The term “jumping the gun” can be loosely defined as “to start something before it is permissible, appropriate, or advisable.” The phrase alludes to starting to run in a foot race before the starting gun goes off. “Jump the gun” is said to derive from track and field races and was preceded in the USA by the phrase “beat the gun”, or pistol. It is said to be caused by an athlete being too anxious and impatient to start a competition. When it come to the site selection process for the new 24-7 homeless shelter, it sure does look like Mayor Tim Keller has jump the gun on the process and has announced his preferred location.

BACKGROUND

Since being elected Mayor, Tim Keller has made it known that building a homless shelter is one of his top priorities.

On November 5, voters approved general obligation bonds of $14 million for a city operated 24-7 homeless shelter that will house upwards of 300. The actual cost will be $30 million and the City asked the 2020 New Mexico Legislature for the additional $14 million to complete phase two of the project, but the funding request failed.

City Hall has deemed that a 24-hour, 7 day a week temporarily shelter for the homeless as critical toward reducing the number of homeless in the city. The city owned shelter is projected to assist an estimated 300 homeless residents and connect them to other services intended to help secure permanent housing. The new facility would serve all populations, men, women, and families.

The city facility would have on-site case managers that will guide residents toward addiction treatment, housing vouchers and other available resources. According city officials, the new homeless shelter will replace the existing West Side Emergency Housing Center, the former jail on the far West Side.

The goal is for the new homeless shelter to provide first responders an alternative destination for the people they encounter on so-called “down-and-out” calls. Many “down and outs” today wind up in the emergency room even when they are not seriously injured or ill. According to city officials, in a recent one-year period, only 110 of 6,952 “down and out” people were taken by first responders to the Emergency Room with life-threatening conditions.

CITY ANNOUNCES FINALISTS

On February 27, the City of Albuquerque released a report and analysis announcing the top 3 preferred locations for the new 24/7 homeless shelter known as the “Gateway Center”. The 3 locations are:

1. University of New Mexico land next to the state laboratory, near Interstate 25 and Camino de Salud
2. Coronado Park at 3rd Street and Interstate 40
3. The former Lovelace hospital on Gibson

According to a city news release, 149 potential sites were originally identified through a community feedback process. That process included an “on line” survey” for people to take. Thirty 30 sites were identified. The Keller Administration scored the 30 sites “based on ownership of the location, lot size, zoning, acquisition cost, access to transportation, and proximity to services. ”

During a presentation of the report and analysis to a joint government board meeting of officials from the City, Bernalillo County and Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) government officials and community activists, officials from the Family and Community Services Department emphasized that even though 3 sites have now been identified, all the details have yet to be worked out for any one and the final site selection is far from over. Lisa Huval,the city’s deputy director for Housing and Homelessness emphasized that there is a chance the city creates multiple smaller shelters at different locations and keeps the West Side location open for overflow purposes.

City officials have said ground breaking is targeted for the summer of 2021 with starting operations in the spring of 2022.

MAYOR KELLER PROMOTES UNM SITE

On Friday, February 28, Mayor Tim Keller held a press conference with local church leaders at the vacant strip of University of New Mexico land that the city has now listed as a possible site for its forthcoming homeless shelter. Mayor Keller announced his support for the vacant strip of University of New Mexico for building the 300 person “Gateway Project” for the homeless. Mayor Keller proclaimed the project had a 50-50% chance of being built on the site and ending up there. On March 2, the Albuquerque Journal did a front page, top of the fold story complete with a bold headline “Keller promotes proposed UNM site for shelter.”

During the Friday press conference Mayor Keller boldly proclaimed:

“Out on those hills out there, right on the other side of them, is one of our top three choices. I want to note that this is nowhere near campus. It is on UNM land, but it is very far from campus and so we want to kind of debunk that myth. … It is very different from students and the duck pond. This is not the city’s (land) and if the UNM community is not interested in sharing it then this will be off the table. … We’re working with them. We’re in discussions with them … and we’re essentially in a negotiation phase to see if we can come up with something that works for both of us. It might happen or it might not. Those are both 50% likely.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1426375/keller-promotes-proposed-unm-site-for-shelter.html

STARTING A RACE WITH A RELUCTANT FINALIST

Missing from the February 5 press conference was UNM President Garnett Stokes, the UNM Regent President Douglas M. Brown, nor any regent and no one with any authority from UNM.

The UNM land would be free and development cost would be $12.4 million. The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center laboratory area tied for second place in the city’s on line survey receiving 15% of the vote.

UNM Health Services confirmed a few months ago in a statement released that they were talking with city officials so they can be part of the solution. Following is the statement released:

“The University of New Mexico has been in discussions with the city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County on the best ways to address the needs of the homeless population in our community. In those discussions, the possibility of utilizing currently vacant land near the office of the medical investigator/state lab has been mentioned. Nothing has been decided and you will see from the survey that other locations are being considered. Our mission at UNM Health Sciences is to treat every New Mexican with the highest level of care possible. Being part of the solution to address the mental health, substance use disorder and housing needs of residents goes to the heart of that mission. It is not enough to just treat those who enter our emergency department, we must invest in comprehensive, compassionate care. Partnering with local governments ensures we continue to deliver more to those in need.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/city-survey-results-reveal-top-picks-for-new-homeless-shelter-location/5635350/?cat=500

University of New Mexico leaders have sent mixed messaged on whether UNM land should be considered for the shelter. Dr.Paul Roth, chancellor of the UNM Health Sciences Center and chief executive officer of the UNM Health System, did say previously there are several advantages to using the UNM land for the homeless shelter including proximity to health and behavioral health facilities that are a critical part of the proposed shelter.

UNM’s Campus Safety Council, which consists of the dean of students, student body president, chief of university police and others, voted overwhelmingly in January to recommend to UNM officials and regents not to allow the shelter anywhere at UNM. According to UNM’s Campus Safety Council the facility will create a dangerous situation for students, burden campus police and hurt the university’s enrollment which has been on the decline the past 3 years.

UNM President Garnett Stokes has made it clear that no decision has been made. Stokes has said that she will keeping an open mind about the proposal, and will gather input from the campus community and others before making a recommendation to the Board of Regents.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1425469/city-releases-top-3-choices-for-new-homeless-shelter.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

It appears that it is likely Mayor Tim Keller got exactly what he wanted from his February 28 press conference with church leaders: a front page, bold banner headline from the Albuquerque Journal as well as TV news coverage of his choice of sites. The problem is that it is highly likely he created a problem by “jumping the gun” and interfering with city negotiations with UNM offficials.

Before Keller’s February 29 press conference, the Keller Administration said that although 3 locations have been identified, the city’s site selection is ongoing and new locations continue to emerge. Included in the process will be a fiscal analysis of each site and determining the financial limitations to complete the project. Each site under serious consideration will require a financial analysis, including land acquisition cost, before the Keller Administration makes any final recommendations to the City Council, yet Keller does a press conference.

No doubt Mayor Tim Keller is anxious to get a start on the new shelter, but holding a press conference with “church leaders” who are not parties to a transaction was a mistake. When you use words such as “if the UNM community is not interested in sharing it [with the community] then this will be off the table” smacks of trying to force a party’s hand to agree to something they may not want to agree to and who has sever reservations about the project. Hold a press conference is something you do not do when you’re in the middle of negotiations to with an entity and when 2 other sites are also under consideration.

Mayor Tim Keller, whether he likes it or not, has a reputation of “jumping the gun” with his ambitions to get started on campaigns for higher office and not finishing work he has started. He resigned in the middle of a 4 year State Senate term to run for New Mexico State Auditor, which he won. Within one year after becoming State Auditor for a 4 year term, he decided to run for Mayor, and once elected Mayor, he resigned as state Auditor. The Republican Governor “She Who Shall Not Be Named” had to appoint a replacement who was Republican Wayne Johnson who had run for Mayor against Keller.On November 5, 2019, during an election night radio coverage interview with political blogger Joe Monahan, Mayor Tim Keller announced he is running for a second term as Mayor in 2021.

Jumping the gun in political races when no one yet is running has been very good for Keller’s political career to give him and advantage, but it sure the hell is no way to conduct negotiations for city projects. Despite Mayor Keller jumping the gun on site selection for the homeless shelter, the City needs to complete the fiscal analysis of each of the 3 sites and determine the financial limitations to complete the project before a final site is selected by the City Council.

On March 2 and 3, respected New Mexico Politcal Blogger Joe Monahan published two articles, along with others, on his political blog “New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan.” Both articles are very insightful as to two major issues: Albuquerque’s Mayor Tim Keller’s and APD Chief Michael Geier’s failure to be forthcoming on recent murders in Albuquerque and “Second Amendment Sanctuary Resolutions” enacted by County Commissions to prevent enforcement of gun control legislation including the “Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act” also known as a “red-flag” gun bill that will allow firearms to be temporarily taken away from those deemed dangerous to themselves or others.

The “Red Flag “ law was enacted by the 2020 New Mexico Legislature and signed into law by Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham on February 25. Both of Mr. Monahan’s articles are very insightful and contain information from sources throughout the state and city that have made him the number one read New Mexico political commentator. The link to “New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan” is here:

http://joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com/. Mr. Monahan’s email address is here: newsguy@yahoo.com

Following are the excerpts from the March 2 and 3 Monahan articles followed by additional information and commentary regarding both issues:

TUESDAY, MARCH 3, MONAHAN BLOG ARTICLE: “ARE MAYOR KELLER AND CHIEF GEIER “FADING” THE TOUGH CRIME QUESTIONS?

“What’s with all the unanswered questions surrounding the many murders in ABQ? That’s the question [raised by a senior political analysts]

–Demand to know why APD won’t allow BCSO and NMSP to assist in murder investigations? “

MONDAY, MARCH 02, 2020 MONAHAN BLOG ARTICLE: STATE’S RURAL-CITY DIVIDE PUT IN STARK RELIEF BY RED FLAG GUN LAW

EDITOR’S NOTE: Mr. Monahan published a map of the state of New Mexico with the 27 counties colored in red that have enacted “Second Amendment” Sanctuary Resolutions and the 5 counties that have not colored in blue which made a striking contrast of the great divide.

“Here in sharp relief is the immense rural-city divide that represents the New Mexico politics of our time.

That’s some comfort for the Second Amendment crowd but when it comes to gun control the horse has left the barn. While that horse roams the meadows of only a narrow patch of New Mexico that’s where the political power resides.”

