“Our resources are incredibly drained, and we’re trying to recover from a decade-long shortage of investments in first responders. … Anything we can do for public safety, we need to do right now without question” so said Mayor Tim Keller in an interview with the Albuquerque Journal regarding his plans to have the Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Department (AFRD) to start billing taxpayers when it is dispatched to the scene of a car crash or vehicle fires to raise $1 million to fund 12 firefighter positions.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1317594/mayor-proposes-fees-for-accidents-using-excessive-fire-rescue-services.html

ALBUQUERQUE FIRE AND RESCUE DEPARTMENT(AFRD) BUDGET

On April 1, 2019, the Keller Administration submitted its 2019-2020 fiscal year operating city budget to the Albuquerque City Council for review and budget hearings. The Keller Administration wanting to charge for AFRD responses for car crashes and fires is contained in the 2019-2020 proposed budget. You can review the entire proposed budget for AFRD here at page 110 of the budget:

http://documents.cabq.gov/budget/fy-20-proposed-budget.pdf

The operating budget submitted by the Keller Administration is for $1.1 billion for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2019. Last year, the operating budget was $997 million. The Albuquerque City Council raised the gross receipts tax last year by three-eighths of 1% before the budget was even submitted. Mayor Tim Keller signed off on the tax increase breaking his campaign promise to get elected Mayor not to raise taxes without a public vote. Last year’s tax increase was implemented in order to deal with a projected deficit of $40 million, a deficit that never materialized.

Last year’s gross receipts tax increase generates $58 million per year and more than half of the tax increase revenue is going into public safety initiatives. The 2019-2020 budget represents an overall 11% increase in spending over the current year. The proposed 2019-2020 budget is the first time in city history that the city operating budget will exceed the $1 Billion figure. A whopping 47% of the General Fund budget expenditures is dedicated to fund the Police and Fire departments. The Albuquerque Police Departments (APD) proposed budget is for $209,852,000. The AFRD proposed budget is for $97,894,000. AFRD received a budget increase to cover 19 new positions, including seven in the field.

Under the proposed budget, the AFRD will go from 731 full time positions to 766 positions. (Page 110 of Proposed 2019-2020 Budget) In the proposed budget, it states that a new “emergency incident cost” recovery fee for AFRD will be billed to a taxpayer’s auto insurance company when it is dispatched to a call for service to the scene of a car crash or vehicle fire. If approved by the City Council, this will be the first time AFRD will be billing for services to the scene of a car crash or vehicle fire. The billing is projected to yield $1 million to fund 12 new firefighting positions out of a department total budget of close to $98 million dollars.

The AFRD has outlined the new “cost recovery” system for AFRD’s responses to automobile fires and to car crashes that require hazardous material cleanup or extractions. The proposed fees as set out in the city’s fire code ordinance will be $400 for “hazard mitigation and cleanup” and another $1,305 for use of “heavy rescue tools and other equipment” to remove someone from a crash vehicle. Under the proposal, the department could also bill $400 per hour for any additional time on the scene under the plan.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Police and Fire protection are basic essential services that virtually every citizen in the city pays for with their taxes. The providing of an essential service, when it comes to police and fire protection, should be free of charge and such services should not be for profit, period. Both the police department and the fire department are not “enterprise funds” such as the aviation department that runs the airport, that operates very much like a private business when it charges “user fees” to airlines to operate and maintain the airport facilities but without a profit and with the goal of breaking even. Taxpayers have the right to demand that they not be forced to pay for basic essential services twice. The Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Department (AFRD) billing a taxpayer’s auto insurance company when it is dispatched to the scene of a car crash or vehicle fires to raise $1 million to fund 12 firefighter positions borders on the grotesque on so many levels.

Car insurance coverage contracts, other than the premiums and coverage amounts, are basically not negotiable and if the city bills an insurance company it will probably claim it’s not covered and just forward it on to the insured or the party who was at fault. A very large percentage of people do not carry car insurance, and those who do, the insurance carrier will likely deduct the city charge for AFRD accident scene clean up from any insurance claim paid.

Another foreseeable problem is when the accident is the result of the city’s negligence in highway maintenance or caused by a city vehicle, say a cop running a light and t-boning someone, which has happened more than once over the past few years. If multiple cars are involved, and liability not determined, it will be difficult for the city to send the bill to the party who is truly liable. The city maintains a contract with numerous private wrecking companies that are on a rotating schedule, when the city could easily purchase “tow-trucks” and do the job to clean up crash scenes. And if there is a car crash fatality, and no insurance, the City will probably want to charge the decedent’s family for the call for service which can easily be in the thousands of dollars given the proposed fee schedule.

The proposed fee to extract someone from a car crash will be $1,305 and hopefully, it’s a flat fee that won’t be charged per body part extracted by AFRD. Next thing you know, the Keller Administration will want the police department to charge for their calls for service because APD is consistently going over its overtime budget by the millions of dollars. It is not at all difficult to imagine the AFRD or APD generating a bill for a call for service at a scene of a fatality, give it to a decedent’s relatives and telling them “Sorry for your loss. Please give this bill to your insurance carrier, and if there is no insurance, please call to make payment arraignments”.

It is pathetice how Mayor Tim Keller cannot find $1 million in a $1.1 Billion-dollar budget after last year’s tax increase to deliver a basic essential service for the fire department to be dispatched to a car crash or vehicle fire to assist. Mayor Tim Keller wanting Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Department (AFRD) to bill a taxpayer when it is dispatched to the scene of a car crash or vehicle fires to raise $1 million to fund 12 firefighter positions borders on the grotesque. It is also ill advised when he says “Anything we can do for public safety, we need to do right now without question.” The providing of an essential service, when it comes to police and fire protection, should be free of charge, period. Such services should not be for profit. Next thing you know, the Keller Administration will want APD to charge for their calls for service because it is consistently going over its overtime budget by the millions of dollars. It is not at all difficult to imagine the AFRD or APD generating a bill for a call for service at a scene of a fatality, give it to a decedent’s relatives and telling them “Sorry for your loss. Please give this bill to your insurance carrier, and if you do not have insurance, call the city and payment arraignments.”

Over the next few weeks, the Albuquerque City Council “Committee of the Whole”, consisting of all 9 city councilors, will hold budget hearings on each department budget and alter or amend the budget as they see fit, vote to approve and the budget will take effect July 1, 2019. The City Council needs to put the brakes on this grotesque idea to have AFRD to charge for car crash or vehicle fire calls for service and find the $1 million in the $1.1 Billion budget, especially after Mayor Tim Keller agreed with them to raise taxes last year without a public vote. The City Council needs to tell Mayor Keller, that despite his own opinion, everything does not need to be done for public safety without question.

“So Very Sorry For Your loss. Please Give This Bill To Your Relative’s Insurance Carrier.”

On Thursday, May 16, 2019, Albuquerque City Councilor Pat Davis held a press conference. Councilor Davis was photo graphed behind a podium in front of the Triangle Substation, he was all alone at the podium with two cops standing 5 feet or more away from him with new bicycles and helmets. No other city official was in attendance to announce spending of $6,000 to purchase 6 new bikes for five APD bike officers, a sergeant and a lieutenant so they can patrol Nob Hill on bikes.

