On Wednesday, December 6, 2017, Mayor Tim Keller did a press conference along with his newly appointed Police Chief and command staff as they stood alongside him to talk about the work ahead of them to reform the Albuquerque Police Department.

Before the Mayor Keller discussed his plans for APD, the mayor announced he had a few apologies to make.

WHAT MAYOR KELLER ACTUALLY SAID

Following is what Mayor Keller said at the press conference:

“I’m a believer in community policing, and that includes one of the pillars of community policing, which is about truthfulness with the public. And in that spirit, I want to start by offering an apology on behalf of City Hall to our community. Our community deserves an apology for its historical tone at the top of the department and a culture of excessive force that has hurt our community.”

“I also want to tell the victims of families who have been hurt by unnecessary use of force that I am sorry, and that we are sorry as your city government. We will work every day to restore trust in our community.”

“Secondly, we also need to apologize for our skyrocketing crime rates. I have heard from hundreds of folks who don’t feel safe and who worry about their families every day. And I want to acknowledge to all the victims of crime in this city and to all the families who have fallen victim to crime that we have let you down in many ways. Public safety is a critical function of government, and we must do better and it starts with owning up to that today.”

An apology for City Hall’s failure to bring down our high crime rates and the “culture of aggression” and the unnecessary use of force found within APD has been long overdue.

To be perfectly blunt, an apology for the destruction of one of the finest police departments is something the previous Mayor and his Chief never had the political backbone or courage to do as they refused to take any responsibility for our rising crime rates.

The previous Mayor and Chief would never apologize or admit just how much they let this city and the victims’ of crime down.

The APOA union has never issued any sort of an apology when one of its own members has broken the law or has used unreasonable or unnecessary force or unnecessary deadly force even after large judgments have been paid out for the police misconduct.

APOA REACTION

A few days after the Mayor’s press conference, Albuquerque Police Officers Association (APOA) President and APD Police Officer Shaun Willoughby claimed his membership were upset that Mayor Keller apologized to the citizens’ of Albuquerque for APD’s “culture of excessive use of force” and claimed his phone had been ringing non-stop from angry cops since the apology.

http://krqe.com/2017/12/07/police-union-disappointed-with-mayors-apologies-during-first-week-in-office/

Willoughby went on to say that the Mayor’s apology was a “global apology” or a blanket apology for all use of force by the rank-and-file police officers, which it was not.

Willoughby was not even at the press conference and did not hear the words spoken by the Mayor.

(See December 9, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, page C1, “Keller ‘mistep’ irks APD officers; Blanket use-of-force apology rips open old wounds, union chief says”)

(www.abqjournal.com/1104351/keller-misstep-irks-apd-officers.html)

Willoughby also claimed that the rank and filed felt “discredited” by the Mayor.

WHO IS REALLY ACTING DISHONORABLY?

Willouby apparently suffers from political amnesia on a few levels.

It was the Department of Justice (DOJ), not Mayor Keller, who discredited APD four (4) years ago when it did an investigation of APD.

The Department of Justice investigation found a “pattern and practice of excessive force” and a “culture of aggression” within the Albuquerque Police Department (APD).

In the last eight (8) years, there has been 41 police officer involved shootings, and the city has paid out over $63,000,000 million dollars in settlements for police misconduct cases and excessive use of force and deadly for cases.

Three years ago, the DOJ investigation resulted in a consent decree with mandated reform measures that included a complete re write of APD’s “use of force” and “deadly force” policies.

What is downright laughable and embarrassing is when Willoughby said on camera:

“It’s important to understand that the APOA is not a political organization. I’m actually employed by the cops that we serve. … I don’t think that the APOA having discontent is wrong or reminding anybody that we felt that, that was dishonorable to apologize for a group of police officers.”

What truly is dishonorable is Willoughby’s political motivations and he has forgotten the union’s involvement in the last election.

If APOA is not a political organization as Officer Willoughby claims, it had absolutely no business endorsing anyone for Mayor.

The police union endorsement in many respects politicized APD even further.

