-says-it-could-be-worse/5846715/?cat=500

https://www.koat.com/article/expect-taller-grass-trash-and-longer-bus-waits/33854871

https://www.abqjournal.com/1492125/keller-citys-economic-position-better-than-most.html

CITY FINANCES IN A NUTSHELL

City finances have been totally upended as a result of the corona virus pandemic and its impact on the city economy and in turn city gross receipts tax returns have dramatically declined. On March 16, 2020, the New Mexico Department of Finance, Local Government Division, issued Memorandum authorizing the New Mexico municipalities to submit their last year’s fiscal budget for 2019-2020 budget as their fiscal budget for year 2020-2021 until reliable tax revenue projections can be determined. That is exactly what the Albuquerque City Council did when it enacted what they considered a “stop gap” budget.

The Charter of the City of Albuquerque requires the Mayor to formulate the annual operating budget for the City of Albuquerque and all of its departments. It is the City’s Department of Finance under the direction of the City’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) that formulates the yearly budget which is then submitted to the Albuquerque City Council. The city’s fiscal year’s budget begins every year on July 1 and ends every year on June 30. The annual city budget must be submitted by the Mayor’s Office to the City Council by April 1. The City Council, upon receipt of the proposed budget from the Mayor, schedules budget hearings, takes public input and makes changes as it sees fit before enacting the final budget to be effective July 1.

The current gross receipt tax added to virtually all retail sales of goods and services is 7.7850%. Businesses collect the tax on each sale made and the money is then sent to the New Mexico Taxation and Revenue Department and each month the state the distributes the city’s portion of tax collected to the city. Retail businesses make up about 25% of all the city’s gross receipts tax collected. The gross receipts tax revenue pays for basic municipal operations and essential services such as police protection, fire protection, solid waste collection, street repairs, animal welfare, parks maintenance, social services and the wages and benefits to over 6,000 city employees.

Gross receipts tax is collected and given to the city accounts for 67% of the City’s general fund revenue. The gross receipts tax revenue pays for basic municipal operations and essential services such as police protection, fire protection, solid waste collection, street repairs, animal welfare, parks maintenance, social services and the wages and benefits of over 6,000 city employees. For the current fiscal year that ended on July 31, 2020, the city averaged upwards of $41 million in gross receipts tax revenue or $492 million dollars for the year. The remaining 33% of revenues needed to operate the city are generated other fees, other tax revenues and federal funding

2020-2021 OPERATING BUDGET ENACTED

On April 13, 2020, on a unanimous vote of 9-0, the Albuquerque City Council enacted R-20-31 which is the city’s operating budget for fiscal year 2020-2021. The approach to enact the 2020-2021 city budget was a dramatic departure from all previous years all because of the pandemic and falling gross receipts tax revenues.

The City Council’s operating budget, R-20-31, enacted is a “bare bones budget” resolution consisting of only 7 pages of line item appropriations for each of the city departments. There is no explanation or elaboration on the actual use of the millions appropriated in the budget. No public hearings were conducted that would have allowed comment and input from the public. The 2020-2021 operating budget went into effect on July 1, 2020 and ends June 31, 2021. The City Council ostensibly will follow the normal process with the Keller Administration submit a “performance based” budget and conduct public hearings.

The link to the enacted budget, resolution R-30-21 is here. Click on the link then click on R-31 spelled out in blue and marked FINAL:

https://cabq.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=4411998&GUID=3FD662EF-A96A-4BD6-8113-380B7451BADC

BREAKING A CAMPAIGN PROMISE

In May, 2018, 5 months after he assumed office, Mayor Tim Keller signed into law a gross receipt sales tax increase enacted by the City Council. Seventy percent of the tax was dedicated to public safety. The tax was supposed to raise $55 million a year in revenue. Keller broke a campaign promise not to raise taxes, even for public safety, without a public vote. The rational for the tax increase was that the city was faced with a $40 million dollar deficit. The deficit never materialized and the tax increase was not repealed, and the Keller Administration has never disclosed where those revenues went or why the tax was not repealed when the deficit never materialized.

The City of Albuquerque had an operating budget of $1.1 billion for the fiscal year that began July 1, 2019 and ends on June 30, 2020. It was the first time in city history that the city operating budget exceed the $1 Billion figure. The 2019-2020 budget represented an overall 11% increase in spending over the previous year.

HISTORY REPEATING ITSELF

City Hall history is repeating itself. It was 10 years ago in 2010 that the city had to make significant cuts in order to deal with the “great recession”. Then Republican Mayor Richard J. Berry had a $69 million shortfall and he decided unilaterally to cut city employee pay by 3%, disregard negotiated union contract pay increases with the city’s unions, place a freeze on all hiring and reduced and slashed city services not considered essential such as the 311-call center. The number of APD sworn officers went from 1,100 in 2010 all the way down to 875 under Mayor Berry and community based policing was abandoned and existed in name only.

For the full 8 years under the former Republican Mayor Administration, the city was hit hard because of the great recession to the extent that essential services were dramatically cut and city and government was dramatically downsized. The cuts and downsizing were done in order to avoid any all tax increases to maintain Mayor Berry’s Republican philosophy that all tax increases are bad, even when needed for essential services, and that city government was too big and needed to be downsized.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Just as the city was pulling out of the 10-year great recession, the city gets hit and get hit hard in the gut with the corona virus pandemic resulting in business closures, layoffs and a dramatic decrease in gross receipts tax revenues that funds 67% of the city’s operating budget. The city is now facing a major financial crisis.

It will not be fully known for at least another 6 months to what extent the corona virus has depleted the city’s coffers. If the City in fact plunges into another recession, which is highly likely, it will be much deeper than the 10-year great recession that started in 2008. Many businesses along central already barely making it because of the ART project will probably close permanently because of the Governor and Mayor’s emergency health orders.

DIFFICULT DECISIONS AHEAD

Mayor Tim Keller and the Albuquerque City Council will likely have to embark on a very painful but absolutely necessary reduction in government services and expenditures to deal with the major deficit caused by a dramatic reduction in gross receipts tax revenues. The City’s loss of gross receipts tax revenues obviously was brought on by the corona virus shutdown of businesses and resulting loss of gross receipts tax revenues, but Mayor Keller pinning his hopes on a quick rebound is not realistic.