According to Pat Davis, the “bike patrol” is a new crime-fighting tool for the southeast area of town and the initiative includes an increase in bike patrols to Albuquerque Police’s Southeast Area Command Problem Response Team. Davis proclaimed during his press conference:

“I’m proud to help our officers put their community policing training to work for our neighborhoods. … Having Officers with the ability to get out of their cars and closer to residents and businesses makes APD more visible and reinforces our community policing vision.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/city-councilor-announces-bike-patrol-expansion-in-southeast-albuquerque/5356121/?cat=500

TWO WEEKS EARLIER

On May 3, 2019, Albuquerque City Councilors Isaac Benton, Pat Davis, Klarissa Peña and Ken Sanchez held a press conference to announce public safety initiatives for Nob Hill. The 4 City Councilors announced their proposal to invest up to $1.5 million in specific Central corridor for “public safety” initiatives and marketing measures for fiscal year 2020. Included is $500,000 in one-time funding for grants to nonprofit business associations and merchant groups along the central corridor.

Many business owners along the Central Corridor where the ART Bus project was constructed have complained about repeated vandalism in the area, break-ins resulting in the businesses having to spend money on expensive repairs and even security measures. Other Nob Hill business owners have expressed mounting frustration, fear and anger struggling to recover from the 18 months of Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) construction.

ONE WEEK EARLIER

On Friday, May 10, 2019, in reaction to the murder of 21-year-old Jackson Weller, Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Michael Geier, UNM President Garnett Stokes, 2nd Judicial District Attorney Raúl Torrez held a joint press conference to announce initiatives aimed at making the Nob Hill Business District safer and reducing violent crime up and down the Central corridor. City Councilor Pat Davis attended the press conference held in his City Council District, but he did not speak.

The initiatives announced at the May 10 press conference include:

1. Assigning an additional 50 New Mexico State Police officers from across the state to work out of Albuquerque. Seven NM sate police officers already work here which will bring the number up to 57. 2. Giving UNM police access to the substation and having them coordinate patrols with Albuquerque Police Department officers.
3. Expanding the hours of the Triangle Community Substation on Central and Dartmouth until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays after bars close.
4. Stationing three bike patrol teams to work in Nob Hill during the day and three or four additional officers to patrol on Friday and Saturday nights.
5. Working with the Fire Marshal and the New Mexico Registration and Licensing Department to crack down on issues relating to overcrowding and over-serving in bars that could contribute to late night violence.
6. Using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to match casings to guns used in shootings throughout the state.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/gov-assigns-50-nmsp-officers-to-patrol-albuquerque-to-crack-down-on-violent-crime/5348521/?cat=500

A FEW HOURS LATER

Within a matter of hours after Pat Davis’ May 16, 2019 press conference, and 6 days after the governor sent 50 additional New Mexico State Police officers to Albuquerque to help local police fight crime, two of those state police officers fired their weapons in separate incidents in Albuquerque. The shootings were unrelated, but both started with attempted traffic stops in different areas of Albuquerque, one in the southwest part of the city and the other in the northeast.

Both officer-involved shootings occurred in the evening an hour apart. No officers were injured in either shooting, but one officer hurt his shoulder when his vehicle collided with a civilian vehicle during a “hot pursuit”. State Police Officials said one suspect was shot in the shoulder and said they were still searching for others who escaped after the second shooting.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1316731/state-police-involved-in-shooting-in-sw-abq.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

What is clear from the two officer involved shootings the same day as the Pat Davis press conference, bike patrols are not going to cut it when your dealing with Albuquerque’s violent crime and murder rates. Bike patrols are effective when you want some extent of police presence for community-based policing, but bike patrols are a serious waste of resources when dealing with violent crimes and criminal investigations.

Every APD sworn police officer is given a fully equipped $45,000 plus take-home vehicle with a secured back area to transport arrested suspects.

Pat Davis is not one to ever shy away from a TV news camera to take credit for any action in his City Council District. Pat Davis did not announce his Nob Hill Bike Patrols at the May 10, 2019 press conference with Mayor Keller and DA Torrez even though it would have been totally appropriate and timely to do so, but he no doubt knew that he was going to have his own press conference six days later so he could take all the credit for the Nob Hill Bike patrols.

Hopefully the bikes Pat Davis had purchased come equipped with “bungy cords” to strap arrested defendants to take them to jail after a “hot pursuit”.

Pat Davis is running to get elected again to the Albuquerque City Council. Davis has only one opponent: Gina Naomi Dennis, a progressive Democrat and a Bernie Sanders delegate two years ago.

You can contact City Clerk Katy Duhigg at (505) 924-3650 or at cityclerk@cabq.gov for further information on the November 5, 2019 municipal election.

ALB City Councilors Isaac Benton and Pat Davis Both Need To Voted Out Of Office And Thanked For Their Service

Pat Davis Not Worthy To Be Elected To City Council A Second Term; Congresswoman Debra Haaland Needs To Distance Herself from Davis.

On May 4, 2019, 23-year-old University of New Mexico student Jackson Weller was shot and killed outside a crowded “Imbibe Night Club” in the heart of Nob Hill making him the 26th person killed by gun violence in Albuquerque this year. Thus far, 15 of the homicides remain unsolved. Law enforcement authorities reported that there have been 114 people shot in 112 days in Bernalillo County including the city of Albuquerque through April 23, which is a 36% increase over last year during the same time period.

On Saturday, May 11, 2019, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) announced detectives had arrested Darian Bashir, 23, for the killing of Weller. News reports revealed that in November 2017, Darian Bashir was charged with aggravated battery after he allegedly walked up to another young man in Downtown Albuquerque and shot him at point-blank range in the chest. The case was dismissed by the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office because the victim, who survived being shot, did not testify. The case was dismissed in January 2018 after the DA’s Office failed to comply with court mandated hearing deadlines, including not arranging witness interviews.

According to Court records, it was District Court Judge Richard Brown that released Bashir back in January pending trial because he had a “minimal criminal history” and “no felony convictions” and noted “He was charged with a violent felony in 2017, but the charges were dismissed.” Transcripts of the previous hearing revealed the judge “was troubled by some inferences,” including the idea that Defendant Bashir and the others he was with, had been shooting at police officers an allegation the APD police officers did not include in the criminal complaint they filed with the court. Ultimately, Judge Brown found that although Bashir posed a safety risk to the community, that risk could “be reasonably addressed with appropriate conditions of release” which ostensibly was not objected to by the DA’s office.

DEFENDANT DARIAN BASHIR TO BE HELD WITHOUT BOND PENDING TRIAL

On May 15, 2019, District Judge Brett Loveless in a pre-trial detention hearing ordered Darian Bashir the accused of killer of Jackson Weller to be held without bond pending trial. Defendant Darian Bashir faces an open count of murder.

During the detention hearing, the defense attorney pointed out that Darain Bashir, 23, has never been convicted of a crime, he has no history of failure to appear, and a public safety assessment that takes those and other factors into consideration recommended he be released from custody. Bashir’s attorney also argued that police arrested the wrong man because the arrest warrant had the wrong date listed on the police offense report.

In response, District Judge Brett Loveless pointed out that Bashir had been released in a pending February case and was under court supervision at the time of Jackson Weller’s death and said:

“The defendant was already on conditions of release, where he was being supervised by Pretrial Services at a Level 3, which is only one level lower than the greatest level, and in spite of that … he is alleged to have committed a murder. ”

Ultimately, Judge Lovelace agreed with the prosecution and ordered Bashir to be held pending trial.