Willouby also forgets that Mayor Keller is an employee of the City of Albuquerque and has taken oath to serve and represent all citizens, and not to just promote the APOA union agenda.

Willouby is the same union President who had no problem with the union paying $2,000 to police officers who were placed on administrative leave after a police involved use of deadly force incident and before the killing was determined “justified”.

Willouby also did not like the fact that the District Attorney brought criminal charges against police officers Keith Sandy and Dominique Perez for the shooting of homeless camper James Boyd.

Recently, Willouby said that Perez was acquitted of the murder of James Boyd which was not the case seeing as that the jury could not reach a verdict and the District Attorney decided not to retry the case.

Officer Willouby apparently feels the citizens who pay his salary are not entitled to any sort of apology for the actions of members of his union who are found to use unreasonable force, or unjustified excessive use of force or unjustified deadly force.

THAT UNION ENDORSEMENT

The police union had no business endorsing any candidate for Mayor in the last election.

Under normal circumstances, union endorsements are common place, but when it comes to the Albuquerque Police Department, it is a department in crisis and for the first time in its history is under a Department of Justice consent decree.

The APOA Union understands full well the consent decree in that the police union leadership, including Willouby, has attended and has sat at counsel table during court hearings and Federal Monitor presentations.

The union leadership was at the negotiating table for the full year assisting in the drafting of the “use of force” and “deadly use of force” policy.

The APOA has made it clear that it does not like the Department of Justice (DOJ) consent decree nor the mandated reforms.

The police union and its leadership feels that the mandated reforms under the consent decree are interfering with rank and file officer’s ability to performing their jobs.

During the November 16, 2017 status conference before Federal Judge Robert Brack on the Federal Monitor’s sixth report, Willouby told the court that the use of force and deadly force policies that he help draft are unworkable and that “his” officers were having difficulty with the mandated reforms.

Keller’s acceptance of the APOA endorsement will no doubt be brought up during union contract negotiations and the Union will argue that Keller wants to fully support the salary demands of the police union.

The APOA endorsement is one that Mayor Keller should not have sought and one he should have said no thank you to, and I hope a lesson has been learned.

As the saying goes, politics makes strange bedfellows.

However, the makeup of the new City Council leadership is not as strange as it appears.

Mayor Tim Keller appears to have been sent a clear message by the Albuquerque City Council that any attempt on his part to pursue a “progressive agenda” for the city will be met by a conservative coalition of three (3) Democrats and three (3) Republicans with a supermajority of six (6) votes.

(See December 5, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, Metro & NM section, page A-5, Council elects Sanchez president. Harris VP.)

https://www.abqjournal.com/1101968/sanchez-elected-council-president.html

The Albuquerque City Council has elected Democrat City Councilor Ken Sanchez as council president and ultra-right wing Republican Don Harris as Vice President of the City Council even when the City Council has a 6-3 makeup favoring Democrats.

Sanchez was able to become City Council president by getting the votes of Republicans Don Harris, Trudy Jones and Brad Winter and failed to get the votes of Democrats Isaac Benton, Diane Gibson and Pat Davis.

Councilor Sanchez was just elected to his fourth term and has served as Council President twice before as President.

Harris, Jones and Winter are as partisan Republicans as you can get and have towed the Republican agenda for the last eight (8) years and were reliable votes for the Republican Administration.

At no time did Harris, Winter and Jones ever criticize or take issue with the previous administration, even when it came to the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and you can expect that to change with Mayor Keller.

Sanchez was able to secure the votes of fellow west side Democrat Councilors Klaressa Pena and newly elected City Councilor Cynthia Borrego.

Councilor Borrego during her campaign actually campaigned and held herself out as a “conservative” Democrat.

To complicate matters for Mayor Keller is that Republican City Councilor Trudy Jones was also chosen Chairwoman of the Council’s Budget Committee.

The Budget Committee by far is the most influential of all the City Council committees and the Chairperson sets the agenda and tone.