The City is mandated by law to have a balanced‐budget. According to Mayor Keller, city financing should be fine over the next six months. But if things do not improve quickly by June, 2021, the city will be faced with any number of options or a combination thereof including:

1. Slashing department budgets across the board by a mandatory percentage to “spread the pain”.
2. Eliminate entire none essential city service departments, city divisions or units.
3. Reduce city services in some form.
4. Closure of city facilities such as libraries, senior citizen centers, golf courses and recreational activities and cancellation of major public events such as Summerfest.
5. Continue to freeze all hiring over the next year.
6. Layoffs or furloughs of government workers and elimination and funding of city positions.
7. Delay for a time all city construction projects that will result in need to hire more city staff.
8. Suspend all salary increases or implement salary deductions to the 6,000 city employees.
9. Postpone growing the police and fire department ranks and concentrate on police and fire academy classes for the sole purpose of keeping up with retirements and maintaining the existing number of the ranks before retirements
10. Increase gross receipts tax.
11. Increase property taxes.
12. Increase admission fees to museums, the Zoo and Botanical Gardens and Aquarium, golf fees.
13. A combination of all cost cutting and revenue increase options.

Mayor Tim Keller will start to look and sound more and more like his former Republican predecessor when he starts to say “cut city services and reduce the size of government” to get through the financial crisis caused by the pandemic. One thing is for certain is that if Mayor Tim Keller advocates another gross receipt tax increase, or goes along with the city council with it, or supports a property tax increase, Keller will wind up becoming a one term Mayor.

CONCLUSION

Before Mayor Keller downplays delaying not getting the parks mowed, he may want to pick up the phone and call former Mayor David Rusk on the importance of such things. Rusk served as Mayor from 1977 to 1981 and became a former, one term Mayor, when his popularity plummeted. Voters became very upset and when they felt Rusk did not act quickly in cutting down wild weeds growing throughout the city after a heavy monsoon season. The weeds were not cut down because of cost savings.

Then again, cutting weeds and grass will be the least of Mayor Tim Keller’s concerns as he is dealing with the cities violent crime and murder rates.

On Wednesday, July 21, President Donald Trump and Attorney General William Barr announced during a White House news conference that 35 federal agents were being sent to Albuquerque as part of the expansion of “Operation Legend”. Six other cities with high violent crime rates were also sent federal agents.

During the press announcement, President Trump said there has been a “shocking explosion” of “heinous crimes” in where their leadership wants to “defund, defame or abolish” police departments. Trump severely criticized city leaders headed by Democrats throughout the country for not doing enough to combat crime and for putting the “interests of criminals” above law-abiding citizens. Trump said:

“Under Operation Legend, we will also soon send federal law enforcement to other cities that need help. … Other cities need help. They need it badly. They should call. They should want it. They’re too proud or they’re too political to do that. One of them is Albuquerque, New Mexico.”

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/pres-trump-35-agents-coming-to-albuquerque-for-operation-legend/

MAYOR KELLER AND CHIEF GEIER OVER REACT TO OPERATION LEGEND

In response to Trumps announcement of Operation Legend, Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Michael Geier issued the following press releases:

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller statement:

Our hearts are with … every family who has been victim to gun violence–a decade-old problem that remains our top priority. Unfortunately, look at the President’s own words: he’s ready to incite violence in Democratic cities as a re-election strategy built on gaslighting immigrants and people of color. We always welcome partnerships in constitutional crime fighting that are in step with our community, but we won’t sell out our city for a bait and switch excuse to send secret police to Albuquerque. Operation Legend is not real crime-fighting; it’s politics standing in the way of police work and makes us less safe.

APD Chief Michael Geier statement:

“Contrary to claims by politicians in Washington. D.C., Albuquerque has been keeping overall violent crime flat and has reduced homicides thus far this year. We have made reducing gun violence a top priority and have worked with our community to make the city safer. While we welcome any assistance and additional resources to address violent crime, the President promised help in the past and has not yet followed through. We are still waiting on the $10 million Operation Relentless Pursuit funding that was promised last year to help us with our goal to hire more officers and to bring in additional federal law enforcement agents to assist us in our crime fighting efforts. While I will try to remain optimistic, I won’t hold my breath until we see all this actually come to fruition.”

NEW MEXICO U.S. ATTORNEY JOHN ANDERSON REACTS

U.S. Attorney for New Mexico John Anderson reacted to the Keller and Geier statements and said the goal of Operation Legend is to reduce gun violence in Albuquerque and said:

“Any effort to compare Operation Legend to what’s going on in Portland is baseless and misguided. … There is no connection between those two. The federal law enforcement resources that are being deployed are directed at reducing gun violence; they are not directed at arresting or controlling protesters; they are not being directed at restricting anyone’s right to protest. … They are not being directed at immigration enforcement, and they are not being directed at protecting statues. It’s limited to the exclusive goal of eliminating the scourge of gun violence.”

Scott Howell, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office had this to say about Operation Legend:

“We evaluate cases for Operation Legend on a case-by case basis. … We look at a defendant’s actions and criminal history in making the decision to include the case as part of Operation Legend.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1481226/operation-legend-prosecution-underway-in-albuquerque.html

SUCCESS OF OPERATION LEGEND REPORTED

On August 28, U.S. Attorney for New Mexico John Anderson reported that in a little over a month since federal agents arrived in Albuquerque as part of Operation Legend, 19 violent felons have been arrested on federal charges. According to Anderson, it is just a small number of people driving the majority of violent crime in Albuquerque, and their goal is to get those people off the streets. The Department of Justice (DOJ), including the FBI and Drug Enforcement Administration, is targeting people with lengthy and violent criminal histories and convicted felons accused of crimes like carjacking, illegally shooting guns and drug dealing.

U.S. Attorney for New Mexico John Anderson had this to say:

“Operation Legend is about combating dangerous crime and gun crime in our cities. … It’s not about policing any kind of protest in our city. It’s not about immigration enforcement. … We are really looking at the people who are driving the violent crime epidemic in Albuquerque. … We are looking to remove the most violent folks from communities, not simply rack up arrest numbers of people who do not have serious criminal histories. … There are more cases on which prosecution has been initiated, but I can’t say more about them because they are under [court] seal. … More than anything, I hope to see reduction in violent crime and people feeling safer living and working in the city.”