You can review all the news coverage at the below links:

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/man-accused-of-killing-unm-baseball-player-to-be-held-pending-trial/5354787/?cat=500

https://www.koat.com/article/man-charged-with-killing-unm-baseball-player-will-be-held-without-bond/27484977

https://www.krqe.com/news/albuquerque-metro/man-accused-of-killing-unm-baseball-player-will-remain-locked-up-until-trial/2004496653

https://www.abqjournal.com/1316232/judge-detains-man-accused-in-unm-baseball-players-death.html

CONSTITUTIONAL BAIL BOND AMENDMENT EXPLAINED

Albuquerque’s crime wave and its violent and murder rate coupled with the killing of Jackson Weller and the release of accused defendant Darian Bashir has again reignited calls for repeal of New Mexico’s Denial of Bail Measure with accusations of “catch and release” of violent felons by Judges.

On November 8, 2016, the “New Mexico Denial of Bail Measure” was approved by New Mexico voters by a landslide vote.

The Constitutional Amendment amended the New Mexico Constitution to change the conditions under which a defendant can be denied bail and not released from custody pending trial. The Constitutional Amendment was designed to retain the right to pretrial release for “non-dangerous” defendants.

Before passage of the amendment, a defendant’ s bail and release from jail pending trial on charges could be denied:

1. Only for a defendant charged with a capital felony, or
2. A defendant has two or more felony convictions or
3. A defendant is accused of a felony involving the use of a deadly weapon if the defendant has a felony conviction in New Mexico.

The adopted amendment changed these requirements, allowing bail to be denied to a defendant who has been charged with a felony only if the prosecutor can prove to a judge that the defendant poses “a threat to the public.”

The adopted amendment also provides that a defendant who is not a danger to the community or a flight risk cannot be denied bail solely because of the defendant’s financial inability to post a money or property bond.

https://votesmart.org/elections/ballot-measure/2076/a-joint-resolution-proposing-an-amendment-to-article-2-section#.XNyEJo5KiUk

A “YES” vote supported allowing courts to deny bail to a defendant charged with a felony if a prosecutor shows evidence that the defendant poses a threat to the public, while also providing that a defendant cannot be denied bail because of a financial inability to post a bond.

A “NO” vote opposed the changes in bail thereby keeping the state’s specific requirements that bail could be denied to a defendant charged with a felony if the defendant also had prior felony convictions in the state.

https://ballotpedia.org/New_Mexico_Changes_in_Regulations_Governing_Bail,_Constitutional_Amendment_1_(2016)

The final vote was 87.23%, with 616,887 voting YES and 12.77%, with 90,293 voting NO.

District Attorneys throughout the state argue the changes to the bail bond laws, as well as rules imposed by the New Mexico Supreme Court, have made it way too difficult for them to prove to a judge that a defendant poses a threat to the public justifying that a violent felon be denied bail and be held in custody pending trial.

The argument is now being made that judges are allowing “catch and release of violent felons”.

THE DEBATE RAGES ON BAIL BOND REFORM

On Tuesday May 14, 2019, “New Mexico Politics With Joe Monahan” published the article “Judge Seats Get Hotter As Crime Wave Stokes Anger. … ”

Political blogger Joe Monahan began his news story covering the debate by quoting an attorney who wanted to remain anonymous and who said:

“What is not being discussed is the real story behind the “reform” of the bail system by a couple of legislative leaders and a Supreme Court justice. Well intended perhaps, but in application has created the catch and release system that criminals exploit and brings crime to us and backlogs the courts and prosecutors. Someday, somebody has to discuss how voters were led to passing a constitutional amendment that voters and the press were told was a crackdown on crime. It was the opposite, but progressive proponents cloaked the agenda by creating a fictitious diversion and the appearance of being tougher on crime.”

“The bail amendment has never been tested to gauge its impact on public safety because of the power struggle the District Attorneys have taken against the judges in refusing to just put on the evidence and see what results. When the public demands the prosecutors participate as partners in the criminal justice system’s role in public safety, and the prosecutors give in and bring the courts the necessary evidence, then we will know if the bail amendment can meet the voters’ expectations in the detentions of the most dangerous defendants. Only then.””

http://joemonahansnewmexico.blogspot.com/

BAIL BOND INDUSTRY ATTORNEY A. BLAIR DUNN’S TAKE

Attorney A. Blair Dunn is in the private practice of law and currently focuses on constitutional law, civil rights, government transparency and natural resource litigation. Mr. Dunn also represents the New Mexico Bail Bond Industry as plaintiffs in a case file against the New Mexico Supreme Court regarding the court rules promulgated to enforce the bail bond amendment.

Following is Mr. Dunn’s analysis:

“Judges are told by the [NM Supreme Court] rules that they ‘shall’ release a person accused of a crime on their own recognizance unless the very high standard of “no set of non-monetary conditions” will ensure that persons return to court. On one hand the public was told that the 2016 Constitutional Amendment would help the District Attorneys keep dangerous people locked up before trial … and then on the other the Supreme Court [ rules force lower courts] … to let men like Bashir walk free repeatedly with nothing more than a promise to behave while they wait for a trial that they will never attend.”

“Either the Supreme Court needs to fix their rules or the Legislature [needs to] change the laws to take this away from the Court. The Legislature has had an opportunity 2 years in a row to ask the Court to fix their rules and the Legislature wouldn’t even pass the memorial asking nicely for the Supreme Court to do that.
…”

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Under the United States and the New Mexico Constitutions, all are guaranteed the right of due process of law no matter how heinous or violent the crime. In criminal trials, with no exceptions, any defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by the prosecution. A person is also entitled to post bond.

What is always ignored or forgotten whenever bond reform is discussed are some of the main reasons for the changes in the law: jail overcrowding and people held for crimes they did not commit or held on low level criminal charges, such as drugs, felony thefts and credit card fraud charges, for months and at times years only to be released. Those that could afford or had the resources to pay a bond, cash or surety, were released while those who were indigent sat in jail days, weeks or even months awaiting a trial, no matter the charges.

Prior to the bond reform, the Bernalillo County Detention Center was chronically overcrowded. Years ago, the downtown jail could house up to 800 and it often would house up to 1,200 forcing the doubling up on individual cell space. The overcrowding resulted in a Federal Lawsuit that was finally settled after almost 30 years of litigation. The West side facility after it was built can house up to 2,000, and sure enough overcrowding occurred again within a matter of months.

New Mexico’s criminal justice system is re-pleat with many cases where criminal defendants are arrested for violent crimes, including murder and rape, sit in jail pending trial for months on end, only to be released when it is found out a murder was committed by another, admitted to by another or DNA testing and forensics identified another who committed the rape.

The new court rules on bond hearings and the degree of proof needed to detain an accused are a “work in progress” as was pointed out by State Representative Gail Chasey, D-Albuquerque, an attorney and chairwoman of the House Judiciary Committee when she said:

“I think we need to give the court some time to figure this out.”

Going after and complaining about judges for their release rulings is a red flag of ignorance of our criminal justice system. All judge’s take an oath of office to preserve, defend and protect our constitution.

Judges are strictly prohibited by the Supreme Court Rules and the Code of Judicial Conduct from commenting on pending cases and voicing opinions that call into question their fairness and impartiality, especially in criminal cases. Judges are prohibited from defending their decisions and sentencing in a public forum outside of their courtroom so criticizing judges is like “shooting fish” in a barrel.