Councilor Jones is the one who has declared war on “panhandlers” and who has opposed “sanctuary city” policies.

What was a real slap in the face is the fact that so called progressive City Councilor Pat Davis sought to be Council President and when he lost he sought to be Vice President.

Democrat City Councilors Diane Gibson and Isaac Benton both voted for Pat Davis, with Davis voting for himself and securing only 3 votes.

Davis is now running for Congress and no doubt felt that being President of the Council would help him win the nomination.

Ken Sanchez and Pat Davis I consider Democrats in name only (DINO’s) because for the past two years, they both have agreed with the Republican Administration and agreed with the Republican City Councilors on so many strategies and issues you would think they were in fact Republicans.

Both Sanchez and Davis were strong supporters of the ART bus project, refused to advocate meaningful changes to our public finance laws making it easier for candidates to qualify for public finance, voted for the final adoption of the ABC-Z comprehensive plan which will have long term impact on our neighborhoods and favors developers, and have done nothing when it comes to Albuquerque Police Department (APD) reforms and never made comment on the sixth scathing reports of the Federal Monitor.

(See also my blog article “Pat Davis Can Run For Congress But He Cannot run From His Record at https://www.petedinelli.com/2017/06/07/pat-davis-can-run-for-congress-but-cant-hide-from-his-record/)

During the past two years, Pat Davis has gone out of his way and has taken great pride in working on legislation to cosponsor with Republican Don Harris.

Pat Davis now knows how far his work and cooperation with Don Harris has gotten him.

Mayor Keller has selected former Rio Rancho Police Chief Michael Geier as “Interim Chief” of the Albuquerque Police Department.

Chief Geier retired from APD after 20 years and has extensive knowledge of APD.

Mayor Keller has also appointed retired APD Roger Banez, and retired APD Harold Medina, and current Deputy Eric Perez as Interim Deputy Chief’s and each have extensive years of service with APD.

Chief Michael Geier is more than capable of stabilizing APD along with the appointed Deputy Chief management team.

I suspect one of the first decisions Geier will make is increase the homicide unit from 5 to 12 or 15 to deal with the 73-murder investigations this year.

Mayor Keller has committed to a national search for a new permanent APD Chief.

The national search needs to be conducted in short order not only for a new Chief but new Deputy Chiefs who are selected by whoever takes over from Chief Geier.

FEDERAL CONSENT DECREE STILL LOOMS LARGE OVER APD

The next Federal Monitor’s report will be issued in five months, which makes time of the essence of the selection of a new chief.

Hopefully the Federal monitor will be a finding that APD command staff is cooperating with the reform process with the interim chief and command staff in place.

I would hope that Mayor Keller would seek a hearing with the Federal Court, the Federal Court Appointed Monitor, the United States Department of Justice, the United States Attorney and City Attorney and the Chief of Police to outline discuss all changes to be made to APD.

A court order approving modification to the consent decree could be negotiated restructuring APD in order to continue with the implementation of the DOJ mandated reforms.

The entire APD chain of command must be removed and replaced with a new generation of leadership and not from within the ranks of APD.

The command staff who created, contributed or who did not stop the “culture of aggression” need to be replaced.

A national search must be conducted to identify and hire a new management team to take over APD, including a new Chief of Police, new Deputy Chiefs and a new chain of command to assume control of APD.

DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC SAFETY

Mayor Keller should consider creation of a Department of Public Safety by executive order, which would overtime include both the Police and Fire Departments, both Police and Fire Academies, and 911 emergency dispatch center, the emergency operations center with the appointment of a Public Safety Commissioner.

Until the creation of the Public Safety Department, a Police Commissioner could be appointed immediately to assume civilian control of APD.

The Police Commissioner would assume direct civilian oversight, management and control of APD and would serve at the pleasure of the Mayor.

A Police Commissioner and Chief with extensive and proven leadership in managing a municipal police department must be hired, not political operatives.

The civilian Police Commissioner would assume primary responsibility for implementation of all the DOJ-mandated reforms.