According to Anderson, the 35 federal agents assigned to Albuquerque under Operation Legend will remain until at least the end of September. At that point, they will re-evaluate violent crime rates and stay longer if needed.

19 FEDERALLY CHARGED AND 22 ARRESTS REPORTED

Anderson said at least 19 violent felons have been federally charged. The best example given by Anderson was naming Luis Talamantes-Romero as the murderer of Jacqueline Vigil, age 55. Vigil is the mother of two New Mexico State Police officers, who was murdered in her car as she tried to leave her home very early in the morning for the gym. Talamantes is identified as a member of Juaritos Maravilla, a violent street gang operating in Albuquerque.

Vigil’s slaying became Albuquerque’s highest profile unsolved homicide for 8 months until the FBI stepped in to help in July with Operation Legend. APD never made an arrest in the case, but the FBI made 5 arrests. Although Talamantes has been charged federally with illegal entry into the United State a 4th time and awaiting sentencing, Anderson made it clear that it is up to the state to file murder charges against Talamantes-Romero. Anderson did give APD credit with having done work on the case.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/19-federally-charged-in-albuquerque-under-operation-legend/

On August 30, Channel 4 and Channel 7 reported that on Saturday August 29, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office as part of Operation Legend worked with the federal agents to patrol southeast Albuquerque. The law enforcement sweep resulted in 22 arrests with 14 of those arrests made for felonies. The arrests included the seizure of guns, illicit drugs and a stolen vehicle. At least two of the cases will be prosecuted by the United State Attorney’s Office. Based on the news coverage, APD did not participate in the enforcement action with only the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office providing uniformed law enforcement assistance to make arrests.

EDITOR’S COMMENTARY: The likely explanations for the absence of APD sworn police from the August 29 law enforcement sweep is the fact that Bernalillo County Sheriff Manny Gonzalez, even though he has over 2 years left in his second term, has made it known he will be running against Mayor Tim Keller next year for Mayor. Gonzales attended the White House press conference announcing Operation Legend and Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Geier condemned Operation Legend as “secret police”.

Links to the news coverage are here:

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/operation-legend-agents-patrol-se-albuquerque-alongside-bcso/5844055/?cat=500

https://www.koat.com/article/sheriff-gives-update-on-operation-legend/33841118

TEN MILLION GRANT FUNDING

Included in Operation Legend is $10 million to the city to hire 40 police officers. The purpose of hiring the additional police officers is to help make sure crime stays down after federal agents leave. It is still not certain if the city will actually accept the funding. The grant must be approved by the city council.

The Keller Administration is taking issue with one of the requirements of the grant, which is part of the Operation Legend, that says the grant funding cannot be awarded to a City if it is a “sanctuary city”. U.S. Attorney John Anderson had this to say about the grant funding:

“My understanding was that there was concern about the immigration condition in the grant documents [and] the money is now in limbo. … In order to get that funding, the city has to sign off on the award document and officially accept the award. … At this point the city has not done that yet.”

Anderson said he believes Albuquerque is the only city of the 7 cities involved with Operation Legend that has yet to accept the grant money. Albuquerque is on pace for another record-breaking year of homicides, and Anderson believes the city can use the grant money.

On August 28, Mayor Keller responded to questions about the grant funding and said:

“I do believe it has to go to council and I think we got assurances [from the feds] that the funding wasn’t going to be anything like what we saw in Portland. … We got those [assurances] in writing and then we notified them that ‘okay let’s try to work together like we always do.”

The Albuquerque Police Department has confirmed the $10 Million Grant is going to the city council for approval, and added the grant money was discussed before the launch of Operation Legend.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/money-offered-to-albuquerque-for-operation-legend-in-limbo/5843251/

“SANCTUARY CITY” VERSUS “IMMIGRANT FRIENDLY” CITY

The award and acceptance of the $10 Million Federal grant has been politicized by those that falsely claim that Albuquerque is a “Sanctuary City”. The truth is, Albuquerque has never been a “Sanctuary City”. In 2001, the Albuquerque City Council enacted a resolution that declared Albuquerque an “immigrant friendly” city. There is a very, very big difference between a “sanctuary city” and an “immigrant friendly” city.

In 2001, to his credit, the “immigrant friendly” resolution was sponsored by then Republican City Councilor Hess Yntema whose wife is a naturalized United States citizen from Columbia. Counselor Yntema was a two term District 6 City Councilor. District 6 is Albuquerque’s Southeast Heights District encompassing the University of New Mexico, Nob Hill and the International District.

Councilor Yntema was ahead of his time in sponsoring the immigrant friendly resolution and understood the perils and difficulties of many of his constituents who lived in his district which still has the highest population of immigrants in the city. The brutal truth is, many who are in the United States without legal immigration status, and who do not engage in criminal conduct, are often preyed upon by others and do not report to the police they have been victimized to avoid deportation.

A “sanctuary city” denies cooperation with federal immigration officials and does not use city law enforcement resources to identify or apprehend illegal immigrants and does not use city law enforcement resources to enforce immigration laws.

An “immigrant friendly” city is one that implements “welcoming city” policies and does not provide for city enforcement of federal immigration laws and addresses only city services including licensing and housing and the focus is to create inclusive, immigrant friendly and welcoming policies. Albuquerque’s “immigrant friendly” designation welcomes immigrants to the city and is largely symbolic.

In February, 2017, the City Council enacted a symbolic memorial that reaffirmed that Albuquerque’s “immigrant friendly” status, but it did not make Albuquerque a “sanctuary city”. Many who are in the United States without legal immigration status and who do not engage in criminal conduct are often preyed upon by others and do not report they have been victimized to avoid deportation. As a memorial, the legislation is not law, but an expression of support to extend city services to those who are afraid to ask for help out of fear of being reported to immigration authorities for deportation.

CITY’S HOMICIDE AND CLEARANCE RATES

In 2017, during the last full year Republican Mayor RJ Berry was in office, the city had 72 murders. In 2018, during Mayor Keller’s first full year in office, there were 69 homicides. In 2019, Keller’s second full year in office, the city had an all-time record number of 82 murders. The previous record high was 72 in 2017 and before that the high mark was in 1996 when the city had 70 homicides.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/11/21/city-matches-homicide-record-high-of-72-murders-mayor-keller-forced-to-defend-policies-makes-more-promises-asks-for-more-money/

The FBI reports that the national homicide clearance rate is 61%. In Albuquerque, in 2020 so far it’s 57%. It is more likely than not the clearance rate will fall for 2020 as more murders occur. In 2019, APD’s clearance rate was 52.2% when the city reached 82 homicides in one year.