The New Mexico Supreme Court needs to revisit the bond rules, change them and find a permanent solution that will give the lower court’s far more latitude and discretionary authority when it comes to the bond hearings and holding violent criminals in jail until trial. Common sense guidelines, not hard set mathematical formulas allowing no discretion, need to be given the Judges to allow them to make decisions that they believe are in the best interest to protect the public as well as the defendant’s rights to due process of law. Otherwise, the New Mexico legislature may act on its own and seek repeal of the constitutional amendment.

Notwithstanding, in the case of Defendant Darian Bashir, the 2016 Constitutional Amendment approved by voters worked, as did the rules promulgated by the New Mexico Supreme Court.

Bashir will sit in jail until his trial, be given due process of law and if convicted sentenced once found guilty by a jury. Whatever sentence Bashir receives will be reduced by the amount of time served in jail pending trial.

On May 3, 2019, Albuquerque City Councilors Isaac Benton, Pat Davis, Klarissa Peña and Ken Sanchez held their own press conference to announce public safety initiatives for Nob Hill. The 4 City Councilors announced their proposal to invest up to $1.5 million in specific Central corridor for “public safety” initiatives and marketing measures for fiscal year 2020. Included is $500,000 in one-time funding for grants to nonprofit business associations and merchant groups along the central corridor.

Many business owners along the Central Corridor where the ART Bus project was constructed have complained about repeated vandalism in the area, break-ins resulting in the businesses having to spend money on expensive repairs and even security measures. Other Nob Hill business owners have expressed mounting frustration, fear and anger struggling to recover from the 18 months of Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) construction.

The business owners in Nob Hill asked for 12 bike officers and six dedicated motorized police units every night in the Nob Hill business district. This may sound familiar because that is what happened in downtown central, but on a much larger scale. The proposed $1.5 million investment supposedly will help lure customers back to the area because many businesses had to close during the disastrous ART Bus project down central.

On Friday, May 10, 2019, in reaction to the murder of 21-year-old Jackson Weller, Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Michael Geier, UNM President Garnett Stokes, 2nd Judicial District Attorney Raúl Torrez held a joint press conference to announce initiatives aimed at making the Nob Hill Business District safer and reducing violent crime up and down the Central corridor.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham did not attend the news conference but it was revealed that there were a series of meetings throughout the week where she pledged the assistance of her administration, including State Police, the state Probation and Parole Division, and the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department.

The initiatives announced at the May 10 press conference include:

1. Assigning an additional 50 New Mexico State Police officers from across the state to work out of Albuquerque. Seven NM sate police officers already work here which will bring the number up to 57.
2. Giving UNM police access to the substation and having them coordinate patrols with Albuquerque Police Department officers.
3. Expanding the hours of the Triangle Community Substation on Central and Dartmouth until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays after bars close.
4. Stationing three bike patrol teams to work in Nob Hill during the day and three or four additional officers to patrol on Friday and Saturday nights.
5. Working with the Fire Marshal and the New Mexico Registration and Licensing Department to crack down on issues relating to overcrowding and over-serving in bars that could contribute to late night violence.
6. Using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to match casings to guns used in shootings throughout the state.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/gov-assigns-50-nmsp-officers-to-patrol-albuquerque-to-crack-down-on-violent-crime/5348521/?cat=500

During the May 10, 2019 press conference, APD Chief Geier said:

“The whole southeast is part of the initiative … The Nob Hill area right now is the most visible because of the recent homicide, the business owners and their concerns.”
APD to increase the presence of police throughout the area and in the Southwest Area Command, where gun violence is the most prevalent. The 57 State Police officers will be stationed along Central, from UNM to Wyoming.”

On May 14, 2019, 4 days after the press conference, the Lilly Barrack jewelry store in Nob Hill reported a break-in. Lilly Barrack Jewelry store is within walking distance of where the May 10, 2019 press conference was held as is the Triangle substation. The owner of Lilly Barack reported losing at least $30,000 worth of jewelry.

Cell phone video of the shop taken after the break-in revealed the aftermath of a burglary at the Lilly Barrack jewelry store in Nob Hill. Thieves broke a window to get into a vacant shop that shares a wall with the jewelry store and the thieves then broke through that wall.

Jamie Leeds, one of the store owners, reported:

“They had stolen every single layaway, every customer’s pieces of jewelry that was dropped off to be repaired, fixed or polished. … They had stolen all jewelry out of the cases. … Every single piece of Lilly Barrack jewelry is handmade. … There’s no two pieces that ever look exactly the same.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/thieves-steal-30000-worth-of-jewelry-from-nob-hill-shop/5353346/?cat=500

ANALYSIS AND COMMENTARY

One thing is for certain, murders, thieves and crooks do not watch the news. Another thing certain, they apparently like Nob Hill.

Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Michael Geier and the Albuquerque City Council should be realizing that law enforcement takes more than just press conferences for a photo op to announce new initiatives to get results. There must be aggressive follow up by their subordinates which is the heavy lifting.

If you are being given everything you want and have asked for, and then some, sooner or later people demand results. What is becoming increasingly concerning for the City is that all the increases in APD budget and personnel and increases and the creations of new programs and initiatives at APD are not having any effect on bringing down our crime.

What is really unfortunate is that during the last year and a half, Mayor Tim Keller has had press conference after press conference to announce new APD law enforcement initiative and changes in APD policy, and nothing seems to be working. Patience is now running thin and public relations is not cutting it.

It is no longer an issue of not having the money, personnel nor resources. It is now an issue of management, or mismanagement of resources, by Mayor Tim Keller, and APD Chief Michael. If the people Mayor Keller has hired are not following through on his announced initiatives and not getting the job done, personnel changes are in order, including asking for more than a few resignations.

Otherwise voters will be making their own changes.

KOAT TV Target 7 reported that Mayor Tim Keller has given his appointed, highest paid city hall administrators literally thousands of dollars in raises.

The raises were given without informing the City Council and giving an after the fact justifications to the media for the raises.

You can view the entire Target 7 report at this link:

https://www.koat.com/article/top-city-officials-get-big-raises/27459126

CLASSIFIED VERSUS UNCLASSIFIED EMPLOYEES

The Albuquerque City Council is in the process of reviewing the 2019-2019 $1.2 Billion dollar proposed budget that goes into effect July 1, 2019. The City of Albuquerque employs approximately 4,800 to 5,000 full time city hall employees with 26 separate departments. The City of Albuquerque pays an average of $17.61 an hour to City Hall employees or $36,628.80 a year depending on the positions held and required education level and training levels. (40 hour work week X 52 weeks in a year = 2,080 hours worked in a year X $17.61 paid hourly = $36,628.80) Roughly 4,500 City Hall employees are considered “classified employees” who are covered by the city’s personnel rules and regulations.

There are 223 full time “ungraded” positions at City Hall, who are in unclassified positions and “at-will” employees who can be terminated “without cause” and who work at the pleasure of the Mayor or the City Council. All of the Mayor’s top administrators and City Hall Department Directors are “unclassified employees” and serve at the pleasure of the Mayor and can be terminated without cause.

At the end of each calendar year, City Hall releases the top 250 wage earners at city hall. The list of 250 top city hall wages earners is what is paid for the full calendar year of January 1, to December 31 of any given year. In February, 2019, City of Albuquerque updated the list of the 250 top wage earners at City Hall for 2018. You can review the entire listing of all 25o wage earners at the below link.