APD HOMICIDE CLEARANCE RATE DROPS FROM 80% TO 52%, A HISTORICAL LOW

On Sunday, February 23rd, 2020, it was reported that there has been a dramatic surge in the number of homicides and the percentage of those solved by arrest has dropped dramatically. In 2019, the city had a historical high of 82 homicides in one year with a 52% solve rate. From January 1, to February 01, the city had 8 homicides, the same number of homicides as in January, 2019. On February 22 and 22, three more homicides were reported in the city with arrests yet to be made. On Sunday, March 1, the Albuquerque Journal editorialized on the homicide clearance rate. You can read the full editorial here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1426124/getting-away-with-murder.html

93% INCREASE IN APD 911 RESPONSE TIMES SINCE 2011: 48 MINUTES IS AVERAGE TIME OF ARRIVAL

On February 20th KOAT TV Target 7 reported on an investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department’s (APD’s) response times. The report revealed an alarming level of time it takes APD to respond to 911 emergency calls. The time it takes for APD to respond to priority 1 calls in all likely has a major impact on increasing physical injury to victims or callers. It was reported that it takes APD 23 minutes longer to get to an emergency call than it did 8 years ago. There has been an astonishing 93% increase since 2011 with response times getting worse every year since. In 2011, the average response time to all calls, whether it was a life or death emergency or a minor traffic crash was 25 minutes. In 2019, that time period spiked to 48 minutes in the average response time.

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-response-times-continue-to-climb/31028667

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

“FADING” THE NEWS ON MURDERS

A major promise and commitment Mayor Tim Keller made to the voters of Albuquerque from day one of being sworn in as Mayor was to be transparent and make full disclosure of all things city hall. When it came to the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), Mayor Keller proclaimed an new day had arrived and that his APD Administration and management would admit and recognize mistakes, learn from those mistakes and adjust and be fully committed to implementing the Department of Justice mandated reforms. Today, Mayor Keller and APD Chief Michael Geier have reverted back to APD’s old tricks of not being forthcoming with information on the city’s murders and are in fact attempting to “fade” the news of the murders as much as they can, no doubt because Keller is seeking reelection.

The Keller administration is spending $88 million dollars, over a four-year period, with 32 million dollars of recurring expenditures to hire 350 officers and expand APD from 878 sworn police officers to 1,200 officers in order to return to community-based policing. According to recent pay stubs, APD has 950 sworn police or 250 short of what was promised. The Keller Admiration also negotiated with the police union significant APD pay raises and bonuses and an aggressive hiring and recruitment program offering incentives to join or return to APD.

What is very troubling is that all the increases in APD budget, personnel and new programs are not having any effect on bringing down the violent crime and murder rates. It is no longer an issue of not having the money, personnel or resources, but of a failed personnel resource management issue. It is also obvious that the APD command staff Keller handpicked are not getting the job done.

NEW MEXICO’S RED FLAG LAW

On February 25 Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham sign into law the “Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act” also known as a “red-flag” gun bill that will allow firearms to be temporarily taken away from those deemed dangerous to themselves or others. The Governor had placed the “red flag gun bill” on the 30-day legislative agenda thereby making it one of her top initiatives during the session. The new law will take effect May 20, which is 90 days after the 2020 New Mexico legislative session ended. New Mexico is now the 18th state to adopt such a “red flag” law.

The “Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act” signed by the Governor is a natural progression of the 2019 New Mexico Legislature passage of legislation which prohibits gun possession by someone who’s subject to an order of protection under the Family Violence Protection Act. Under the enacted legislation domestic abusers must surrender their firearms to law enforcement. The gun possession prohibition also applies to people convicted of other crimes.

SAFEGUARDING CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

The “Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act” or red flag law does contain significant safe guard provisions that protect a citizen’s 2nd, 4th and 14th Amendment Rights. The court proceeding and the process under the new red flag law and how it works is summarized as follows:

“A law enforcement officer, or a prosecutor in cases involving a law enforcement officer, are allowed to file a petition in State District Court for an order to prohibit someone from possessing firearms.

The petitions can be filed upon request from a spouse, ex-spouse, parent, child, grandparent, school administrator or employer.

If a law enforcement officer declines to file a petition upon request, the officer will have to file a notice of the decision with the county sheriff.

A District Judge can enter an emergency 10-day risk protection order if “probable cause” is found that an individual poses a danger of causing “imminent” injury to themselves or others.

The individual is then required to surrender all their firearms within 48 hours of a judge’s order or sooner.

A one-year order can be imposed after a court hearing, although such an order requires a higher evidence threshold.

One-year risk protection orders are subject to appeal.

All firearms are required to be returned to their owner within 10 days after an order’s expiration.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1424533/gov-lujan-grisham-signs-red-flag-gun-bill-into-law.html

Exclusive authority is given to law enforcement to make the decision to file a petition and the petition must be based on whether there’s “probable cause” to believe the individual “poses a significant danger of causing imminent personal injury to self or others.” Law enforcement officials will have to explain their decision with the filing of a court notice if they decide not to seek a judge’s order after receiving a report and evidence in support of the petition.

COUNTY COMMISSIONS THAT ENACT “SECOND AMENDMENT SANCTUARY RESOLUTIONS” EXCEED AUTHORITY

The fact that 27 out of 33 Counties have enacted “Second Amendment Sanctuary Resolutions” should come as absolutely no surprise to anyone given New Mexico’s gun culture. The blunt truth is that the County Commissions, and for that matter municipalities, who have enacted “Second Amendment Sanctuary Resolutions” to circumvent the New Mexico gun restriction laws enacted by the legislature have exceeded their authority. Such resolutions are “null and void” upon enactment making them meaningless. It is highly likely that any county that attempts to enforce such resolutions will wind up in court and the court’s will set aside the resolutions.

Many elected sheriffs opposed the red flag law and some are saying they will refuse to enforce it. County Commissions that enact “Second Amendment Sanctuary Resolutions” thinking that gives their County Sheriffs authority to not enforce the “red flag law” show a serious ignorance of how the Bill of Rights and United States Constitution work. They also show a serious ignorance of the law. They have a warped interpretation of constitutional rights that have rotted out all of their common sense and prevent any reasoning with them which is the mentality of gun rights fanatics and the National Rifle Association.

The 2nd, 4th and 14th Amendments are not absolute rights and are often cited by gun fanatics and the National Rifle Association (NRA) to oppose any and all kind of reasonable gun control legislation. Each separately and together have limitations and exceptions, are subject to court interpretations and are not black and white restrictions with no exceptions.

The reality is that there are many limitations under the law and to our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 2nd, 4th and 14th amendments. Convicted and violent federal felons, who are still citizens of the United States, lose the “right to keep and bear arms” provided by the 2nd Amendment and in fact are given enhanced sentences for gun possession and use of a gun in the commission of a crime. Search warrants based on “probable cause” used by law enforcement for the seizure of personal property, including guns, are not “unreasonable searches and seizure” prohibited by the 4th Amendment. Despite what some sheriff’s say that property will be taken from people who have committed no crime, it is likely that those very departments and deputy sheriff officers over the years have secured search warrants and taken property based on “probable cause” from people who have not committed a crime. Court orders and injunction relief secured with supporting sworn affidavits, evidence and testimony in civil petitions to the court provide for due process of law and do not violate the 14th Amendment.

The elected sheriffs who oppose the meaningful gun control legislation that the red flag law represents ignore their duty and responsibilities “to serve and protect the general public” that elected them. They choose to promote their own fanatical “pro-gun” political philosophy and their own personal interpretation of the law and constitutional rights. Elected County Sheriffs have an ethical and legal obligation to honor their oaths of office. They cannot pick and choose what laws the agree with and want to enforce. Elected County Sheriffs who refuse to enforce the law are also asking taxpayers to assume the financial risk of their decision to impose their personal views over the law.

Any elected County Sheriff who refuses to enforce the new red flag law should resign immediately and allow elected county commissions to appoint law enforcement who will respect their oath of office and set aside political philosophy and political agendas. A refusal by sheriffs to enforce the law should justify the Attorney General to send letters suspending a sheriff’s law enforcement certification.

Related blog articles can be read here:

APD Homicide Clearance Rate Drops From 80% To 52%; 911 Response Time Increases By 93% To 48 Minutes Average Response Time; ABQ Journal Weighs In On Homicide Clearance Rate

Major Kudos To Governor Lujan Grisham Signing Red Flag Law And Telling Sheriffs Who Refuse To Enforce The Law Need To Resign

This blog article is a deep dive analysis report on APD’s Homicide Clearance Rate and APD’s unacceptable response times that are placing people at risk and endangering public safety. The blog article covers many topics, including staffing levels, initiatives to bring down violent crime, performance measures. Recommendations are also made on what should be done.

On Sunday, March 1, the Albuquerque Journal editorialized on the homicide clearance rate. The full editorial can be found in the postscript to this blog article with a link to it.

APD HOMICIDE CLEARANCE RATE AT HISTORICAL LOW, DROPS FROM 80% TO 52%

On Sunday, February 23rd, 2020, it was reported that there has been a dramatic surge in the number of homicides and the percentage of those solved by arrest has dropped dramatically.” In 2019, the city had a historical high of 82 homicides in one year with a 52% solve rate. From January 1, to February 01, the city had 8 homicides, the same number of homicides as in January, 2019. On February 22 and 22, three more homicides were reported in the city with arrests yet to be made.

Below are links to the news coverage:

https://www.koat.com/article/deadly-weekend-in-duke-city/31069697
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/eight-homicides-in-albuquerque-last-month/5631030/

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/investigation-continues-into-southwest-albuquerque-homicide/

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-investigates-homicide-in-se-albuquerque/31062694

APD STAFFING AND CASE LOADS

According to APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos the homicide unit has 11 detectives and one sergeant. In 2017, APD had 5 detective and one sergeant. APD officials claim that the homicides are being vigorously investigated and detectives are following numerous leads. However, APD does not maintain collective data to show how many murders over the years have gone unsolved and still considered open cases. Some APD homicide detectives have fewer than 10 cases each.

According to APD spokesman Gilbert Gallegos:

“Others with the most years in homicide may have more than 20, which includes cases that may be three, four or five years old and awaiting new leads. ”

The city’s APD yearly budget contains performance evaluation statistics mandated by the city’s “performance evaluation” based budget. According to city budget documents, APD’s homicide clearance rate reported in the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report was 80% from fiscal year 2009 to fiscal year 2016. In each of the last two calendar years, the percentage of homicides solved in the city dropped to 52%. That number reflects homicides that weren’t deemed justifiable. The overall clearance rate for 2018 and 2019 was is slightly higher because detectives solved 9 homicides from prior years.