According to the proposed 2018-2019 APD City Budget, in 2016 the APD homicide clearance rate was 80%. In 2017, Mayor Berry’s last year in office, the clearance rate was 70%. In 2018, the first year of Keller’s term, the homicide clearance rate was 56%. In 2019, the second year of Keller’s term, the homicide clearance rate was 52.5%, the lowest clearance rate in the last decade.

As of August 22, there have been 50 homicides reported in Albuquerque for 2020. With 50 murders thus far for 2020, the city is on track to match or exceed the all-time record of 80 homicides in one year or come very close to it by the end of the year.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/detectives-investigating-overnight-homicide-in-ne-albuquerque/

KELLER APD EXPANSION PLAN

New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller successfully campaigned to become Mayor on the platform the reduce the city’s spiking crime rates, increase the size of APD and return to community-based policing without increasing taxes unless there was a public vote and implementing the DOJ consent decree reforms.

Within 5 months of taking office on December 1, 2017, Keller signed off on a $55 million a year tax increase, with 70% dedicated to public safety, without a public vote, APD has added 116 sworn police officers to the force. APD’s goal is to spend $88 million dollars starting last year in the 2018-2019 fiscal year, over a four-year period, with 32 million dollars of recurring expenditures, to hire 322 sworn officers and expand APD from 878 sworn police officers to 1,200 officers. APD now has 972 sworn police.

Last year’s 2018-2019 fiscal year budget provided for increasing APD funding from 1,000 sworn police to 1,040. This year’s 2019-2020 fiscal year budget has funding for 1,040 sworn police. Notwithstanding all the money spent, APD is struggling to grow to the levels promised by Keller, crime is still spiking and APD is still under the DOJ consent decree.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Albuquerque has a violent crime rate that is 3.7 times the national average per capita, and the cities aggravated assaults are 4 times the national average per capita. The FBI reports the city has the dubious distinction of having a crime rate about 194% higher than the national average.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1491404/state-city-leaders-play-politics-with-public-safety.html

APD has 980 sworn police and the BCSO has 300 sworn police, for a total of 1,280 sworn police. During the last 10 years, the city’s crime rates have been some of the highest in the country, 8 years under Republican Mayor RJ Berry and for 2 years getting even worse under Democrat Mayor Tim Keller. Keller himself is saying APD alone needs at least 200 more cops. It not likely 35 more federal agents will bring down the crime rates if the agents are only here for 3 months.

It’s worth a try but it’s not likely that 35 sworn Federal law enforcement officers assigned to Albuquerque for 3 months are going to make that much of a difference in lowering the City’s high violent crime rates and it needs to last at least one full year if it’s going to make any real impact.

FIND ALTERNATIVE USE FOR FEDERAL GRANT MONEY

There is really no problem with Albuquerque accepting the $10 Million grant money in that the city is not a sanctuary city and never has been declared as such by the city council. Notwithstanding, there is very little guarantee, because of the volatility of the current political climate in Washington, that after the city accepts and spends the grant funding, the federal government will not demand a return of the funding arguing falsely that the city is a sanctuary city.

The biggest problem in accepting the $10 million federal grant is that it must be used to hire and employ 40 more APD police officers, and nothing else. The requirement to hire police reflects a poor understanding of city financing. Once a worker becomes a city employee and they are paid with a federal grant, they are classified as “temporary employees”. When the federal grant money is spent, the positions are eliminated and people are terminated unless they can be placed elsewhere and more funding found.

Employing police is in fact a reoccurring expenditure. Once the 40 police are hired, yearly expenditure and funding will continue long after the $10 million is spent. In other words, the city will be required to find another source of funding in order to continue to keep those officers employed. If the money is not there, the officers hired will likely have to be terminated.

DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE SHOULD ASSUME COST OF DOJ COMPLIANCE BUREAU AND FREE UP APD PERSONNEL

For the past 6 years, the City and APD have been struggling to implement the 276 reforms manadated by the Court Approved Settlement Agreement. (CASA). It is the APD Compliance Bureau that is primarily responsible for enforcing the mandates under the CASA. The Compliance Bureaus consists of the Internal Affairs Professional Standards Division, Policy and Procedure Division, Accountability and Oversight Division, Internal Affairs Force Division and the Behavioral Health and Crisis Intervention Section and includes funding for training provided by the APD Academy for constitutional policing practices.

One alternative use of the $10 Million in grant funding would be that the DOJ assume the cost of personnel for the Court Approved Settlement agreement and allow the city to “civilianize” the compliance bureau. The 2020 -2021 City Council approved budget has a line item funding of $34,042,000 for APD Professional Accountability. This funding is essentially funding for the Compliance Bureau that is involved with the Department of Justice Consent Decree reforms and enforcement.

According to the August 1, 2019 “Staffing Snapshot”, the Compliance Bureau has total staffing of 61 sworn police consisting of 40 Detectives, 1 Deputy Chief, 3 Commanders, 1 Deputy Commander, 6 Lieutenants, 10 Sergeants. 40 detectives assigned to the compliance bureau is excessive and a waste of law enforcement personnel resources that should be used to combat crime. The Department of Justice and the New Mexico United States Attorney’s Office is demanding 276 reforms and they in turn should fund the compliance bureau to free up the 40 sworn police assigned to it.

RECRUITMENT DIFFICULT AT BEST

The federal grant also assumes it will be easy for the city to recruit and hire more police officers, which is simply not the case. After a full six years, the city is still struggling to increase its ranks with new recruits and thus far it is not even able to keep up with retirements. Because of the city’s difficulty with recruitment, the entire $10 Million in grant money could be used to fund sign on bonuses for new recruits and lateral hires.

A lucrative sign on bonus program could be as much as $30,000 to be applied strictly towards debt reduction, payment of education tuition debt, home mortgage down payment and full relocation moving costs. In exchange for the bonuses, the recruit or lateral hire would agree to a minimum employment contract for a period of years, such as 3 to 5 years, with repayment and stipulated judgment provisions for breach of contract for early termination by them.