POLITICAL APPOINTEES GIVEN THOUSANDS IN RAISES

KOAT TV Target 7 reviewed the city’s transparency website and found 5 political, at will employee appointees received raises in the tens of thousands of dollars.

Keller has given APD Police Chief Michael Geier a $27,000 raise and he is now being paid $187,000 a year.

Keller has given his Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair a $20,000 pay increase and she is now paid $190,000 a year.

Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Chief Paul Dow’s pay went from $132,000 to $150,000, or $18,000 more.

Chief Operating Officer Lawrence Rael is now being paid $185,000, up $19,000 from last year.

Keller gave his Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Bhakta a $13,000 raise and his pay is $131,200.01.

Because Keller’s top administration employees are appointed by the mayor, the City Council does not have to approve any of raises. The approval of all the raises came from Chief Administrative Officer Sarita Nair, who had to approve her own $20,000 pay raise and Mayor Keller.

Mayor Tim Keller issued a statement through a spokesperson indicating all the raise he gave were needed for the city to stay competitive and the statement said:

“We looked at salaries for these positions throughout our region and found that, even after these raises, our salaries are much lower than those offered in cities in the region of a similar size. We also have to compete with the new state administration which pays higher salaries, and to which we lost several key people, and a city council that has given consistent annual raises. By offering more comparable salaries, our goal is to attract and retain talented leaders to serve the city of Albuquerque.”

COMPARING THE SALARY INCREASES

Following is the salaried paid all 5 that appeared in the February, 2019 list of 250 top wage earners comparing their salaries to their predecessors at city hall:

Chief Administrative Office (CAO) SARITA NAIR: $169,556.80, now paid $190,000. Former Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry was paid $189,936.

Chief Administrative Office Chief Operations Officer LAWRENCE RAEL: $165,524.80, now paid $185,000. Former Chief Administrative Officer Michael Riordan was paid $152,319.

Albuquerque Police Department Chief MICHAEL GEIER: $159,513.60, now paid $187,000 a year. Former APD Chief Gordon Eden was paid $166,699.

Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Chief PAUL DOW: $132,691.20, now paid $150,000. Former Fire Chief David W. Downey was paid $138,993.

Finance Admin Svc CFO/Director SUNALEI BHAKTA: $131,200.01. Former Director of Finance Department Lou Hoffman was paid $99,732.

The Mayor’s salary and City Council salaries are determined by the Citizens’ Independent Salary Commission. Beginning January 1, 2018, the Mayor’s salary went from $103,854 a year to $125,00 a year. Mayor Keller is provided with a car, expense account as well as an APD protection detail. Eight Albuquerque City Councilors are paid $30,000 annually and the City Council President is paid $32,000 annually. The city council also increased their contituent contact fund from $5,000 to $20,000.

https://www.cabq.gov/audit/citizens-independent-salary-commission

2% RAISES FOR ALL OTHER CITY EMPLOYEES

On April 1, 2019, Mayor Tim Keller submitted to the Albuquerque City Council a $1.1 billion operating budget for the fiscal year that begins July 1, 2019. The proposed budget represents an 11% increase in spending over the current year. Under the proposed budget, general fund spending, which covers most city government operations, climbs $65 million to $642 million. Buried in Keller’s 2019-2020 proposed budget is city workers will get a 2% pay raise under the Keller budget plan, though those represented by unions could get more based on their units’ agreements.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1299497/abq-budget-could-surpass-1-billion-for-the-first-time.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

In the normal world outside of city hall, even in other government agencies and in the private sector, huge salary increases are associated with promotions, additional responsibilities taken on or exceptional job performance above and beyond the call of duty. The truth is that it is difficult to identify with any clarity exactly how APD Police Chief Michael Geier, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Sarita Nair, Chief Operations Officer Lawrence Rael, Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Chief Paul Dow, and Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Bhakta have set themselves apart or have gone above and beyond the normal job performance required by their positions.

It is these types of out of line salary increases that creates a tremendous amount of animosity among the personnel of the city of Albuquerque. It is these types of raises that essentially tarnishes the reputation of elected officials by allowing their top paid administrators to engage in a money grab with the public perceiving poor performance, no results and even mediocrity.

Former Republican Mayor Richard Berry was notorious for paying astronomical, out of line salaries to his top political operatives, especially during his second term in office. For example former Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry was paid $189,936 (#1 highest paid employee), former APD Chief Gordon Eden was paid $166,699 (#2 highest paid employee), former Chief Administrative Officer Michael Riordan was paid $152,319 (#4 highest paid employee), former City Attorney Jessica Hernandez was paid $150,217 (#5 highest paid employee), former Fire Chief David W. Downey was $138,993 (#11 highest paid employee), former Deputy Fire Chief Eric Garcia was paid $133,872 (#13 highest paid employee) and former APD Assistant Chief Robert Huntsman was paid $132,435.

The most disgusting pay increase Berry gave was a 22%, $33,000 pay increase to Chief Administrative Officer Rob Berry who was paid $190,000 a year and became the top paid city hall employee of all time. What made Perry’s raise so disgusting is that he made sure all other city employees were given pay cuts of 2% at the time or zero or 1% or 2% pay increases and even going so far as cancelling the negotiated pay increases for police officers. Berry justified his salary increases by using similar or identical arguments Keller is now using saying that the salary increases were needed to keep people from going elsewhere and retain talented leaders to serve the city of Albuquerque. Yeah, right.

https://www.abqjournal.com/292346/ex-councilor-ken-sanche-zcalls-increase-unacceptable-administrator-perry-had-been-finalist-to-lead-nm-finance-authority.html

To be perfectly blunt, the salaries now being paid to APD Police Chief Michael Geier, Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Sarita Nair, Chief Operations Officer Lawrence Rael, Albuquerque Fire and Rescue Chief Paul Dow, and Chief Financial Officer Sanjay Bhakta now are probably the most they have ever been paid in their careers. At least 4 appointees were hired by Keller without a real national search to fill their positions and are considered Keller’s political operatives and “inner circle” of loyalist. The “national search” for a new APD Chief was considered by many as a sham with Geier always considered the front runner. Geier also has two other retirements that are vested. There was no need to attract many with pay in that they worked for Keller when he was state auditor.

Given all the recent stories on Albuquerque’s violent crime rates and the murders, the $27,000 raise for Chief Geier is highly questionable and very difficult to justify to the public. Adding insult to injury, APD Chief Geier decided not discipline APD’s Public Information Officer Simon Drobik for claiming massive amounts of overtime and being paid $192,000 in 2018, despite recommendations by the Police Oversight Commission he be terminated. What Geier and Drobik are being paid is considered nothing but a money grab, as is all the other pay raises in the double digits.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/05/01/pathetic-but-not-surprising-no-discipline-for-apd-192000-spokesman/

Mayor Tim Keller prides himself in being well educated and a quick learner and said when he was running for Mayor he said he “had done good at all the jobs he ever held.” With only one year and six months in office, Keller has learned very quickly to make sure his political operatives are well taken care of by giving them out of line salary increases that approach what many city hall employees makes in a full year. Mayor Keller will now have to deal with the animosity among average city hall workers his pay raises will no doubt create. One thing is for sure is the 4,800 to 5,000 full time city hall employees who did not get raises do vote, as do their families, and Keller will have to decide was it worth it.