APD maintains a website showing “Active Homicide Investigations.” But the website lists just 25 cases, which occurred from January 2018 to August 2018.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1423578/more-murders-fewer-cases-cleared.html

ALBUQUERQUE RANKS #40 FOR MURDERS IN TOP 65 MAJOR CITIES

In the United States, an estimated 16,214 people were murdered in 2018. This was a decrease from the 2017 murder estimates.

On January 20, 2020 NBC News did a story on the murder rates of the 65 major cities having greater than 100,000 residents and listing them as the top deadliest cities in the United States. Albuquerque Ranked number 40 out of the 65 cities listed. According to the report, Albuquerque has 12.3 murders per 100,000 residents.

The top 10 deadliest cities for murder in 2018 are listed as follows:

1.St. Louis, Missouri: 60.9 murders per 100,000 residents
2.Baltimore Maryland: 51 murders per 100,000 residents
3.Detroit, Michigan: 38.9 murders per 100,000 residents
4.New Orleans, Louisiana: 37.1 murders per 100,000 residents
5.Baton Rouge, Louisiana: 35.1 murders per 100,000 residents
6.Memphis, Tennessee: 28.5 murders per 100,000 residents
7.Dayton, Ohio: 26.4 murders per 100,000 residents
8.Shreveport, Louisiana: 25 murders per 100,000 residents
9.West Palm Beach, Florida: 24.2 murders per 100,000 residents
10.Washington, DC: 22.8 murders per 100,000 residents

Other notable cities in the top 40 of the 65 cities include the following:

14. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: 22.1 murders per 100,000 residents
15. Buffalo, New York: 22.1 murders per 100,000 residents
16. Chicago, Illinois: 20.7 murders per 100,000 residents
20. Cincinnati, Ohio: 18.9 murders per 100,000 residents
34. Rochester, NY: 14 murders per 100,000 residents
35. Orlando, Florida: 13.6 murders per 100,000 residents
37. Fort Wayne, Indiana: 14.9 murders per 100,000 residents
40. Albuquerque, New Mexico: 12.3 murders per 100,000 residents

You can review the entire list of 65 cities here:

https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/murder-map-deadliest-u-s-cities/2/

Albuquerque’s FBI Uniform Crime statistics for the years 2008 to 2018 reveal just how bad violent crime has increased in Albuquerque over the last 10 years. Violent crimes include murder, rape, robbery and aggravated assaults and have all increased. The hard numbers for the last 10 years reflect that crime has not declined much. Like a waive on a beach, it has “ebbed and flowed” over the years but have risen none the less to all-time highs.

APD CLEARANCE RATE LOWEST IN 10 YEARS

The number of murders reported each year from 2008 to 2019 are:

2008: 38
2009: 56
2010: 42
2011: 35
2012: 41
2013: 34
2014: 30
2015: 42
2016: 61
2017: 72
2018: 65
2019: 82

On December 31, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) officially recorded the 82nd homicide for the city, an all-time record. It was on December 9, 2019, the city recorded its 74th homicide breaking the previous record of 72 murders set in 2017. Before 2017, the last time the City had the highest number of homicides in one year was in 1996 with 70 murders. In addition to the 82 homicides that were committed in 2019, APD Homicide detectives are also working on a back log of active cases from previous years.

The 2019 murder victims include a high school student at a high school party, a Navy veteran who was shot and killed outside a Central Grill by someone trying to steal his bike, a UNM college baseball player killed outside a popular restaurant and bar, and the mother of two New Mexico State Police officers who was shot and killed in her car parked in her driveway as she was getting ready to go to the gym.

On January 1, 2020, APD reported the first homicide of the year. As of February 23, the city has had at least 11 homicides that APD is investigating. According to a January 20 Channel 7 news report, APD’s homicide unit has solved 43 out of the 82 of the murder cases that occurred in 2019 or 52.4%. Thirty-nine (39) of those cases remain unsolved or 47.6% with 37 arrests made in the murders committed in 2019.

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-investigating-dozens-of-unsolved-2019-homicides/30602071

For the past two years, the homicide clearance percentage rate has been in the 50%-60% range. According to the proposed 2018-2019 APD City Budget, in 2016 the APD homicide clearance rate was 80%. In 2017 the clearance rate was 70% and the clearance rate for 2018 was 56%. The clearance rate for 2019 is now at 52.5%, the lowest clearance rate in the last decade.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1405615/apd-reports-record-82-homicides-for-2019.html

SIX VIOLENT CRIME INITIATIVES ANNOUNCED IN 10 MONTHS

On December 18, 2019 US Attorney General William Barr announced that the Department of Justice (DOJ) is initiating a major crackdown aimed at driving down violent crime in 7 of the nation’s most violent cities in the country. He named the initiative “Operation Relentless Pursuit”. Not at all surprising, is Albuquerque is one of those cities. The other 6 cities are Detroit, Baltimore, Cleveland, Kansas City, Memphis and Milwaukee. All 7 cities have violent crime rates significantly higher and above the national average.

According to Attorney General William Bar, 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 federal agencies that will be involved are the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) and the U.S. Marshals Service. The DOJ will intensify federal law enforcement resources in the 7 cities by increasing the number of federal law enforcement officers in each of the cities and add additional officers to federal task forces. According to Barr, the DOJ is committing up to $71 million in federal grant funds that can help fund the task forces, be used to hire new police officers, pay overtime and purchase new equipment and technology.

SANCTUARY CITY VERSUS IMMIGRANT FRIENDLY CITY

Complicating the City of Albuquerque from receiving any federal law enforcement funding is that the United States Department of Justice is now threatening to withhold millions in federal funding from APD because it has classified Albuquerque as a “Sanctuary City.” Some City Councilors and APD management accused the Justice Department of political gamesmanship and “politcal extortion” by withholding millions of dollars in federal funds over the city’s “sanctuary city status” that prevents the sharing of information with immigration authorities.

United States Attorney for New Mexico John Anderson wrote a guest editorial column in the Albuquerque Journal saying the additional federal funding would come with conditions, including complying with a federal law that makes it illegal to prevent government employees from sharing information about peoples’ immigration status with federal law enforcement. U.S. Attorney for New Mexico John Anderson said he believes the conditions the DOJ is asking Albuquerque to comply with are reasonable. To be eligible to receive roughly $10 million in grant funding, the city must agree to the conditions that it will allow a federal audit of the forms city employees fill out saying they’re legally allowed to work in the United States and it won’t prohibit departments or employees from providing information to immigration authorities.

According to Anderson:

“The issue of the sanctuary city status comes in because before a state or local police department – for example, APD – can receive those federal funds they have to certify certain compliance with federal immigration laws … Their refusal to sign the certification has precluded the city from receiving grant funding.”

APD Deputy Chief Harold Medina denounced the DOJ’s position as “political extortion” saying:

“The federal government had decided to send in resources – which we gladly want to work with – to assist us to lower these crime rates. … It’s kind of feels like political extortion that now they’re trying to give us limitations of how we can access this federal funding that we need to help keep the citizens of Albuquerque safe.”

Democratic Councilor Pat Davis, one of the main sponsors of the resolution clarifying the City as an “immigrant friendly” city had this to say:

“We just won’t do that. They’re using this as a political stunt. … To deliberately withhold money that they say will help Albuquerque because we don’t want to sign off on an unconnected, unrelated political agenda in the president’s election year is just blatantly political bullying, … And we’re not going to play ball with that. There is nothing at all in the way we fail to ask for immigrant status for letting kids into after-school programs that has anything to do with immigration or lowering crime.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1420099/city-officials-blocked-doj-funding-political-extortion.html

The truth is, Albuquerque has never been a “sanctuary city” as the Department of Justice in now proclaiming. The confusion stems from the Albuquerque City Council enacting a resolution approximately 10 years ago declaring Albuquerque an “Immigrant Friendly” City that offers city services to all immigrants regardless of their United State citizenship status. The resolution was originally sponsored by former Republican City Councillor Hess Yntema whose wife is an immigrant. In April 2018, the City Council passed a resolution strengthening Albuquerque’s status as an immigrant-friendly city. The resolution says no municipal resources will be used to identify an individual’s immigration status, the city will not collect any information on a person’s immigration status, except when necessary, and if it collects that information it’s prohibited from disclosing it unless the city is served with a warrant.

Mayor Tim Keller has yet to announce or take a position on the DOJ’s threat to withhold the millions in funding.

APD PROCLAIMS WORKING ON LONG TERM SOLUTIONS

Mayor Keller and Chief Michael Geier have announced 5 separate programs within 10 months to combat our city’s violent crime and murder rates. Four programs announced last year are:

1. The Shield Unit, Declaring Violent Crime “public health” issue,
2. “Violence Intervention Plan” (VIP) and the Metro 15.
3. On January 20, 2020, Mayor Keller announced yet another anti-crime initiative called RAPID accountability program.

Despite the 3 new initiatives, Albuquerque Police Department (APD) is saying it is working on new strategies to ease the workload on APD sworn officers and homicide detectives. During an October, 2019 City Council meeting, APD Commander of Criminal Investigations Joe Burke had this to say:

“I would say in the long term if I was looking at a long-term solution—I believe we need two homicide units. I think the best practices around the nation normally have two homicide units. Detectives should be balancing between three to five investigations and we’re nearly double that. … We absolutely need detectives in criminal investigations. … I was happy when I went over at the end of July and was briefed on the status of the unit that there’s a plan in place within the executive staff that when cadets are graduating from the academy that we’re going to get a certain percentage specifically for the criminal investigations bureau.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/city-officials-look-for-solutions-to-ease-workload-on-apd-officers-homicide-detectives/5594211/?cat=500

STRUGGLING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE WITH LITTLE PROGRESS

Since Mayor Tim Keller took office on December 1, 2017, APD has added 116 sworn police officers to the force. Keller wants to spend $88 million dollars 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.

The massive investment is being done to full fill Mayor Tim Keller’s 2017 campaign promise to increase the size of APD and return to community-based policing as a means to reduce the city’s high crime rates. 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.

Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Michael Geier have increased the homicide unit from 5 to 11. This is the most detectives they’ve had in the unit in more than 20 years. There are now 10 detectives, but that is simply not enough given the clearance rates.

Burke acknowledged that the clearance rate is unacceptable and nowhere near where they want to be in solving all the murders by saying:

“It is a high number [of unsolved cases] and we recognize that. … We always want to be at 100% and anything less is unacceptable. … We need help from the community. We need witnesses. We need people who potentially have information for us so we can follow up and help solve some of these homicides and hold people accountable. … Just know that we have leads [on the two recent murders] and we’re following up on those leads. They’re good leads. We’re confident we’re going to be able to hold people accountable in those investigations.”

https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/albuquerque-police-51-of-2019-homicides-still-unsolved/?fbclid=IwAR1pL4J0EGCOLGGvOaLt9G7fTkgX4UDQKwEb07Dk2voyLQRUusjkoKt5ilU

APD command staff have said it would be ideal to have more homicide detectives to solve cases. APD is also trying to expand other units for gang operations and a gun violence reduction unit. A new cadet class is expected to graduate in spring 2020 with upwards of 50 new sworn police. Mayor Keller has said that APD is on track to have 100 new sworn in 2020.

HISTORY OF BOTCHED HOMICIDE INVESTIGATIONS

The APD Homicide Unit has a dubious history of botching any number of high-profile murder investigations. The APD Homicide Unit has compiled a history of not doing complete investigations, misleading the public, feeding confessions to people with low IQs, getting investigations completely wrong and even arresting innocent people.

The most egregious negligent murder investigation was the murder investigation of 10-year-old Victoria Martens. On August 24, 2016, she was murdered, dismembered and her body was burned in a bathtub. After a full year of 3 defendants being in custody, further investigation revealed that Jessica Kelley did not murder the child. Michelle Martens falsely admitted to committing the crimes. Forensic evidence revealed she and her boyfriend Fabian Gonzales were not even in the apartment at the time of the murder, they did not participate in the murder and that there was an unidentified 4th suspect in the case who committed the murder with supposedly DNA evidence found on the child’s dead body. The unidentified 4th suspect in the case is still at large.

The most recent botched homicide investigation was when on December 5, 17-year-old Albuquerque High School Student Gisell Estrada was arrested and charged with a murder she played no part in. She was never arrested before and had absolutely no criminal record of arrest and conviction of any crime, misdemeanor nor felony. She spent 6 full days in jail on a case of “mistaken identity.”

93% INCREASE IN APD 911 RESPONSE TIMES SINCE 2011: 48 MINUTES IS AVERAGE TIME OF ARRIVAL

On February 20th KOAT TV Target 7 reported on an investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department’s (APD’s) response times. The report revealed an alarming level of time it takes APD to respond to 911 emergency calls. The time it takes for APD to respond to priority 1 calls in all likely has a major impact on increasing physical injury to victims or callers. It was reported that it takes APD 23 minutes longer to get to an emergency call than it did 8 years ago. There has been an astonishing 93% increase since 2011 with response times getting worse every year since.

In 2011, the average response time to all calls, whether it was a life or death emergency or a minor traffic crash was 25 minutes. In 2019, that time period spiked to 48 minutes in the average response time.

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-response-times-continue-to-climb/31028667

ALARM CALLS TO BE DROPPED FROM APD CALLS FOR SERVICE

Confidential sources within APD have confirmed that APD command staff will be initiating a new policy where “calls for service” to burglar alarm calls will no longer be responded to with no reports to be written. The primary reason for the policy change is the high rate of “false alarms” which is said to approach 95%. After a first false alarm call, under the “false alarm ordinance, fines are leveled for repeated false alarms.

UNDERLYING CAUSE OF DELAYS

The main reason for the dramatic increase in response times is a reduction in the number of sworn police with a corresponding increase in calls for service and 911 emergency calls. When you examine APD’s manpower levels over the past nine years, response times were quicker when there were more sworn police assigned to the field services.

On December 1, 2009, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) was staffed at 1,100 sworn police officers. At the time, APD was the best trained, best funded, best equipped and best staffed in the history of the police department. The city’s overall crime rates were significantly lower than they are today.

For the full 8 years from December 1, 2009 to December 1, 2017, APD spiraled down wards as a result of poor management, budget cuts, police salary cuts and an investigation by the Department of Justice (DOJ) resulting in a finding of a “culture of aggression” within the department. The DOJ investigation resulted in a federal lawsuit and a consent decree mandating major reforms to APD and included the appointment of a federal monitor. When Mayor Keller took office on December 1, 2017, APD had plunged to approximately 870 full time police officers and the numbers went down even further to 830 at one time.

Early 2011, APD was staffed with nearly 1,100 sworn police officers. In 2011, it took an average of 25 minutes for an officer to respond to a 911 emergency call. It was in 2016 that APD’s manpower dropped. Currently, APD has about 950 to 970 officers.

As of January 1, 2020, according to pay stubs on file with the city, APD has 950 sworn police officers. The loss of 22 sworn police can be attributed to retirements and the Police Academy not keeping up with replacing officers. There is an APD Academy Class in session that should result in 35 to 40 more new officers added to the force in the Spring.

Although last year APD hired 117 sworn police, including laterals, not all of those officers are patrolling the streets with upwards of 60 sworn police assigned to the compliance bureau of APD for the Department of Justice Court Approved Settlement Agreement CASA) Order Consent decree.

Midway through 2015, APD response time to “Priority 1” calls, which included shootings, robberies, finding dead bodies and car wrecks with injuries, was 11 minutes and 12 seconds. In fiscal year 2016, APD actual response time to “Priority 1” calls was 11 minutes and 35 seconds. In fiscal year 2017, APD actual response time to “Priority 1” calls was 12 minutes and 16 seconds. In 2019, that time period spiked to 48 minutes as the average response time.

APD ADDS NEW PRIORITY CALL CATEGORIES AS ATTEMPT TO REDUCE RESPONSE TIME

The Albuquerque Emergency Communications Center has been trying to reduce response times for several years. In March, 2019 it was reported that 911 changed what is called the “priority system.”

Before when a call would come in, it was given one of three priorities based on it’s level of importance. With so few priorities, however, calls like someone locking a dog in a car was given the top priority. That was the same importance as if someone with a gun was robbing someone.

On March 6, 2019, APD announced that the way it was dispatching police officers to 911 calls was changed. 911 calls expanded the priority list to include 2 more for a total of five categories a opposed to just 3.

Before, call priorities were generally on a scale of 1 to 3 with 1 being the highest or most important type of call.

The original three priority 911 dispatch system defined the calls as follows:

A PRIORITY 1 call is a felony that is in progress or there is an immediate threat to life or property.

A PRIORITY 2 call is where there is no immediate threat to life of property. Misdemeanor crimes in progress are priority 2 calls.

A PRIORITY 3 call is any call in which a crime has already occurred with no suspects at or near the scene.

Routine events and calls where there are no threat to life or property are priority 3 calls.

http://isr.unm.edu/reports/2009/analyzing-calls-for-service-to-the-albuquerque-police-department..pdf

In 2018, Albuquerque Police Department (APD) police officers were dispatched to 476,726 calls for service. The 2018-2019 City general fund performance measures contained in the 2018-2019 fund budget, reflects significantly more calls for service with the projected number of calls for service reported as 576,480, and the actual number being 580,238.

Under the new system, a Priority 1 call is “any immediate life-threatening situation with great possibility of death or life-threatening injury or any confrontation between people which could threaten the life or safety of any person where weapons are involved.” A major goal of the new system is to determine what calls do and do not require a police officer.

A Priority 5 call is a where a crime has already occurred and there “is no suspect at or near the scene and no threat of personal injury, loss of life or property.”

In announcing the change in policy, APD Public Information Officer Gilbert Gallegos had this to say:

“What we want to do is get officers to the scene of a call as quickly as possible for the most urgent calls, and by that I mean calls where there is a life-threatening situation. … Basically we’re adapting to the situation where we’re trying to make the system much more efficient and much more effective “.

https://www.krqe.com/news/politics-government/city-changes-the-way-officers-are-dispatched-to-calls/1829973373

APD administration stresses every call is different and depending on the circumstances of that call the level of priority can always change. The single most compelling reason for the change is that it was taking way too long to dispatch police officers after a call is received. Police were being dispatched to calls where an officer was not always needed.

Under the new 5 call policy, police officers only run code lights and sirens to life-threatening situations like a shooting, stabbing, armed robbery, or a crime where a weapon is involved. Under the new system, the public are asked to go to the telephone reporting unit to make a report and APD will not dispatch officers unless it meets some other criteria elevating the call. For the lower priority calls where an officer isn’t needed, callers have three ways to file a report: online, over the phone, or at any police substation.

ALARMING SPIKE

Midway through 2015, APD response time to “Priority 1” calls, which included shootings, robberies, finding dead bodies and car wrecks with injuries, was 11 minutes and 12 seconds. In fiscal year 2016, APD actual response time to “Priority 1” calls was 11 minutes and 35 seconds. In fiscal year 2017, APD actual response time to “Priority 1” calls was 12 minutes and 16 seconds. In 2019, that time period spiked to 48 minutes as the average response time.

APD PERFORMANCE MEASURES REPORTED IN 2019-2020 GENERAL FUND BUDGET

Whenever response time for 911 of calls is discussed, it must be viewed in the context of how those calls are broken down with respect to types of crime, arrests, number of police officers. The City budget is a “performance based” budget where yearly, the various departments must submit statistics reflecting job performance to justify the individual department budgets.
According to the 2019-2020 approved budget, in the last fiscal year APD responded to the following:

Number of calls for service: 580,238
Average response time for Priority 1 calls (immediate threat to life or great bodily harm): 12:26 minutes, (NOTE: The National standard 9 minutes.)
Number of felony arrests: 9,592
Number of misdemeanor arrests: 18,442
Number of DWI arrests: 1,403
Number of domestic violence arrests: 2,356
You can review the performance measures of APD on page 211 of the budget here:

http://documents.cabq.gov/budget/fy-19-approved-budget.pdf

REAL NUMBERS OF SWORN OFFICERS RESPONDING TO CALLS

APD has an approved general fund budget for fiscal year 2019-2020 of $188.9 million dollars, which represents an increase of 10.7% or $18.3 million above last year’s budget. According to the approved budget, APD has 1,560 approved full-time positions with 1,040 sworn police budgeted positions and 520 budgeted civilian positions. The links to city hall budgets are here:

http://documents.cabq.gov/budget/fy-19-approved-budget.pdf (Page 209)

https://www.cabq.gov/dfa/budget/annual-budget

The Albuquerque Police Department (APD ) has five major bureaus:

1. The Field Services Bureau
2. Investigative Bureau
3. The Compliance Bureau
4. The Administrative support Bureau
5. The Support Services Bureau

Each bureau has a Deputy Chief appointed by the APD Chief of Police.