CONCLUSION

Given the city’s difficulty in hiring police officers, the short-term funding of $10 Million dollar grant, the requirements of the grant relating to immigration, the Albuquerque City Council and the city would be better served by turning down the money for the use of hiring 40 police officers. This is not the say that the city does not need the funding, but that every effort should be made to change the terms of the grant and allow the city to use the money in other ways to find, charge and prosecute violent felons.

The city council needs to enact a resolution asking the federal government to use the grant funding for other projects or ask that the funding be used to lengthen the duration of Operation Legend . As alternative, the city council should request that the Department of Justice and the the United States Attorney’s Office assume the cost of the APD compliance bureau to continue with Operation Legend.

In the early morning of November 19, 2019 at 5:00 am, Jacqueline Vigil, the mother of two New Mexico State Police officers, was murdered in her car as she tried to leave her home for the gym. At the time, two violent criminal suspects were roaming the area casing the neighborhood for something to steal. Rumors ran rampant that the murder was about retaliation against law enforcement involving the victims two sons. For 8 months, the murder of Jacqueline Vigil was reported as unsolved by the Albuquerque Police Department (APD).

SAM VIGIL SPEAKS AT REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION

On August 26 Sam Vigil took the stage in Washington, D.C. before a nationally televised audience of the Republican convention to recount his horror of finding his wife, 55-year-old Jacqueline Vigil, murdered in the driveway of their home. Mr. Vigil recounted that he found his wife of 18 years slumped over in her car the morning of November 19 while he saw the killers flee in a Jeep Cherokee that had been blocking the driveway as his wife she tried to leave. The 3 minute speech before the national audience was very dignified and emotional as Mr. Vigil’s eyes welled up in tears and he recounted the brutal slaying of his wife.

Sam Vigil told the national audience in part:

“When I go to bed at night, that sound and that image haunt me. That’s my life sentence. It’s a sentence being served by too many families left behind by senseless killings. … For over eight months, there were no arrests and no leads in connection with Jackie’s murder. The Albuquerque police were overwhelmed. They needed help. … Help arrived when President Trump launched Operation Legend in July of this year. …
Almost immediately, the FBI took over Jackie’s case. In a matter of days, they arrested four people. The fifth – the suspected killer – is in a Texas jail. … [The man the FBI arrested for her murder had been] deported in September and had come back in October to terrorize our community. … It is a sad irony that Jackie immigrated to the U.S. for a better life than her native Colombia – only to be gunned down in her own driveway.

I am extremely grateful to President Trump and the FBI for their efforts to deliver justice for Jackie and all the other innocent victims of violent crime. I am honored to support the President because he is supporting us. I know he will never stop fighting for justice, for law and order, and for peace and security in our communities … ”

The link to the entire 3 minute speech is here:

https://www.youtube.com/embed/DydlOj3DNcQ

MAYOR KELLER AND CHIEF GEIER REACT TO TALAMANTES INVESTIGATION AND ARREST

On August 19, Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Michael Geier released the following statements reacting to the arrest and custody Luis Talamantes.

Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller Statement

“This senseless murder shook Albuquerque because we all felt the loss of Jacqueline Vigil. We vowed to bring the killer to justice and to continue the fight against violent criminals in our city. For many months we have been aware that we were making real progress on the case but couldn’t comment publicly, or push back on a lot of myths being said about our police department. We are fortunate that APD has been doing the hard work over the last nine months to identify a suspect and ensure he was locked up and not able to commit additional crimes while they investigated the murder. We are all calling again on the prosecutors to move this case forward swiftly so the killer is brought to justice for the harm he has caused to our community.”

APD Chief Michael Geier Statement

“For the last nine months, our homicide detectives used many of their investigative tools, including our aggressive tracking of guns used in crimes, to build a case, and track down the suspect in Texas. We also benefited from Crimestoppers and productive tips from concerned citizens, to assist detectives. While we haven’t been able to publicly discuss this investigation, I hope the people of Albuquerque realize that we don’t give up on victims of violent crime.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/suspect-identified-in-the-killing-of-jacqueline-vigil/5832784/?cat=500

SCATHING ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL

On Sunday, August 23rd, the following Albuquerque Journal editorial was published:

Editorial: As mayor and APD claim credit, feds make case against murder suspect
BY ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD

“Sam Vigil will never be able to get the image out of his head.

But they don’t have jurisdiction to bring the state charge that should be filed here. And that’s murder. That’s up to APD and the district attorney. The community deserves to know why that hasn’t happened – and if it ever will. That would be a press release worth reading.”

The link to the editorial is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1489208/as-mayor-and-apd-claim-credit-feds-make-case-against-murder-suspect.html

CITY’S HOMICIDE AND CLEARANCE RATES

Tragically, the November 19, 2019 murder of Jacqueline Vigil was one of the 82 murders that occurred in the city in 2019. In 2018, during Mayor Keller’s first full year in office, there were 69 homicides. In 2019, during Mayor Keller’s second full year in office, there were 82 homicides. Albuquerque had more homicides in 2019 than in any other year in the city’s history. The previous high was 72, in 2017 under
republican Mayor RJ Berry. Another high mark was in 1996, when the city had 70 homicides.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/11/21/city-matches-homicide-record-high-of-72-murders-mayor-keller-forced-to-defend-policies-makes-more-promises-asks-for-more-money/

The FBI reports that the national homicide clearance rate is 61%. In Albuquerque, in 2020 so far it’s 57%. It more likely than not the clearance rate will fall for 2020 as more murders occur. In 2019, APD’s clearance rate was 52.2% when the city reached 82 homicides in one year.

According to the proposed 2018-2019 APD City Budget, in 2016 the APD homicide clearance rate was 80%. In 2017, Mayor Berry’s last year in office, the clearance rate was 70%. In 2018, the first year of Keller’s term, the homicide clearance rate was 56%. In 2019, the second year of Keller’s term, the homicide clearance rate was 52.5%, the lowest clearance rate in the last decade.

As of August 22, there have been 50 homicides reported in Albuquerque for 2020. With 50 murders thus far for 2020, the city is on track to match or exceed the all-time record of 80 homicides in one year or come very close to it by the end of the year.