For a related blog article listing the 250 top wage earners in 2018 see:

“$100,000 Or More” Paid To All 250 Top ABQ City Hall Employees

The expression “desperate times call for desperate measures” is commonly attributed to the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates. In his work “Amorphisms”, Hippocrates wrote: “For extreme diseases, extreme methods of cure, as to restriction, are most suitable.”

In Albuquerque when it comes to the cities’ violent crime rates, Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Michael Geier and District Attorney Raul Torres have come up with their own version of the expression: “Desperate Measures For Despicable Crimes” with yet another response to yet another senseless murder and another press conference to announce initiatives. Mayor Tim Keller for his part has also begun blaming the courts to some extent.

THE CITY’S 26TH MURDER AND COUNTING

On May 4, 2019, 23-year-old University of New Mexico student Jackson Weller was shot and killed outside a crowded “Imbibe Night Club” in the heart of Nob Hill making him the 26th person killed by gun violence in Albuquerque this year. APD responded to the shooting call out around 2:15 a.m. and found Weller lying in the street. He had been shot once in the chest and was later pronounced dead at the hospital.

According to news reports, those inside the club described a single gunshot heard outside the nightclub. Customers quickly ran out through the front door to see what was going on. In the street, a woman was screaming and others yelled for an ambulance as a crowd gathered around Weller’s body.

Jackson Weller just turned 23 last month and went to UNM to play baseball. He was a member of the Lobos baseball team in 2018 and was planning on rejoining the team this fall. Weller grew up in Keller, Texas where he played baseball throughout middle school and his high school years.

Weller’s killing is the 26th homicide in Albuquerque this year. Thus far, 15 of the homicides remain unsolved. Law enforcement authorities reported that there have been 114 people shot in 112 days in Bernalillo County including the city of Albuquerque through April 23, which is a 36% increase over last year during the same time period.

For a related story and statistics see:

https://www.petedinelli.com/2019/04/30/headlines-114-people-shot-in-112-days-albuquerque-police-deal-with-a-day-of-mayhem-da-torrez-and-mayor-keller-lose-election-bids/

SUSPECT APPREHENDED

On Saturday, May 11, 2019, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) announced detectives had arrested Darian Bashir, 23, for the killing at a Northeast Heights apartment. According to the arrest warrant affidavit filed, a video surveillance showed a man, later identified as Bashir, walk up to Weller, pull a gun from his waist and shot him point blank in the chest. Bashir is then seen getting into a vehicle that speeds away through a back alley. According to the arrest warrant affidavit three witnesses identified Bashir as the man who shot Weller. One witness told police he heard a gunshot and saw Bashir walking away holding a gun. Two other witnesses say they saw Bashir shoot Weller and walk away as Weller collapsed to the ground. Friends of Weller’s who were with him told detectives that he had been in a fistfight with several people before the shooting but that Darian Bashir was not one of them.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1314397/apd-arrests-suspect-in-slaying-of-unm-baseball-player.html

In November 2017, Darian Bashir was charged with aggravated battery resulting in great bodily harm after he allegedly walked up to another young man in Downtown Albuquerque and shot him at point-blank range in the chest. However, the case was dismissed by the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office because the victim, who survived being shot, did not testify. The case was dismissed in January 2018 after the DA’s Office failed to comply with court mandated hearing deadlines, including not arranging witness interviews.

According to District Attorney Raul Torrez, although his office missed a few deadlines, the case fell apart when the victim didn’t show up to multiple pretrial interviews and Torrez said: “In cases that have this type of violence, sometimes we don’t have cooperative witnesses … So we have enough to initiate an arrest but not enough to complete a prosecution.”

The case has since been refiled, and Bashir was indicted April 9, 2019 by the District Attorney.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1314265/suspect-in-nob-hill-fatal-shooting-has-violent-record.html

ANOTHER PRESS CONFERENCE, ANOTHER INITIATIVE

On Friday, May 10, 2019, in reaction to the murder of 21-year-old Jackson Weller, Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Michael Geier, UNM President Garnett Stokes, 2nd Judicial District Attorney Raúl Torrez held a joint press conference to announce initiatives aimed at making the Nob Hill Business District safer and reducing violent crime up and down the Central corridor.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham did not attend the May 10 news conference, but she was the main focus of the news conference because of the action she took. She revealed that there were a series of meetings throughout the week where she pledged the assistance of her administration, including State Police, the state Probation and Parole Division, and the New Mexico Regulation and Licensing Department.

The initiatives announced at the May 10 press conference include:

1. Assigning an additional 50 New Mexico State Police officers from across the state to work out of Albuquerque. Seven NM sate police officers already work here which will bring the number up to 57.

2. Giving UNM police access to the substation and having them coordinate patrols with Albuquerque Police Department officers.

3. Expanding the hours of the Triangle Community Substation on Central and Dartmouth until 3 a.m. on Fridays and Saturdays after bars close.

4. Stationing three bike patrol teams to work in Nob Hill during the day and three or four additional officers to patrol on Friday and Saturday nights.

5. Working with the Fire Marshal and the New Mexico Registration and Licensing Department to crack down on issues relating to overcrowding and over-serving in bars that could contribute to late night violence.

6. Using the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network to match casings to guns used in shootings throughout the state.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/gov-assigns-50-nmsp-officers-to-patrol-albuquerque-to-crack-down-on-violent-crime/5348521/?cat=500

Governor Lujan Grisham in a news release stated:

“Violent crime in Albuquerque is a scourge, and we will attack the roots of that scourge with targeted deployments of manpower and resources. … New Mexico residents must be free to have every expectation of safety in their homes and communities. It’s our duty as a state to take every action we possibly can to realize that freedom, and I’m proud to stand with our partners in Albuquerque in providing immediate, directed assistance.”

During the May 10 press conference, Mayor Tim Keller had this to say:

“I am saddened and angered by the news that a student’s life was taken last night. … I am getting updates regularly from APD as they work hard to solve this case and bring the killer to justice … Gun violence is not a problem with a quick or obvious solution, but we are determined to fight back in every way. … We understand the urgency of this moment, and I want to say to the people and businesses of Nob Hill that we are not giving up on Nob Hill. … No one is giving up on Nob Hill. We are increasing our efforts because we understand, especially because of the proximity to UNM, that Nob Hill is just as critical as any other part of our city.”

Mayor Keller has also said “Over the last decade, violent crime driven by drugs, gangs, guns, and domestic violence has become an increasingly deadly challenge for this community. … We have made this dangerous mix of crime our top priority.” Keller also disclosed that he had been working with the state to come up with a plan to bring down violent crime.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1310999/man-shot-killed-in-southeast-albuquerque.html

For the first time since becoming Mayor, Tim Keller has adopted the practice of his predecessor Mayor Richard Berry and began to blame the courts for a violent crime. Keller told the news conference that:

“This suspect was recently released from jail on his own recognizance for a felony firearms case in February, in which he was openly firing out of a vehicle … Unfortunately, this individual was back on the street.”

Keller was essentially saying the Defendant was guilty of drive by shooting that he had never been charged with and that Jackson Weller would not be dead if the defendant had not have been free pending trial in the first place by the Courts. Keller made no mention that it was the DA’s Office that was responsible for the dismissal.

According to Court records, it was District Court Charlie Brown that released Bashir back in January pending trial because he had a “minimal criminal history” and “no felony convictions” and noted “He was charged with a violent felony in 2017, but the charges were dismissed.”