APD divides the city into six geographical areas called “area commands.” Each area command is managed by an APD Commander (formerly called Captains) and staffed with between 82 and 119 officers, depending on size of the area command and level of calls for service. All officers are dispatched through the police communications operators by calling (505) 242-cops for non-emergency calls or 911 in an emergency.

APD also has 3 divisions that are separate from the other divisions and they are:

1. The Bike Patrol
2. Operations Review
3. Others

https://www.cabq.gov/police/contact-the-police/area-commands

STAFFING SNAPSHOP

On August 1, 2019, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) issued what it entitled “Staffing Snapshot” providing a report on the number of sworn police officers APD has and where they have been assigned. According to the report, APD as of August 1, 2019 had a total of 972 sworn officers with 600 officers in the field patrolling 6 area commands and neighborhoods. The snapshot does not account for time delays from Human Resources and Payroll that have effective dates and retirements.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/apd-staffing-numbers-how-many-officers-are-in-your-neighborhood-/5449523/?cat=500

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/apd-staffing-numbers-how-many-officers-are-in-your-neighborhood-/5449523/?cat=500

It is the field services bureau that forms the front line of sworn officers that repond to emergency calls for service. Following is the breakdown of sworn police assignments.:

FIELD SERVICES BUREAU — TOTAL STAFFING: 600 (Out of 970)

The field service bureau’s primary function is to provide uniformed police officers throughout the city and at the six police substations and area commands. Officers assigned to field services handle calls for service and patrol the area commands in 3 separate shifts. These are the sworn police in uniform that are on the front line of law enforcement dealing with hundreds of thousands of calls for service a year. This is where the “rubber hits the road” when it comes to keeping neighborhoods safe and community-based policing.

The number of sworn officers assigned to each area command is somewhat fluid and based on the number of calls for service in the area command. Area commands with higher crime rates have always had far more officers assigned than those that have lower crime rates.

One Deputy Police Chief is appointed to oversee and manage the Field Services Bureau.

A major topic of discussion at neighborhood Associations and the Community Policing Councils is always how many police officers are patrolling the area commands. Following is a breakdown of sworn police assigned to each one of the area commands:

SOUTHWEST AREA COMMAND

The Southwest Area Command is bordered by Interstate 40 the north, the Rio Grande to the east, the South Valley to the south, and Albuquerque city limits to the west. Following is the staffing reported:

58 Patrol Officers, 1 Commander, 3 Lieutenants, 7 Sergeants

VALLEY AREA COMMAND

The Valley Area Command is bordered by the Albuquerque city limits to the north and south, Interstate 25 to the east, and the Rio Grande, Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, and the North Valley to the west. This Area Command has an extensive history of having the second highest crime rates in the City. Following is the staffing reported:

67 Patrol Officers , 1 Commander, 3 Lieutenants, 6 Sergeants, 2 School Resource Officers.

SOUTHEAST AREA COMMAND

The Southeast Area Command is bordered by Interstate 40 to the north, Eubank Boulevard to the east, Kirtland Air Force Base and Albuquerque city limits to the south, and Interstate 25 to the west. This Area Command has an extensive history of having the highest crime rates in the city. Following is the staffing reported:

89 Patrol Officers, 4 Lieutenants, 9 Sergeants, 2 School Resource Officers

NORTHEAST AREA COMMAND

The Northeast Area Command is bordered by Albuquerque city limits to the north, Eubank Boulevard to the east, Interstate 40 to the south, and Interstate 25 to the west. This Area Command has a more recent history of increasing crime rates in the city, especially residential break-ins and robberies. Following is the staffing reported:

78 Patrol Officers, 1 Commander, 3 Lieutenants, 8 Sergeants, 2 School Resource Officers

FOOTHILLS AREA COMMAND

The Foothills Area Command is bordered by San Antonio NE to the north, the Sandia Foothills to the east, Kirtland Air Force Base to the south, and Eubank Boulevard to the west. This Command Area has some of the lowest crime rates in the City. Following is the staffing reported:

57 Patrol Officers, 1 Commander, 2 Lieutenants, 8 Sergeants, 3 School Resource Officers

Northwest Area Command

The Northwest Area Command is bordered by Albuquerque city limits to the west and north, the west bank of the Rio Grande to the east, and Interstate 40 to the south. This Command Area has some of the lowest crime rates in the City. Following is the staffing reported:

59 Patrol Officers, 1 Commander, 3 Lieutenants, 7 Sergeants, 1 School Resource Officers

OTHER BUREAUS WITHIN APD

Policing and law enforcement is not just how many sworn police are patrolling the streets and making misdemeanor arrests and responding to 911 calls. Law enforcement includes staffing to acceptable levels those bureaus that do all the difficult or complicated investigations, such as homicides and rapes, as well as staffing for compliance with the Department of Justice mandated reforms. Following is a breakdown of the staffing levels according to the August 1, 2019, APD “Staffing Snapshot”:

INVESTIGATIVE BUREAU – TOTAL STAFFING: 173

The Investigative Bureau consists of Criminal Investigations Division, the Special Investigations Division, Scientific Evidence Division and the Real Time Crime Center. This bureau deals primarily with the completion of felony investigations and prepares the cases, including evidence gathering and processing scientific evidence such as DNA, blood and fingerprints, for submission to prosecuting agencies, primarily the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office. Units in the bureau include homicide and auto theft. Following is the staffing reported:

142 Detectives, 1 Deputy Chief, 3 Commanders, 6 Lieutenants, 10 Sergeants

COMPLIANCE BUREAU – TOTAL STAFFING: 61

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. One of the major concentrations of this 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.

Following is the staffing reported:

40 Detectives, 1 Deputy Chief, 3 Commanders, 1 Deputy Commander, 6 Lieutenants, 10 Sergeants

SUPPORT SERVICES BUREAU – TOTAL STAFFING: 116

The Support Services Bureau is comprised by the Homeland Security and Special Events Division, the Metro Traffic Division, the Records Division, the APD Police Academy, and the Public Safety Districts such as the Downtown Public Safety Division. Following is the staffing reported:

68 Officers, 1 Deputy Chief, 2 Commanders, 8 Lieutenants, 20 Sergeants, 6 Cadets/Pre-hires

ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT BUREAU – TOTAL STAFFING: 43

This bureau provides clerical, secretarial, administrative, budgetary preparation and grant application support to the entire APD Department. Following is the staffing reported:
34 Officers, 1 Deputy Chief, 1 Commander, 2 Lieutenants, 4 Sergeants
SPECIAL OPERATIONS AND TACTICAL UNIT – TOTAL STAFFING: 30

This unit consists of the Special Weapons and Tactics Unit (SWAT). SWAT is trained to deal with situations of unusual danger, especially when requiring aggressive tactics or enhanced firepower, as in rescuing hostages, thwarting terrorist attacks or assassinations, and subduing heavily armed suspects. Following is the staffing reported:
24 Officers, 1 Commander, 2 Lieutenants, 3 Sergeants

BIKE PATROL– TOTAL STAFFING: 16

The bike patrol is what the name implies: Uniformed police ride on bikes an patrol the areas assigned to show a police presence such as in the Downtown Central Area, the City Plaza and Nob Hill. A total of 16 officers are assigned to the Bike Patrol.

OPERATIONS REVIEW

Police operations is generally defined as standard operating procedures, review of job duties, responsibilities, and activities that law enforcement agents complete in the field. 7 Officers, 4 Lieutenants and 5 Sergeants are reported as staffing Operations Review.

OTHER SWORN POLICE: TOTAL STAFFING 51

There are 41 APD recruits, laterals and sergeants assigned to on-the-job training.
10 sworn APD are assigned to Metro Court to provide security to the Metropolitan Court and the Mayor’s security detail that provides protection to the Mayor, his family when needed and security to the Mayor’s Office.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

The homicide clearance rate is an embarrassment and blaming lack of resources is not acceptable. The response times to 911 calls is equally embarrassing. It is no longer an issue of not having the money, personnel or resources, but of a failed personnel resource management issue by Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Michael Geier and the APD Deputy Chiefs.

INCREASE HOMICIDE UNIT

With a 52.4% clearance rate and a backlog of cases, the Keller Administration needs to increase the Homicide Unit significantly more, especially when the commander in charge of the unit is saying two separate units are needed. The longer a homicide case takes to complete an investigation or is neglected because of lack of personnel, the less likely the cases will be solved and prosecuted. Adding to the crisis is the emotional toll an unsolved murder takes on the families of the victims.

Given the sure number of homicides, the backlog of cases and the pathetic homicide clearance rate, the Homicide Investigation Unit needs to be increased by at least another 5 detectives for a total of 16 detectives. Two separate units of 8, one for the most current homicides and the second for older back logged cases. Further, given the units low clearance rate and past performance, more needs to be done with respect to recruiting and doubling down on training.

APD is Homicide Unit is in a crisis mode and it needs to concentrate on recruiting seasoned homicide detectives from other departments if necessary. The New Mexico State Police and the Bernalillo County Sherriff’s office needs to be solicited for help to assign some it personnel to APD for homicide investigation.

Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Michael Geier need to recognize the fiasco the APD homicide unit has become. APD saying it is “still working on a long-term solution” is no longer acceptable.

RESPONSE TIME AT DANGEROUS LEVELS IMPACTING PUBLIC SAFETY

It’s no wonder that with only 600 out of 980 sworn police in field services handling call for service that response times are dangerously high. The high response times by APD to Priority 1 calls for service are unacceptable on so many levels and pose a clear threat to the city’s public safety. Every year from January 8, 2010 to mid-2015, response times for Priority 1 by APD have risen.

There is no doubt rising response times over the years by APD was a side effect of the dwindling police force that went from 1,100 police officers in 2010 to 853 sworn police in 2017, the lowest number of sworn police officers since 2001. Aggravating the increase in response time to 911 Priority 1 calls was the increase in the overall number of calls for service. The dramatic increase in the city’s overall crime rates, violent crime rates and the city’s population also increased response times beyond the national average of 10 minutes.