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/detectives-investigating-overnight-homicide-in-ne-albuquerque/

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Any regular reader of the blog www.PeteDinelli.com know full well that the author is no fan of President Trump and supports and intends to vote for Joe Biden for President. With that said, anyone who watches the 3-minute speech of Sam Vigil, no matter their party affiliation nor who they support for President, can take pride in the manner in which Sam Vigil represented his family and in turn the City of Albuquerque on the national stage in the glare of the national media.

The sincerity and the pain Mr. Vigil and his family have endured was clearly reflected in his words, in his eyes, the tone of his voice, and the expression on his face. Mr. Vigil’s comments and exhibited feelings are what police officers, violent crime prosecutors and even violent crime defense attorneys see and deal with every day. As a former violent crime prosecutor, I have seen such emotions many times before, and such expressions are what motivates law enforcement and prosecutors to seek justice for victims and their family’s.

Going forward, Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Michael Geier would be wise to take the 3 minutes to view Sam Vigil’s speech in full, take the Journal Editorial comments to heart and forgo any and all press releases trying to take credit for cases. Both Keller and Geier should concentrate on APD’s Homicide Unit. Keller and Geier need to work on increasing APD’s clearance rate, arrest rate and sending the cases over to the District Attorney’s office for prosecution. Otherwise, they will be faced with again going to the defense of APD when other agencies are able to do what APD in incapable of doing: getting violent criminals off the streets of Albuquerque.

In other words, Keller and Geier both need to knock it off with their political gamesmanship in that at this point, people want results not press releases. If they can not do it, they need to admit it and be replaced come next year at election time. The senseless murders have got to stop.

For a related blog article see:

Federal Charges Filed Against 5 In Jacqueline Vigil Murder; Political Gamesmanship In A Presidential Election Year; Mayor Keller And Chief Geier Left With Egg On Faces

On August 23, African American Jacob Blake, 29, was shot 7 times in the back by the Kenosha, Wisconsin Police Department as he entered his car where his three children were seated. The Konosha Police say they were responding to a domestic incident, but it is unclear who called the police, how many officers were involved, and what happened before the shooting. Police in Kenosha do not have body cameras, although they do have microphones.

The shooting was captured on a cell camera video. The person who shot the video, Raysean White, told CNN that before he began filming, he saw police wrestle, punch and Taser Jacob Blake. It was then he started recording. Mr Blake is shown walking around the front of the SUV. The two officers closest to Mr Blake at this point on the video are white males. As he opens the door and leans into the car, one officer can be seen grabbing his shirt and opening fire. Seven shots can be heard in the video, as witnesses shout and scream. Mr White told the AP news agency that he heard police officers shout “Drop the knife!” before gunfire erupted, but said he didn’t see a knife in Mr Blake’s hands.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/26/us/jacob-blake-kenosha-wisconsin-shooting-wednesday/index.html

Attorney Patrick Salvi Jr., Blake’s lawyer, said his client did not have a weapon in the vehicle. The attorney also said that Blake, because of his injuries, has needed nearly all of his colon and small intestine removed, and suffered damage to his kidney, liver and arm. According to Blakes family, he has been left paralyzed from the waist down.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53909766

MAYOR KELLER AND CHIEF GEIER REACT TO SHOOTING

On August 25, Mayor Tim Keller posted on FACEBOOK at 4:55 pm the following;

“The heartbreaking shooting of Jacob Blake makes clear that even after months of community-driven action, our national reckoning with racism is just beginning. We have to stand for urgent change AND do the real work on police reform and racial justice until #BlackLivesMatter is a reflection of reality.”

On August 25, the following tweet about the shooting was sent out on the APD Twitter Account attributed to APD Chief Michael Geier:

“The senseless shooting of Jacob Blake once again shows why our community and communities across the nation are seeking justice and change. On Behalf of APD, I offer my sympathy to Jacob Blake’s family and his children who witnessed this disturbing act. I sincerely hope he makes a full recovery.”

Hours after the tweet, Chief Geier sent an email to his officers saying that tweet wasn’t from him. In the email to his officers, Geier said:

“Earlier today a statement was posted attributed to me that I had not prepared or approved. This was an error and will be addressed. With respect to the officer involved shooting in Wisconsin, I have faith in the justice system that the facts of the incident will ultimately be revealed and comments by me about that incident without all the facts would be premature and inappropriate.

I would hope that this is not similar to the incident like we saw in Minneapolis since that had a negative impact on the reputations of all officers across our nation. I was not even aware of this incident in Kenosha until after this statement was posted. I would never have prejudged or jumped to conclusions without having more information. I apologize for any misunderstanding and want to assure everyone that these were not my words.”

It has been reported that it was APD Spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos who advised the chief to make a statement about the shooting. Gallegos issued the following statement:

“Understanding that our own community in Albuquerque has concerns about the use of force by police, I recommended a statement from Chief Geier to acknowledge the incident in Wisconsin and demonstrate our hardworking officers’ commitment to our ongoing reform efforts. The statement was posted on social media before chief had an opportunity to review it. When we realized the oversight, the post was removed.”
Links to news coverage are here:

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-officers-angry-over-tweet-about-wisconsin-shooting-on-apds-twitter/33799630

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/apd-chief-apologizes-for-departments-tweet-about-wisconsin-police-shooting/5839753/?cat=500

APD UNION SWIFTLY CONDEMNS

Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association was quick to condemn what happened. Police Union President Shaun Willoughby said Chief’s Geier’s tweet was a rush to judgement and had this to say:

“The erosion of trust that this displays to the rank-and-file of the Albuquerque Police Department is just overwhelming. … The rank-and-file were– to say the least, were fundamentally and completely disappointed. … I would hope the individuals that are posting on behalf of the chief would not be so disconnected from what the chief feels and what’s going on in law enforcement nationally.”

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The video of the shooting of African American Jacob Blake in the back 7 times by the Kenosha Police officers in Wisconsin is as shocking as it gets, but the video is NOT from a police lapel camera. Links to 2 videos of the shooting are in the postscript below. Kenosha police officers are not equipped with body cameras. Kenosha Police squad vehicles have dashboard cameras, but authorities did not say if any part of the shooting had been captured on those police vehicle cameras. The video of the shooting was done by a bystander and it is not clear if Blake was armed with a weapon nor why the police felt it was necessary to use deadly force.

Chief Geier was absolutely correct in his email when he said comments by him about the shooting without all the facts would be premature and inappropriate, but the tweet was sent out anyway. An apology under the circumstances just does not cut it. Chief Geier and APD Spokesman Gallegos need to be held accountable for it as should Mayor Keller if he was aware that the tweet was being sent out or if he or CAO Sarita Nair ordered it to be sent out.