Transcripts of the previous hearing revealed the judge “was troubled by some inferences,” including the idea that Defendant Bashir and the others he was with, had been shooting at police officers an allegation the APD police officers did not include in the criminal complaint they filed with the court. Ultimately, Judge Brown found that although Bashir posed a safety risk to the community, that risk could “be reasonably addressed with appropriate conditions of release” which ostensibly was not objected to by the DA’s office.

SENATOR VICTIM OF ROAD RAGE

During the May 10, 2019 joint press conference, District Attorney Raúl Torrez for his part, and not at all surprising, proclaimed the “preventative detention” system is not working and said he will pursue policy changes to keep violent offenders off the streets and said:

“Next week, I intend to introduce a proposed package for legislative action that I will be asking the Governor and the leadership in Santa Fe to take action on in the next session.”

No doubt that Torrez was also reacting to interviews made by South Valley Senator Jacob Candelaria who was a victim of a road rage incident and who called out Torrez saying Torrez was given significant increases in his budget and the office was not doing much. On May 9, 2019, it was reported that South Valley State Senator Jacob Candelaria was almost a victim of gun violence while driving home from work. The incident occurred on Academy near Wyoming when a driver flashed a gun at Candelaria. In a TV news interview, Candelaria stated “[A] Car speeds up, gets behind me, tries different maneuvers to try and pull up next to me, I knew something was wrong. … [When I saw the gun] I peel out of there and I get into a residential area. .. It was probably the most frightening experience I’ve had in my entire life.” Senator Candelaria went on to say “Two years ago, the legislature – and I was part of this – appropriated millions of dollars more for the Albuquerque district attorney … We were promised as a legislature immediate result. I have not seen those results.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/lawmaker-demands-action-after-road-rage-close-call/5347779/

VIOLENT CRIME IS CITY WIDE PROBLEM

During the May 10, 2019 press conference, APD Chief Geier said APD plans are to increase the presence of police throughout the area and in the Southwest Area Command, where gun violence is the most prevalent. The 57 State Police officers will be stationed along Central, from UNM to Wyoming. According to Geier: “The whole southeast is part of the initiative … The Nob Hill area right now is the most visible because of the recent homicide, the business owners and their concerns.”

Data from the District Attorney’s Office reveals that shootings with injury or death are not just a Downtown and Nob Hill area problem. Gun violence is heavily concentrated elsewhere in the Southeast Area Command, with the majority occurring east of San Mateo.

The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office has implemented a data collection program called “Ceasefire”. Ceasefire is supposedly a data-driven approach to combat gun violence.

According to the DA’s office a breakdown of data from January 1, 2019, to April 23, 2019 is as follows:

There were 101 shootings in which individuals were injured or killed, several of which had multiple victims
114 people were shot, 17 of whom were killed.
95 incidents happened in the city.
6 incidents happened outside the city but within the county.
2 people were shot by law enforcement.
10 cases were self-inflicted shootings.
The shortest time between shootings was 16 minutes.
The longest time was a five-and-a-half-day stretch in early January.
The average number of shootings was just over one shooting per day.
Suspects have been identified in 42 cases, although it’s unclear how many have resulted in an arrest.
There were 27 more shootings so far in 2019 compared to the same time period in 2018 when there were 74 shootings.

CHRONOLOGY OF PREVIOUSLY ANNOUNCED INITIATIVES

The May 10 press conference was only the first in recent months where the city and APD made announcement of plans to deal with violent crime.

MAY 3, 2019 CITY COUNCIL INITIATIVES FOR NOB HILL

On May 3, 2019, Albuquerque City Councilors Isaac Benton, Pat Davis, Klarissa Peña and Ken Sanchez held their own press conference to announce public safety initiatives for Nob Hill. The 4 City Councilors announced their proposal to invest up to $1.5 million in specific Central corridor for “public safety” initiatives and marketing measures for fiscal year 2020. Included is $500,000 in one-time funding for grants to nonprofit business associations and merchant groups along the central corridor.

Many business owners along the Central Corridor where the ART Bus project was constructed have complained about repeated vandalism in the area, break-ins resulting in the businesses having to spend money on expensive repairs and even security measures. Other Nob Hill business owners have expressed mounting frustration, fear and anger struggling to recover from the 18 months of Albuquerque Rapid Transit (ART) construction.

The business owners in Nob Hill asked for 12 bike officers and six dedicated motorized police units every night in the Nob Hill business district. This may sound familiar because that is what happened in downtown central, but on a much larger scale. The proposed $1.5 million investment supposedly will help lure customers back to the area because many businesses had to close during the disastrous ART Bus project down central.

DA RAUL TORREZ HIGH TECH INITIATIVE

On April 29 and 30, 2019, Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez show cased his Crime Strategies Unit (CSU), which he touted as being “intelligence-driven prosecution”. According to Torrez, the initiative is less about putting people in jail and more about seeing the bigger picture of fighting crime and how to prevent it.

According to Torrez “[The CSU] is a group of investigators and analysts who use a variety of technology, platforms and tools to build and develop a comprehensive picture of who’s engaged in crime, particularly violent crime in the community.” Launched in August last year by Torrez, the CSU office will be fully implemented by the end of May.

https://www.koat.com/article/bernalillo-county-da-showcases-tech-based-crime-fighting-tools-to-prosecutors-across-us/27327157

APRIL 8, 2019 CITY DECLARES VIOLENT CRIME “PUBLIC HEALTH” ISSUE

On April 8, 2019, Mayor Tim Keller and APD announced a new program and efforts that will deal with “violent crime” in the context of it being a “public health issue” and dealing with crimes involving guns in an effort to bring down violent crime in Albuquerque.

Mayor Keller and APD argue that gun violence is a “public health issue” because gun violence incidents have lasting adverse effects on children and others in the community that leads to further problems. APD supposedly is tracking violent crime relying on the same methods used to track auto thefts, weekly reports summarizing shootings, refining policies, and learning from best practices used by other law enforcement agencies. One goal is for APD to examine how guns are driving other crimes, such as domestic violence and drug addiction.

The initiatives announced on April 8, 2019 include:

1. Using data from APD’s Real Time Crime Center to focus on areas with a heavy concentration of gun violence and identify any patterns.
2. Forming units of officers called Problem Response Teams in each area command. The Problem Response Teams will be made up of officers who don’t take calls for service but will be available to help community members as they need it. After a violent crime, the teams, along with Albuquerque Fire Rescue, will visit the neighborhood and provide resources or information.
3. Identifying those who are selling firearms illegally to felons or juveniles.
4. Working with agencies and universities to conduct research on gun violence as a public health issue.
5. Implementing a standardized shooting response protocol that police must follow within the first 72 hours of a reported crime. APD intends to collect and test all casings at shooting scenes and intends to purchase new equipment and technology that can assist detectives in investigating gun crimes.
6. APD is in the process of hiring additional personnel for the crime lab and securing technology that will increase efficiency around DNA testing including automating the entire unit. The unit that tests DNA and the unit that tests latent fingerprints will be split in an attempt to reduce a backlog of evidence that needs to be tested.
7. Increasing the use of the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network and the Problem Response Teams. The National Integrated Ballistic Information Network program is used to identify which guns have been used in multiple crimes by analyzing all casings they can find at violent crime scenes where a firearm has been discharged
8. Use of a placard police officers can hang on doors to encourage residents to call with information about a crime.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1301057/police-to-focus-on-gun-violence.html

SEPTEMBER 12, 2018 DOWNTOWN PUBLIC SAFETY DISTRICT

On September 12, 2018, Mayor Tim Keller announced a new “Downtown Public Safety District” for Central Downtown that assigns up to 12 police officers specifically to the area and applying other city resources, such as a Family and Community Services Department social worker. The Downtown Public Safety District” created by Keller was in response to a petition drive by Downtown businesses and residents demanding such a substation. The substation for the Downtown Public Safety District is located at the Alvarado Transportation Center at First and Central SW. The substation gives a permanent police presence in Downtown Albuquerque.