Implementation of the DOJ consent decree reforms would include continued formulation, writing and implementation of standard operating procedure and changes agreed to under the consent decree, expansion of crisis intervention mandates and certified training of APD department personnel in constitutional policing practices.

The Police Commissioner, with support assistance from the Chief, would assume the responsibility for interacting and reporting to the Police Oversight Board and the Community Police Councils.

The Police Commissioner would completely overhaul and restructure APD, appoint new chiefs, commanders, lieutenants, academy director and a 911 manager and each would report directly to the Chief of Police, with the Police Commissioner in the Chain of Command as the Commissioner determines to be necessary and appropriate to carry out their duties.

The positions of APD Majors would be abolished and the chain of command would be streamlined where necessary.

Every single APD felony unit would be increased in personnel by anywhere between 40% and 60%, including the following APD units: Armed Robbery, Auto Theft, Burglary, Homicide, Gang Unit, Narcotics, Property Crimes and Sex Crimes Units and the Criminal Nuisance Abatement Unit.

The number of sworn police officers patrolling the streets is currently 436 and would be increased to at least 650 out of a fully staff department of 1,200.

The civilian Police Commissioner would be responsible for preparing budgets, personnel management and enforcement of personnel policies and procedures and imposing personnel disciplinary action.

The Chief of Police would be responsible for day-to-day operations of APD, public safety initiatives, tactical plans and management of sworn staff and report directly to the civilian Police Commissioner.

The Public Safety Department would consist of four civilian staffed divisions and managed by the Police Commissioner:

1. Personnel and training, for recruiting, hiring, internal affairs investigations and police academy;
2. Budget and finance;
3. Information technology support and crime lab; and
4. 911 emergency operations center with a civilian manager.

“Deadly use of force” cases would continue to be investigated by the Critical Incident Review Team and the final reports with finding and recommendations submitted to the Police Commissioner.

APD has consistently shown over many years it cannot police itself which contributed to the “culture of aggression” found by the Department of Justice.

The APD Internal Affairs Unit needs to be abolished and its functions absorbed by the Office Independent Council.

The investigation of police misconduct cases including excessive use of force cases not resulting in death or nor serious bodily harm would be done by “civilian” personnel investigators.

The function and responsibility for investigating police misconduct cases and violations of personnel policy and procedures by police would be assumed by the Office of Independent Council in conjunction with the City Human Resources Department and the Office of Internal Audit where necessary.

The Office of Independent Council would make findings and recommendations to the Police Commissioner for implementation and imposition of disciplinary action.

The city needs to fund and implement a non-negotiated major hourly rate increase for entry level sworn officers, excluding management, to improve recruitment, retention and morale.

Sign on bonuses, tuition debt payoff and mortgage down payment bonuses need to be offered to new recruits.

Yearly experienced officer retention bonuses must be made permanent.

APD needs to “triple down” on recruitment and dramatically increase the size and number of police academy classes per year.

If necessary, the City Council should consider enactment of a public safety tax to pay for APD’s staffing expansion, pay incentive programs, needed training programs, DOJ-mandated reforms, equipment acquisitions and 911 emergency operations, staffing and equipment.

CONCLUSION

Mayor Keller has been given a mandate by voters to make change at APD.

Until aggressive action is taken with APD and the Department of Justice mandated and agreed to reforms, APD will continue to spin out of control, crime rates will continue to rise and Albuquerque will continue to see dramatic spikes in violent crime.

The Albuquerque Journal did one final front page article on the tenure of Albuquerque Police Chief Gordon Eden.

(See December 4, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, page A-1, “Chief Eden’s tenure mired in tough times; Ex-APD boss receives mixed reviews from people who interreacted with him”).

www.abqjournal.com/1101482/chief-edens-tenure-mired-in-tough-times.html

Despite the headline as well as some of the negative facts pointed out, the entire article basically says that Chief Gordon Eden was a victim of circumstances beyond his control, which they were not and Chief Eden contributed to the problems.

Eden should have never been appointed police chief in the first place and he is a political operative that had absolutely no prior experience managing a municipal police department.