The fact that a tweet from APD Chief Geier was sent out in the first place without his knowledge is disturbing and a violation of APD standard operating procedures. Ostensibly, the tweet was sent out after conferring with Mayor Tim Keller’s office seeing as Keller issued his own statement on FACEBOOK at the same time and that is his right. However, directing that a tweet be sent out by the APD Chief without his consent would be an abuse of authority. It is a reflection that the Keller Administration is more concerned about public relations and not law enforcement. Chief Geier apologizing for the tweet and saying he did not send it out is proof he is not running his department, or at a minimum he does not know what the hell is going on.
_______________

POSTSCRIPT
A link to a report that has the day time shooting of Blake captured on video that went viral is here:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/jacob-blake-shooting-what-happened-in-kenosha-wisconsin-11598368824

A link to a report that has a second video of the shooting is here:

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2020/08/26/jacob-blake-shooting-second-video-family-attorney-newday-vpx.cnn

On Sunday June 14, and during a June 15 press conference, Mayor Tim Keller announced plans to create a new Public Safety Department. The new department will be responsible to send trained professionals to respond to certain calls for service in place of armed APD police officers or firefighters. Although Keller did not disclose the estimated cost of creating the new department, he did provide sufficient information on the personnel needs for the department. This blog article is a discussion of the new department and a projection of the yearly cost of the new department.

The Albuquerque Community Safety Department as envisioned will have social workers, housing and homelessness specialists and violence prevention and diversion program experts. They will be dispatched to homelessness and “down-and-out” calls as well as behavioral health crisis calls for service to APD. The new department will connect people in need with services to help address any underlying issues. The department personnel would be dispatched through the city’s 911 emergency call system. The intent is to free up the first responders, either police or firefighters, who typically have to deal with down-and-out and behavioral health calls.

In a Sunday, June 14 interview Keller said “down and out” calls usually end with someone going to jail or to a hospital. According to Keller:

“And the determiner of [whether a person goes to jail or a hospital] is either firefighter or police [officer]. … Neither of them should be making that initial call, unless it’s a situation of violence. … We’re just expecting them to solve every individual’s problem, and I think that’s totally unfair to them and their training. … We should have trained professionals do this, instead of folks with a gun and a badge. But in general, that’s what we have to fix.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1466317/mayor-proposes-public-safety-department.html

Mayor Tim Keller, despite the change in the national conversation and calls for police departments to be defunded, said his goal is still adding 100 police officers every four years to the point APD is fully funded with 1,200 sworn police. APD currently has 985 sworn police officers after the graduation of the July APD Academy class. In a Channel 4 interview, Keller had this to say:

“We have to adequately fund violent crime law enforcement, and that means we got to get those other officers, but here in Albuquerque, we can do things– like, we’re trying to shift towards diversion programs, towards violence intervention programs. … All of these are essentially, many ways, decriminalizing sort of the interaction between the police and individuals. And so trying to have more civilian interactions and trying to invest in communities, trying to invest in upstream issues like education and poverty, we absolutely have to do a better job at that.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/mayor-keller-goes-1-on-1-to-discuss-policing-in-albuquerque/5758739/?cat=500

On June 15, Mayor Keller and Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair held a press conference to discuss details of the new Public Safety Department. It was reported that very few details had been worked out and the new department is still in the planning process. The Keller Administration said rough estimates suggest the new Community Safety Department will need 32 people for each its 6 area commands, staffed around the clock, to respond to tens of thousands of calls a year.

Links to related news articles are here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1466317/mayor-proposes-public-safety-department.html

https://www.abqjournal.c

ESTIMATED COST ESTIMATE FOR PUBLIC SAFETY DEPARTMENT

By Mayor Keller’s own admission, the new department will have 32 people for each its 6 area commands, or a total of 192 employees at a minimum, ostensibly working 3 separate 8 hour shifts to be able to respond 24 hours a day, 7 days a week as proposed, with none to have law enforcement powers of arrest and no training as paramedics like firefighters.

POLICE OFFICER PAY VERSUS SOCIAL WORKER AND MENTAL HEALTH PROFESSIONAL PAY

The use of social workers and other type of mental health professionals to respond to calls on things like homelessness, addiction, and mental health is something that has been successful and done for a while in other communities. (See article “Everyone benefits when police departments hire social workers” in Postscript.)

Many proponents of community policing also have the philosophy that trying to make social workers out of police officers just does not work. In cities that have started to use social workers, the pay earned by social workers is comparable to what police are paid.

Starting pay for an APD Police Officer immediately out of the APD academy is $29 an hour or $60,320 yearly. (40 hour work week X 52 weeks in a year = 2,080 hours worked in a year X $29 paid hourly = $60,320.) Police officers with 4 to 14 years of experience are paid $30 an hour or $62,400 yearly. (40-hour work weeks in a year X 52 weeks in a year = 2,080 hours worked in a year X $30 paid hourly = $62,400.) Senior Police Officers with 15 years or more experience are paid $31.50 an hour or $65,520 yearly. (40 hours work in a week X 52 weeks in year = 2,080 hours worked in a year X $31.50 = $65,520.)

The average Social Worker (MSW) salary in Albuquerque, NM is $60,903 as of July 27, 2020, but the range typically falls between $54,845 and $67,461. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on many important factors, including education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years a person has spent in the profession.

https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/licensed-clinical-social-worker-salary/albuquerque-nm

The average Psychologist ( Ph.D) salary in New Mexico is $94,840 as of July 27, 2020, but the range typically falls between $85,334 and $106,510. Salary ranges can vary widely depending on the city and many other important factors, including education, certifications, additional skills, the number of years you have spent in your profession.

https://www.salary.com/research/salary/benchmark/psychologist-phd-salary/nm

The Department will also require the hiring of a cabinet level Director. Mayor Keller pays his Department Director an average of $116,000 a year.

Based upon the average salaries paid and the number of projected employees need for each area command, the projected employee costs would be:

32 employees, divided into working three 8 hour shifts for 6 area commands = 192 total. (32 employees X 6 area commands)

Each one of the 6 APD area commands would likely need at least 1 psychologist paid an average salary of at least $85,334, to supervise the social workers and mental health experts for a total salary cost of: $596,040 ($94,840 (average Ph.D, salary) X 6 positions).