When it comes to violent crimes such as aggravated domestic violence cases, rapes, murders and armed robberies, seconds and minutes can make a difference between life and death of a person. City officials project that by the summer of 2020, APD will employ a total of 980 sworn police. With the establishment of new categories priority call and the addition of more police the APDs response time should have had a dramatic decline, but it has not.

With more police officers and the change in Priority 1 categories, APD should be able to better dispatch and save resources, yet overall response times continue to climb to dangerous levels.

Erika Wilson, the 911 Director had this to say:

“I think APD is doing the best it can with the resources it has.”

The truth is, that is a very weak excuse by any one’s standard as is 48-minute average response time being inexcusable.

Currently, there are 61 sworn police assigned to the compliance bureaus, which includes APD Internal Affairs. There are 40 detectives involved with the Department of Justice reform enforcement. Those 40 officers would be better utilized in the field services patrolling the streets and bringing response times down to more respectable levels.

People in Albuquerque will never genuinely feel safe or have confidence in APD as long as they know when they make a 911 call for help, it may take upwards of 48 minutes before you see a uniform, if not longer, or perhaps not at all.

WITHHELD FUNDING OVER SANCTUARY CITY

Deputy Chief Harold Medina was a little over the top when he accused the United States Department of Justice of “politcal extortion” for threatening to withhold the $10 Million in federal grant funding. Albuquerque City Council President Pat Davis once again showed the poor judgment he is known for with his grand standing saying the threat was “just blatantly political bullying.”

Simply put, Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Geier were derelict in not speaking for the department and the City on the importance the city’s “immigrant friendly policy” and their failure to dispute that the city is a “sanctuary city”. It was a failure of leadership of Chief Michael Geier and especially Mayor Tim Keller not taking any public position on the threat when it is they who should have made an effort to seek to work out a compromise.

Like it or not, the APD is still under a federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA). Since day one of assuming office on December 1, 2017. Keller pledged to work with the Department of Justice and the city has indeed made significant progress in implementing th reforms. Both May Keller and Chief Geier are still struggling to implement all 270 mandated reforms. Further, the city has filed a Motion to assume self-oversight on a number of the reforms.

Comments such as that made by City Councilor Pat Davis and APD Deputy Chief Medina and a failure of Chief Geier and Mayor Keller send the wrong message of confrontation rather than cooperation and communication with the federal government. One thing is for sure, the city council needs to revisit the original “immigrant friendly” resolution and determine if it really has accomplished anything other than jeopardizing funding with the Department of Justice for law enforcement. The City Council needs to determine if there is an actual need to declare Albuquerque a “sanctuary city”.

CONCLUSION

Candidate Tim Keller campaigned to be elected mayor on the platform of implementing the U.S. Department of Justice-mandated reforms, increasing the size of the Albuquerque Police Department, returning to community-based policing and promising to bring down skyrocketing crime rates.

The Keller administration is spending $88 million dollars, over a four-year period, with 32 million dollars of recurring expenditures to hire 350 officers and expand APD from 878 sworn police officers to 1,200 officers in order to return to community-based policing. According to recent pay stubs, APD has 950 sworn police or 250 short of what was promised. The Keller Admiration also negotiated with the police union significant APD pay raises and bonuses and an aggressive hiring and recruitment program offering incentives to join or return to APD.

What is very troubling is that all the increases in APD budget, personnel and new programs are not having any effect on bringing down the violent crime and murder rates. It is no longer an issue of not having the money, personnel or resources, but of a failed personnel resource management issue. It is also obvious that the APD command staff Keller handpicked are not getting the job done.

A major reorganization of APD is in order, including personnel changes and asking for more than a few resignations and starting with the APD command staff Keller picked. The reorganization would include increasing the number of officers sworn to patrol the streets and increasing the various units, such as the homicide and investigations units.

Currently, there are 61 sworn police assigned to the compliance bureaus, which includes APD Internal Affairs. There are 40 detectives involved with the Department of Justice reform enforcement. Those 40 officers would be better utilized in the field services patrolling the streets.

Sooner rather than later, citizens demand and want results. No amount of feel good public relations or nuance programs Keller is known for are going to satisfy those demands or make people feel safe. Mayor Tim Keller is also known for his eternal optimism that things will get better with APD, that more time is needed to turn the department around and that APD is doing the best it can with what it has.

Voters want a strong executive to run APD and the job is not getting done. Candidate Keller made a lot of promises when it comes to APD to get elected with very few results and he is now running out of time to “do good” as he runs for a second term in 2021.

________________________________________

POSCRIPT

On Sunday, March 1, the Albuquerque Journal editorialized on the homicide clearance rate. Following is the editorial in full with the link to the editorial:

EDITORIAL TITLE: Getting away with murder
BY ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL EDITORIAL BOARD
Sunday, March 1st, 2020 at 12:02am

“It’s all about priorities.

The friends and loved ones of Jacque Vigil, Roy Caton, Victoria Martens and all the other homicide victims in Albuquerque deserve some answers. Along with all the other residents of a city battered by violent crime.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1426124/getting-away-with-murder.html

On February 27, the City of Albuquerque released a report and analysis announcing the top 3 preferred locations for the new 24/7 homeless shelter known as the “Gateway Center”. The 3 locations are:

1. University of New Mexico land next to the state laboratory, near Interstate 25 and Camino de Salud
2. Coronado Park at 3rd Street and Interstate 40
3. The former Lovelace hospital on Gibson

The Crowne Plaza Hotel, which City Councilors Diane Gibson and Trudy Jones had said should be considered as an option was eliminated by the City due to acquisition cost.

According to a city news release, 149 potential sites were originally identified through a community feedback process. That process included an “on line” survey” for people to take. Thirty 30 sites were identified. The Keller Administration scored the 30 sites “based on ownership of the location, lot size, zoning, acquisition cost, access to transportation, and proximity to services. ”

During a presentation of the report and analysis to a joint government board meeting of officials from the City, Bernalillo County and Albuquerque Public Schools (APS) government officials and community activists, officials from the Family and Community Services Department emphasized that even though 3 sites have now been identified, all the details have yet to be worked out for any one and the final site selection is far from over. Lisa Huval, the city’s deputy director for Housing and Homelessness emphasized that there is a chance the city creates multiple smaller shelters at different locations and keeps the West Side location open for overflow purposes.

City officials have said ground breaking is targeted for the summer of 2021 with starting operations in the spring of 2022.

Complete news coverage can be found at the below links:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1425469/city-releases-top-3-choices-for-new-homeless-shelter.html

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/city-releases-top-three-sites-for-new-gateway-center/

https://www.koat.com/article/three-locations-chosen-as-finalists-for-new-homeless-shelter/31144656

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/city-of-albuquerque-releases-list-of-top-3-locations-for-new-homeless-shelter/5659063/?cat=500

BACKGROUND

On November 5, voters approved general obligation bonds of $14 million for a city operated 24-7 homeless shelter that will house upwards of 300. The actual cost will be $30 million and the City asked the 2020 New Mexico Legislature for the additional $14 million to complete phase two of the project, but the funding request failed.

City Hall has deemed that a 24-hour, 7 day a week temporarily shelter for the homeless as critical toward reducing the number of homeless in the city. The city owned shelter is projected to assist an estimated 300 homeless residents and connect them to other services intended to help secure permanent housing. The new facility would serve all populations, men, women, and families.

The city facility would have on-site case managers that will guide residents toward addiction treatment, housing vouchers and other available resources. According city officials, the new homeless shelter will replace the existing West Side Emergency Housing Center, the former jail on the far West Side.

The goal is for the new homeless shelter to provide first responders an alternative destination for the people they encounter on so-called “down-and-out” calls. Many “down and outs” today wind up in the emergency room even when they are not seriously injured or ill. According to city officials, in a recent one-year period, only 110 of 6,952 “down and out” people were taken by first responders to the Emergency Room with life-threatening conditions.

CITY SURVEY LOCATIONS

Initially, the City revealed 5 potential locations for the centralized emergency shelter for the homeless:

1.The old Lovelace Hospital on Gibson
2.University of New Mexico property near Lomas and Interstate 25
3.Montessa Park, south of the Sunport
4.An area near Second and Interstate 40
5.Continue to use the old West Side Jail 20 miles outside the city limits and build new facilities at that location.

Early in December, 2019 The Keller Administration set up an online survey that people were able to give input on where the 24-7 city homeless shelter should be built. There were only two specific places on the survey where the $30 million homeless shelter was being suggested to go. Those two areas were the area of 2nd Street at I-40 near downtown and a large empty lot that borders the UNM Health Sciences Center.

The survey results showed the community overwhelmingly wants the shelter to prioritize and have on-site mental health and substance abuse counseling. Further, survey respondents felt that the city needs to consider how to minimize the shelter’s impact on neighborhoods with 81% of respondents checking “appropriate public safety presence” and 67% saying on-site security needs to be included at the shelter.

DETAILS ON THE THREE TOP LOCATIONS

Following are details of the 3 locations with analysis that made the city’s initial cut:

CORONADO PARK

According to the report released by the City on February 27, building the new shelter at Coronado would cost a total of $12.7 million. The city would need to buy abutting land, which may include office space across from the park, to have enough space.

The overwhelming number of those who completed the on line city survey chose the Interstate 40 and 2nd street location as the best area for the shelter with upwards of 31% of the respondents saying the area was the best location. The area is in the same general vicinity as Coronado Park, a city park that has attracted for years many homeless people and those that feed the homeless. The city uses the park as a pickup location for those needing rides to the West Side shelter. No other location site received even half of the number of votes.

For decades, Coronado Park has become an “encampment” or one of the most popular places for the homeless to congregate during the day and sleep at night. Many times, over the years, charitable organizations or “good Samaritans” have set up “food lines” for the homeless at Coronado Park. City and zoning health inspectors have been dispatched repeatedly to the park to try and curb the serving of hot food in the area in order to curtail potential health risk to the homeless and feeding them tainted food. At one time the American Civil Liberties Union even threatened to take action against the city over its efforts to curtail serving hot food to the homeless at Coronado Park.