The congregation of the homeless in the Central Downtown area have been a chronic problem especially around the Alvarado Transportation Center. Consequently, a Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) was assigned to the district to address homelessness and behavioral health needs.

Several other city departments a well as community organizations providing services to the homeless and mentally ill contribute resources to the district. The other city departments that provide services to Central Downtown area include:

1. Albuquerque Fire Rescue (AFR) has increased its presence near Central Avenue during high-volume call times and by driving a loop around the district after each call for service.
2. The Transit and Municipal Development departments contribute security personnel to the district in coordination with APD patrol plans.
3. The Family and Community Services Department is contributing a social worker to coordinate service providers and implement Project ECHO to train mental health workers in the district.
4. The Municipal Development and Solid Waste departments have expanded the use of street cleaning machines throughout Downtown, including alleyways, and add collection routes for Downtown businesses to address overflow of trash from Saturday nights.
5. Solid Waste is using its “Block by Block” program to wash sidewalks and its Clean City Graffiti crew to eradicate graffiti as soon as possible.
7. The Family and Community Services Department is working with Heading Home’s ABQ Street Connect program to help people with significant behavioral health disability and who are experiencing homelessness.
8. The Family and Community Services is also working with HopeWorks and outreach partners including APD’s COAST team, APD’s Crisis Intervention Team and ACT teams to do mental health outreach and are working with the New Mexico Coalition to End Homelessness to help service providers for homeless people.

https://www.cabq.gov/police/news/mayor-tim-keller-unveils-new-downtown-public-safety-district

DISTRICT ATTORNEY TORREZ BUDGET INCREASES

The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office employs 330 full time personnel which includes 118 full time attorney positions. During the 2018-2019 legislative session, Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez secured a $4.2 million increase for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office. During the 2019-2020 that just ended, the office received another $5,000,000 increase in budget for the 2019 fiscal year. Torrez now has $24.8 million-dollar budget to run his office.

According to the New Mexico sunshine portal, District Attorney Raul Torrez currently has 330 fully funded positions within his office. The Sunshine Portal also reveals that Torres has 55 vacancies, 21 which are attorney prosecutor positions.

MAYOR KELLER’S DEDICATION OF RESOURCES

In 2017, then State Auditor Tim Keller campaigned for Mayor proclaiming he had the right plan for reducing crime, police reform and community-based policing. On April 1, 2019, Mayor Tim Keller submitted his first proposed budget to the Albuquerque City Council which was approved. The City Council Approved Mayor Tim Keller’s spending of $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. Keller further implemented a hiring and recruitment program to offer incentives, pay raises and bonuses to join or return to APD in order to return to community-based policing. By July, 2019, APD should have up to 950 sworn police which is still 250 below the desired number of police officers.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Michael Geier and District Attorney Raul Torrez asking Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham for help and succeeding in having the Governor assign a total of 57 New Mexico State Police officers from across the state to work out of Albuquerque can be described as “desperate measures for despicable crimes”.

Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s action does come with considerable risk to other New Mexico smaller communities given the fact that significant law enforcement resources from the New Mexico State Police are being diverted from much smaller communities that need them more than Albuquerque.

Notwithstanding, Governor Michell Lujan Grisham with her words and actions announced in a press release showed far greater sense of urgency acknowledging the crisis than did Keller, Geier and Torrez.

The fact that Mayor Tim Keller, like his predecessor Mayor Richard Berry, began to blame the courts for a violent crime is extremely disappointing. It is also evidence that Keller knows his policies are failing. Despite Mayor Keller’s increases APD budget and personnel, he has not shaken the stark reality that the city is way too violent. Mayor Keller is relegated to issuing condolences to victim family’s that ring hollow when he conducts news conferences to repeat or try and come up with new initiatives to reduce violent crime in any given area. Mayor Keller should probably save a lot of time and effort and just video tape one press conference that could be played on a video loop to save time in that he seems to say the same things over and over again: how sad he is for the death or current tragedy, this has been going on for a long time, it is going to take more time for things to get better, we are “One Albuquerque” and this is what APD will now be doing.

Both Torrez and Keller campaigned to get elected DA and Mayor on platforms that they could and would bring down our skyrocketing crime rates. No at all surprising, Mayor Tim Keller and Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez have tried to take credit for crime rates being on the decline in all other categories other than gun violence offenses.

In 2016, Raul Torrez campaigned on a platform of reducing crime arguing that crime rates were too high, our criminal justice system was broken and that he was the guy to fix it. Torrez during his first year in office blamed judges for our high crime rates because of reduced sentences given to violent criminals and dismissal of cases until it was revealed that his office voluntarily dismissed cases at much higher rates than the courts.

After more than two years in office, blaming judges for high crime rates and constant complaining about lack of resources without filling over 55 vacancies in his office, DA Torrez only now realizes that has not worked and finally reached out to others to find better strategies, such as his “Ceasefire Program” and his “Crime Strategies Unit” .

https://www.abqjournal.com/1308746/san-francisco-da-analyzing-data-helpful-in-fighting-crime.html

Both DA Torrez and Mayor Keller have initiated programs in an effort to bring down violent crime rates and gun violence. As the shootings, assaults and killings continue to rise, Bernalillo County District Attorney Raul Torrez and Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller are increasingly focused on the gun violence and the city’s murder rates, but time is running out for both of them despite their efforts.

Notwithstanding, voters are very fickle and unforgiving when politicians make promises they do not or cannot keep. The Bernalillo County District Attorney Office is now Torrez’s full responsibility and he cannot blame his predecessor for continuing increases in our crime rates and bungled prosecutions. APD is now fully in the hands of Mayor Tim Keller and his appointed command staff, and he cannot blame his predecessor for continuing increases in our crime rates, so he now appears to be changing tactics an blaming judges.

Mayor Keller, APD Chief Geier and DA Torrez asking for additional resources and more personnel from the State is essentially an admission by them that all they have been doing for the last two years is failing and they need still more, money and resources. Keller, Geier and Torrez are also realizing that governing and law enforcement takes more than just press conferences to get results and if people they have hired are not getting the job done, personnel changes are in order, including asking for more than a few resignations.

If you are being given everything you want and have asked for, and then some, sooner or later people demand results. What is becoming increasingly concerning for the City is that all the increases in APD budget and personnel and increases and new programs at APD and the DA’s Office 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 nor resources. It is now an issue of management, or mismanagement of resources, by Mayor Tim Keller, APD Chief Michael Geier and District Attorney Raul Torrez. Why bother with real results when it is so much easier to hold press conferences, give out condolences, do TV interviews, blame the courts for violent crimes and hold your hands out for more money and resources.