The remaining 186 positions, divided into working three 8 hour shifts for 6 area commands would likely be trained social workers licensed and certified to deal with the mentally ill or drug addicted and paid and average salary of $54, 845 for a total salary budget of $10,201, 170.

Total estimated personnel budget:

6 psychologist position salaries: $596,040
186 Social Worker positions: $10,201,170
Department Director: $116,000

TOTAL: $10,913,210

The $10,913,210 dollar is only the personnel costs. At least another 10% to 15% or $1.8 million, will need to be added on top of that figure for retirement contributions, city benefits that the city pays for employees and office and equipment needs.

PUBLIC SURVEY ANNOUNCED FOR NEW DEPARTMENT

On August 13, a KOAT TV report stated the new Public Safety Department will include trained professionals like social workers, violence prevention and diversion program experts who will all be able to respond and help first responders with a community safety response. According to the city, the intent of the new department is to help the city’s first responders focus on crime, fires and medical emergencies, while sending trained professionals to respond to calls on things like homelessness, addiction, and mental health. The hope of the new department is to cut down on 911 response times. The department is expected to have a hard start late next year.

A link to the KOAT TV story is here:

https://www.koat.com/article/albuquerque-city-leaders-asking-for-input-to-shape-role-of-new-community-safety-department/33600496

The Keller Administrations is seeking public input with an on line survey, 13 question survey. The survey is asking the people of Albuquerque what they want the department to look like.
The public survey includes the following questions:

1. Do you support adding the Community Safety department as a third 911 emergency response option (Police, Fire/Emergency Medical Services, and Community Safety)?

2. What do you think the Community Safety department should do to improve safety in our community? (Multiple choice)

3. In addition to responding to 911 calls, the Community Safety department will be providing follow-up and connecting community to services. What types of services should the Community Safety department connect individuals/families to?

4. What types of issues would be appropriate for Community Safety responders to address without law enforcement? Know that police officers and emergency medical services can be called for back up at any time. Express your comfort level for each issue.

5. What types of issues would be appropriate for a police officer and a Community Safety responder to address together? Express your comfort level for each issue.

6. What supplies and equipment do you think Community Safety responders should carry? (Select all that apply)

7. In the case that an individual is trying to harm themselves or harm others and a Community Safety responder is unable to de-escalate the situation, what do you think is an appropriate response from a Community Safety responder? Express your comfort level for each potential response.

8. What percent of current police calls would you expect the Community Safety department to be able to handle?

9. In which ZIP Code do you live? (enter 5-digit ZIP Code; for example, 87106)

10. What gender do you identify as?

11. What is your age?

12. Which race or ethnicity best describes you? (Select all that apply)

13. Additional comments:

The link to the survey is here:

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ABQACS

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Mayor Keller is creating and entirely new city department that is on equal footing with all the other 19 city departments, including APD and AFRD, that have hundreds of employees and separate functions, tasks, and services. Mayor Tim emphasized that the city will not divert money from core police work or the Department of Justice (DOJ) reform efforts that the APD has been undertaking for the last 6 years. According to Keller:

“We can do this with the existing budget, because these groups – our Homeless Advisory Council, our Mayor’s Youth Advisory Council, One Albuquerque Kid’s Cabinet – they have all been working and talking about this issue for several years.”

What is painfully obvious is that the groups that have been working on this issue for several years have not figured out what it will cost and how will it be paid for by the taxpayer. When Mayor Tim Keller says “There is a huge portion of our community that doesn’t necessarily want two officers showing up”, it is doubtful the same people will want others dressed in white coats to do the same thing.

If that is indeed the case, the city will have to divert considerable resources to hire trained mental health care professionals, social workers and crisis intervention councilors to assume the responsibilities and handle the calls for service that were before handled by APD officers and Firefighters. It is highly doubtful if the Keller Administration can accomplish implementation within the existing budget given the current financial situation of the city as a result of the covid pandemic and the decline in gross receipts tax revenues.

At this point, the proposed Department of Public Safety ostensibly is a department that is a solution to reduce APD’s calls for service involving mental health calls and to transfer such calls to another civilian department with mental health experts to deal with those in crisis. In other words, the Public Safety Department as envisioned at this point does not address behavioral health care long term counseling nor solutions, but only involves “pickup and delivery” of people in crisis to take them either to jail or to a hospital.

In order to be successful, the Mayor’s new department needs to deal with the city’s long-term behavioral health system needs and programs that are desperately needed now and in the future.

In the meantime, you are encouraged to take the survey at this link: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/ABQACS

For a related blog article see the below link “Political Plagiarism Is The Highest Form Of Flattery; Keller’s Public Safety Department A “Pick Up And Delivery” Service To Reduce APD Calls For Service”:

https://www.petedinelli.com/2020/07/29/10669/

POSTSCRIPT

Law Enforcement Action Partnership (LEAP) is a nonprofit group of law enforcement professionals who advance solutions to public safety issues. On July 23, 2019, the blog published an article written by retired and former Alexandria Police Department Chief Mike Ward who spent 40 years in uniform and retired as the chief of the in Kentucky.

Following is the article:

TITLE: EVERYONE BENEFITS WHEN POLICE DEPARTMENTS HIRE SOCIAL WORKERS

How one Kentucky agency refocused its officers, saved money — and earned new respect from the community.

By Chief Mike Ward (Ret.)

“I’m a big proponent of community policing and have been for years. But it’s my opinion that community policing has failed in one particular area: we have tried to make social workers out of cops, and it just doesn’t work. We’re not wired that way. Social workers do the best social work. Partnering with them didn’t work in our community because there were communication barriers and logistical problems.

Traditionally, social workers don’t make a lot of money, so we hired them at the same starting salary as we would hire an officer. I bought them a small car for about $16,000, but I didn’t have to put an additional $15,000 worth of equipment in the car like I would for officers. It costs my agency $10,000 in weapons, uniforms, body armor, etc, to outfit one new police officer. I probably spent less than $1,500 on jackets, polo shirts, plus a portable radio for the social workers, and I think I bought them a pair of boots for the winter.”

The link to the article is here:

https://medium.com/@JustSolutions/everyone-benefits-when-police-departments-hire-social-workers-34d536f8802a