Marit Tully, the president of the Near North Valley Neighborhood Association said at Thursday’s meeting that Coronado Park has seen major problem over the years due to the park’s existing concentration of people who are homeless. The neighborhood area she was referring to is located north of the freeway. Tully said area residents have for years raised concerns with the city, but the city has made s little improvement. According to Telly, her neighborhood association could not support any shelter site unless the city invests just as much in the chosen neighborhood.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1425469/city-releases-top-3-choices-for-new-homeless-shelter.html

Police over the years have been dispatched over and over to take action against the homeless at Coronado Park. The use of Coronado Park by the general public is scant or significantly curtailed. To succeed at the Coronado Park location and to have the lowest impact to the area would require sufficient safety precautions including security fencing and law enforcement or security surveillance of the area. The advantage is that the City owns the land and the location is far enough from the down town area to reduce impact to downtown and residential areas. The freeway still would act as a buffer to businesses north of it.

UNIVERSITY OF NEW MEXICO HEALTH SCIENCES CENTER

According to the city’s report and analysis, the UNM land would be free and development cost would be $12.4 million. The University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center laboratory area tied for second place in the city’s on line survey receiving 15% of the vote. UNM Health Services confirmed a few months ago in a statement released that they were talking with city officials so they can be part of the solution. Following is the statement released:

“The University of New Mexico has been in discussions with the city of Albuquerque and Bernalillo County on the best ways to address the needs of the homeless population in our community. In those discussions, the possibility of utilizing currently vacant land near the office of the medical investigator/state lab has been mentioned. Nothing has been decided and you will see from the survey that other locations are being considered.

Our mission at UNM Health Sciences is to treat every New Mexican with the highest level of care possible. Being part of the solution to address the mental health, substance use disorder and housing needs of residents goes to the heart of that mission. It is not enough to just treat those who enter our emergency department, we must invest in comprehensive, compassionate care. Partnering with local governments ensures we continue to deliver more to those in need.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/city-survey-results-reveal-top-picks-for-new-homeless-shelter-location/5635350/?cat=500

University of New Mexico leaders have sent mixed messaged on whether UNM land should be considered for the shelter. Dr. Paul Roth, chancellor of the UNM Health Sciences Center and chief executive officer of the UNM Health System, did say previously there are several advantages to using the UNM land for the homeless shelter including proximity to health and behavioral health facilities that are a critical part of the proposed shelter.

UNM’s Campus Safety Council, which consists of the dean of students, student body president, chief of university police and others, voted overwhelmingly in January to recommend to UNM officials and regents not to allow the shelter anywhere at UNM. According to UNM’s Campus Safety Council the facility will create a dangerous situation for students, burden campus police and hurt the university’s enrollment which has been on the decline the past 3 years.

UNM President Garnett Stokes has made it clear that no decision has been made. Stokes has said that she will keeping an open mind about the proposal, and will gather input from the campus community and others before making a recommendation to the Board of Regents.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1425469/city-releases-top-3-choices-for-new-homeless-shelter.html

LOVELACE HOSPITAL COMPLEX ON GIBSON

According to the report and analysis released by the city, the Lovelace Hospital Complex would be $14 million in acquisition and renovation costs.

Although the former Lovelace hospital on Gibson was not listed in the on line survey, 42 people who took the survey wrote it in as an option. It was not listed on the survey because the city did not have permission from the building’s owners to list it.

It was in 2007 Lovelace Medical Center closed down. It was later purchased by local private investors. The investors who purchased the former Lovelace Hospital on Gibson were Jimmy Daskalos and Nick Kapnison. Nick Kapnison is one of the owners of “Nick and Jimmy’s” Restaurant, Mikinos Creek Restaurant and Papa Fillipes. Mr. Nick Kapnison is a highly respected businessman and community activist.

The Albuquerque Journal recently reported that Nick Kapnison donated $3,500 to Mayor Keller’s Charitable Foundation. The Charitable Foundation has raised $250,000 from private donors for city initiatives. The Mayor’s Charitable Foundation recently gave the City $20,000 to provide additional housing vouchers for the homeless. The link to the Journal report on the donations is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1421506/familiar-businesses-back-abq-foundation.html

The Loveless facility is a 529,000-square-foot building and upwards of 50% of it is said to be vacant. According to one news report, an estimated $10 million in upgrades in the Lovelace Hospital Complex, including remodeling for specific tenants, improving common areas and the parking lot and installing a 540-ton cooling unit out back were made. Parts of the building date back to 1950 and what was then known as the Lovelace Clinic, and as a result the need for any asbestos remediation is subject to speculation and has not been reported on by the news media.

https://www.abqjournal.com/774956/medical-center-at-old-lovelace-hospital-might-expand-to-other-uses.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Since assuming office as mayor on December 1, 2017, Tim Keller has said that a 24-hour, 7 day a week facility to temporarily shelter the homeless within the city is critical toward reducing the number of homeless in the city. Mayor Keller actively campaigned for voters to approve $14 million in general obligation bonds of for the homeless shelter that has an actual cost of $30 million.

During last year’s 2019 legislative session, the city sought $28 million for the Gateway project. The legislature funded only $985,000 last year for construction costs. This year Mayor Keller sought $14 million from the New Mexico legislature in state funding for the “Gateway Center” homeless to match $14 million that city voters approved in the last bond election. The 2020 legislature refused to fund the project.

With only $14 million in place, the city only has enough to complete the first phase of the project. The city will now have to find funding elsewhere within the city budget or wait another year to ask for funding in the 2021 legislative session.

The City of Albuquerque has 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 exceeded the $1 Billion figure. The 2019-2020 budget represented an overall 11% increase in spending over the previous year. On April 1, 2020, the Keller Administration will be releasing the 2020-2021 proposed city budget for review, public hearings and final approval by the City Council. It will be interesting if Mayor Keller will be including the additional $14 million to complete the “Gateway Center” Homeless Shelter.

The Keller Administration did say that although 3 locations have been identified, the city’s site selection is ongoing and new locations continue to emerge. Included in the process will be a fiscal analysis of each site and determining the financial limitations to complete the project. Each site under serious consideration will require a financial analysis, including land acquisition cost, before the Keller Administration makes any final recommendations to the City Council.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1416684/i402nd-street-choice-for-new-homeless-shelter-ex-more-survey-respondents-favored-centralized-location-for-homeless.html

There is no doubt as the debate rages on where to put the Keller 24-7 City Homeless Shelter, there is a likelihood a large segment of the voting public will get upset, no matter how necessary the shelter is needed. Keller wants to break ground for the new shelter in the summer of 2021 which is when the race for Mayor begins to heat up, which is what happened with the ART Bus construction project.

Many will be watching exactly what is Mayor Tim Keller’s preferred location for the shelter which is the location likely the City Council will adopt. If not handled properly by building a consensus, Mayor Tim Keller will be adding the location of the 24-7 city homeless shelter location he has advocated since being elected to the list of issues that could conceivably divide large segments of the city and deprive him of a second term.

Mr. Michael Dickson has been a resident of Albuquerque for over forty years. He is a former, two-term, City of Albuquerque Environmental Planning Commissioner. Michael Dickson is an artist and retired architect. He was the Director of Design, Principal Designer and Senior Principal at one of New Mexico’s largest and most prestigious architectural firms.

Recently, Mr. Dickson worked with the Greater Albuquerque Business Association, as a volunteer, to develop a conceptual masterplan for “Gabriel’s Village”, a not-for-profit residential homeless campus envisioned to serve homeless; families, veterans, men and women that have fallen on economic hard times and just need some help building their lives, finding the right job and learning new market-driven job skills, so they can reenter main stream society and become self-sufficient productive and contributing citizens.

Below is a guest column submitted by Michael Dickson to this blog for publication:

“The University of New Mexico’s proud motto, Lux Hominum Vita, means, Light the Life of Man. These well-chosen words are intended to encapsulate the beliefs and ideals of this heralded institution.

If done properly, ABQ and UNM could make this new on-campus Homeless Shelter the template and role model for our nation’s war on homelessness. Wouldn’t it be nice for us to be on the top of some “good” lists for a change? Let’s join the vanguard and be “part of the solution”?”

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions expressed in the foregoing guest opinion column written by Michael Dickson and are those of Mr. Dickson and do not necessarily reflect those of the www.petedinelli.com blog. Further, Mr. Dickson paid no consideration for its publication and has given his consent to publication. www.PeteDinelli.com has not been paid any compensation to publish the guest column.

On February 25 Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham held a major press conference to sign into law the “Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act” also known as a “red-flag” gun bill that will allow firearms to be temporarily taken away from those deemed dangerous to themselves or others. The Governor placed the “red flag gun bill” on the 30-day legislative agenda thereby making it one of her top initiatives during the session. The new law will take effect May 20, which is 90 days after the 2020 New Mexico legislative session ended. New Mexico is now the 18th state to adopt such a “red flag” law.

NEW MEXICO’S “EXTREME RISK FIREARM PROTECTION ORDER ACT” PROVIDES FOR DUE PROCESS OF LAW

The “Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act” or red flag law does contain significant safe guard provisions that protect a citizen’s 2nd, 4th and 14th Amendment Rights. The court proceeding and the process under the new red flag law and how it works is summarized as follows:

“A law enforcement officer, or a prosecutor in cases involving a law enforcement officer, are allowed to file a petition in State District Court for an order to prohibit someone from possessing firearms.

All firearms are required to be returned to their owner within 10 days after an order’s expiration.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1424533/gov-lujan-grisham-signs-red-flag-gun-bill-into-law.html

Exclusive authority is given to law enforcement to make the decision to file a petition and the petition must be based on whether there’s “probable cause” to believe the individual “poses a significant danger of causing imminent personal injury to self or others.” Law enforcement officials will have to explain their decision with the filing of a court notice if they decide not to seek a judge’s order after receiving a report and evidence in support of the petition.

The “Extreme Risk Firearm Protection Order Act” signed by the Governor is a natural progression of the 2019 New Mexico Legislature passage of legislation which prohibits gun possession by someone who’s subject to an order of protection under the Family Violence Protection Act. Under the enacted legislation domestic abusers must surrender their firearms to law enforcement. The gun possession prohibition also applies to people convicted of other crimes.

GOVERNOR’S COMMENTS

On her FACEBOOK page, Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham posted the following:

“Today I signed into law an important measure enhancing public safety and reducing the risk of mass gun violence, creating extreme-risk protection orders and empowering law enforcement officers to temporarily disarm individuals who present a clear danger to themselves or others in emergency situations. With this life-saving legislation, New Mexico has balanced individual rights and public safety in a responsible way that will reduce our unacceptable suicide rate and other forms of gun violence. Today we are standing up – we do not accept the status quo; we do not accept the risk posed by dangerous armed individuals who have articulated their desire to cause harm. This law is a good public safety measure, and if it saves even one life, and it will, we will have done good work here.”

During her press conference, the Governor said this:

“If we can make a difference for one person, that’s the right difference to make. … We know this is a meaningful tool to address gun violence.”

RENEWED OPPOSITION

During both the 2019 and 2020 legislative sessions, 30 of the state’s 33 elected county sheriff’s strenuously objected to the legislation as did virtually all Republican lawmakers. Elected sheriffs mounted a strong lobbying campaign to defeat passage to the point of appearing before the legislative committees in mass, fully uniformed and armed to make their point of disdain for the legislation.

The County Sheriffs repeatedly spoke out against the gun legislation during legislative committee hearings. Some elected sheriffs testified that they simply would not enforce the legislation if it became law. 28 of New Mexico’s counties and municipalities in the state also passed “Second Amendment Sanctuary” ordinances in defiance to the legislative enacted gun control measures.

https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2019/03/22/nm-sec-state-rejects-gop-petition-put-gun-control-ballot/

After the Governor’s press conference, the New Mexico Sheriffs’ Association announced that a court challenge will be filed before the law takes effect in an attempt to block it from being implemented.

Cibola County Sheriff Tony Mace, the Chairman of the New Mexico Sheriffs’ Association had this to say:

“They’ve made this bill so horrible that we can’t [enforce it]. … Somebody hasn’t even committed a crime, and you’re taking their personal property.”

Chaves County Sheriff Mike Herrington said recently before county commissioners:

“This just violates too many constitutional rights for us to even enforce”

Despite the coordinated opposition to the “red flag law” by elected county sheriffs, some law enforcement officials backed it, including Governor Lujan Grisham’s appointed State Police Chief Tim Johnson and Albuquerque Police Department (APD) officials, including Deputy Chief Harold Medina who testified in favor of the legislation.

GOVERNOR’S RESPONSE TO SHERIFF’S OPPOSITION

During the press conference where she signed into law the “red flag law”, Governor Lujan Grisham was asked about sheriffs’ resistance. Lujan Grisham said elected law enforcement officials should resign if they are not willing to enforce the state’s laws including the new “red flag” by saying:

“They have to enforce the law. They take an oath to do that. … [They] don’t get to make those decisions.”

The Governor did say that her administration would not retaliate by withholding funding from any counties that do not enforce the law. She also added that she believes law enforcement officers will eventually come around and decide to enforce it.

REPUBLICAN OPPOSITION TO RED FLAG LAW

As all Republicans cast their votes against the “red flag law” , they held up copies of the Constitution to show their objections to the law. Democrats should have held up copies of “death certificates” to symbolize victims of New Mexico domestic gun violence and suicides.

NEW MEXICO’S SUICIDE RATE

Most gun deaths in New Mexico are a result of suicide and therefore the state’s suicide rate is a critical part of the debate when it comes to a red flag law. Overall, the state suicide rate is 21.9 deaths per 100,000 people, which is more than 50% higher than the national average. Ten counties in New Mexico that are largely rural areas of the state have suicide rates at least twice the national average, which is 14 suicide deaths per 100,000 people. Studies in states that have “red flag laws” and that have “risk-based firearm seizure laws” were associated with reduced suicide rates.

NEW MEXICO’S DOMESTIC VIOLENCE RATE

On September 16, 2017, according to an annual study published by the Violence Policy Center, it was reported women are more likely to be killed by men in New Mexico than nearly any other state.

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/new-mexico-s-rate-of-women-killed-by-men-among/article_eb7e4a2c-273d-5eb6-8007-e5936639b64f.html

The study found that New Mexio has the 10th-highest rate of women killed by men, marking the third straight year New Mexico had appeared toward the top of the list, while New Mexico’s overall homicide rate ranked lower.

Current statistics are 1 in 3 New Mexico women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. 18,000 domestic violence calls were made in 2017 with 8,000 calls made in Albuquerque. 30% of the calls had a child as a witness. Nationwide 3 women are killed daily from domestic violence.

New Mexico has ranked among the top 10 states with the highest rates of women killed by men during the last decade. The Violence Policy Center promotes gun control and found that each state at the top of the list of women killed by men have a high rate of firearm ownership which no doubt includes New Mexico’s gun culture.

CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS

The 2nd, 4th, and 14th Amendments to the United States Constitution are part of the Bill of Rights. All three are often cited by the National Rifle Association (NRA), gun rights advocates and gun fanatics as prohibiting any meaningful and reasonable gun control legislation. The Amendments are as follows:

The 2nd Amendment to the United States provides in part:

“… the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”

The 4th Amendment provides:

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things … “

The 14th Amendment provides:

“No state shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any state deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.”

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is 100% correct that elected law enforcement officials should resign if they will not enforce the state’s laws including the new “red flag”. The new red flag law is not a violation of the United States Constitution nor Bill of Rights as Republican law makers and County Sheriffs argue and it should be enforced. To refuse to enforce the law is a dereliction of duty and is grounds for removal.

WARPED INTERPRETATION OF THE BILL OF RIGHTS

Elected sheriffs who oppose the red flag law and refuse to enforce it show a serious ignorance of how the Bill of Rights and United States Constitution work. They also show a serious ignorance of the law. They have a warped interpretation of constitutional rights that have rotted out all of their common sense and prevent any reasoning with them which is the mentality of gun rights fanatics and the National Rifle Association.

The 2nd, 4th and 14th Amendments are not absolute rights and are often cited by gun fanatics and the National Rifle Association (NRA) to oppose any and all kind of reasonable gun control legislation. Each separately and together have limitations and exceptions, are subject to court interpretations and are not black and white restrictions with no exceptions.

The reality is that there are many limitations under the law and to our constitutional rights guaranteed by the 2nd, 4th and 14th amendments. Convicted and violent federal felons, who are still citizens of the United States, lose the “right to keep and bear arms” provided by the 2nd Amendment and in fact are given enhanced sentences for gun possession and use of a gun in the commission of a crime. Search warrants based on “probable cause” used by law enforcement for the seizure of personal property, including guns, are not “unreasonable searches and seizure” prohibited by the 4th Amendment. Despite what Sheriff Tony Mace says that property will be taken from people who have committed no crime, it is likely that his department and officers over the years have secured search warrants and taken property based on “probable cause” from people who have not committed a crime. Court orders and injunction relief secured with supporting sworn affidavits, evidence and testimony in civil petitions to the court provide for due process of law and do not violate the 14th Amendment.

In the “heinous world” of domestic violence and mass shootings, and the world mental illness and suicide where people cannot escape their demons and are imprisoned in their minds with no escape, those who use guns are more interested in doing harm to others or themselves and could not careless about their constitutional rights. In the “real world”, many would say law enforcement violate constitutional rights whenever they sign off on a search warrant based on “probable cause” to seize private property. Search warrants based on probable cause are used daily as an effective tool to gather evidence of a crime. Extreme Risk Protection Orders require probable cause that a person poses and immediate threat to themselves or others before guns can be seized and for that reason are similar to search warrants relied upon by law enforcement.

Given New Mexico’s high suicide rates, domestic violence killings with guns and the threat of mass shootings, it is shameful that any elected New Mexico county sheriff are far more concerned about “second amendment rights” that they believe exist that allows almost anyone, including those who are likely to harm themselves and others and to have a firearm of their choosing. The elected sheriff’s hide behind the 2nd, 4th and 14th Amendments so as not to protect or enforce the rights of others who have the rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” just as much guaranteed under the constitution as the right to bear arms.

The elected sheriffs who oppose the meaningful gun control legislation that the red flag law represents ignore their duty and responsibilities “to serve and protect the general public” that elected them. They choose to promote their own fanatical “pro-gun” political philosophy and their own personal interpretation of the law and constitutional rights.

New Mexico’s Domestic Violence cases make up a large share of violent crime cases. The public’s safety and enactment of laws for the protection of those that easily become victims of gun violence, even by family members, should be law enforcement’s priority, not enforcing only those laws they feel that conform to their own “pro-gun” philosophy. The enactment of laws is the responsibility of the legislature, not law enforcement. The meaning and interpretation of the laws enacted is the responsibility of the court’s, and not of law enforcement.

ELECTED SHERIFFS CANNOT ENFORCE ONLY THOSE LAWS THEY AGREE WITH

Elected County Sheriffs have an ethical and legal obligation to honor their oaths of office. They cannot pick and choose what laws the agree with and want to enforce. Elected County Sheriffs who refuse to enforce the law are also asking taxpayers to assume the financial risk of their decision to impose their personal views over the law. There is a real possibility that a relative of a dead crime victim in a domestic violence case will sue a county sheriff for negligence and wrongful death when that sheriff refuses to seek a protective order asked for by the crime victim to seize guns where there was enough probable cause evidence to secure it, but the sheriff declines saying such protective orders based on probable cause violate the constitution.

Any elected County Sheriff who refuses to enforce the new red flag law should resign immediately and allow elected county commissions to appoint law enforcement who will respect their oath of office and set aside political philosophy and political agendas. A refusal by sheriffs to enforce the law should justify the Attorney General to send letters suspending a sheriff’s law enforcement certification.

CONCLUSION

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham is commended and deserving of major kudos with her signing of New Mexico’s new red flag law. It should not come as a surprise to anyone that she supported and signed the legislation. Throughout her many years in congress, she consistently supported reasonable gun control legislation. For decades reasonable gun control legislation has gone nowhere in the National Rifle Association Republican controlled congress.

The Governor’s Office now needs to send copies of the “EXTREME RISK FIREARM PROTECTION ORDER ACT” to all 33 elected County Sheriffs as well as elected District Attorneys along with a letter. The letter should tell the elected County Sheriff’s in no uncertain terms that they have the legal obligation to enforce the red flag law. In the event they refuse to enforce the law they should resign or the District Attorneys should seek the Sheriffs removal from office. Further, the New Mexico Attorney should suspend the law enforcement certifications of any sheriff who refuses to enforce the law.

Too many have died in New Mexico from suicides and domestic violence to the point that “gun rights fanaticism” that places gun rights over victims rights has no place in law enforcement.

For a related blog article see:

Elected County Sheriffs Who Refuse To Enforce Reg Flag Law Need To Resign; Suspension Of Law Enforcement Certifications Appropriate Remedy