The leadership Chief Eden provided to the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) was to make sure his command staff did what it could to undermine the Department of Justice (DOJ) mandated reforms he agreed to and the reform process itself.

For three years, Chief Gordon Eden and his APD Command Staff had an extensive history of resisting civilian oversight not only to the Civilian Police Oversight Board, but also resisting the Community Policing Council’s (CPCs) and the Federal Court Appointed Monitor.

On November 12, 2016, the Albuquerque Journal published an article reporting that city Community Policing Councils were frustrated with Chief Eden not attending their meetings, the Police Oversight Board complaining that Chief Eden ignored its findings and discipline recommendations, and the city attorney, instead of Chief Eden, was often the person who publicly explained the reform efforts.

APD Forward, an APD oversight group, also said Eden had not been present for many settlement-agreement meetings.

(See November 12, 2106 Albuquerque Journal article “Police reform groups say APD Chief not involved” at https://www.abqjournal.com/887736/groups-where-is-eden.html)

FEDERAL CONSENT DECREE REFORMS

The truth has always been that Chief Gordon Eden and his command staff have never been committed to implementing the DOJ reforms as evidenced by their actions and the findings of the Federal Monitor in six scathing progress reports over the last three years.

The July 1, 2016 federal monitor’s third report states “Across the board … the components in APD’s system for overseeing and holding officers accountable for the use of force, for the most part, has failed … the serious deficiencies revealed point to a deeply-rooted systemic problem. … The deficiencies, in part, indicate a culture [of] low accountability is at work within APD, particularly in chain-of-command reviews. …”

The November 1, 2016 fourth federal monitor’s report states that when “excessive use of force” incidents are investigated by the APD Critical Incident Team, it“ [deploys] carefully worded excuses, apparently designed not to find fault with officer actions” and “[uses] language and terminology apparently designed to absolve officers and supervisors of their responsibility to follow certain CASA (Court Approved Settlement Agreement) related provisions.

The most damning and disturbing findings were made by the Federal Monitor in his fifth report when he found hat APD “subverted” the reform process by issuing “covert special orders,” denying the existence of the orders, and APD exhibiting a “near total failure” to accept civilian oversight.

The federal monitor laid direct blame on the APD command staff for the “deliberate non-compliance” with APD’s settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice.

The report says “zero percent of the command personnel, who should have ordered additional investigation to resolve inconsistencies and improve reliability and credibility of supervisory personnel’s use-of-force investigations, did so! Few systems can survive such a failure rate.”

The Federal Monitor in the fifth report stated “There seems to be no one person, unit, or group with responsibility and command authority to make change happen”.

Three years ago, after the DOJ consent decree was signed, Chief Gordon Eden, Eden’s appointed Assistant Chief Huntsman and APD Deputies represented to the monitor and the City Council they were taking on the responsibility of implementing the reforms under the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA).

Chief Eden went as far as to say “we’re going to take the department well beyond any findings the DOJ has”.

Where Eden took APD was into the ditch.

ATTEMPT TO DISCREDIT THE DISTRICT ATTORNEY

Chief Gordon Eden also did his best to discredit the then District Attorney Kari Brandenburg when she decided to prosecute former police officers Dominique Perez and Keith Sandy in the killing of homeless camper James Boyd.

Eden initially called the killing of James Boyd “justified” but the City settled the wrongful death civil lawsuit by paying the Boyd family $5 million.

Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg and her office were removed from the prosecution of former APD Police Officer Dominique Perez and Keith Sandy and a special prosecutor had to be appointed.

At the time of her removal from the prosecution of the case, Chief Eden made sure APD revived a very weak investigation and charges of Brandenburg that went nowhere for alleged witness tampering in a criminal case involving her son.

Chief Eden made sure the criminal report was forwarded to the Attorney General and he even wrote an opinion piece to the Albuquerque Journal saying his department was obligated to “follow the evidence”.

The New Mexico Attorney General reviewed the APD criminal investigation of Brandenburg, found no criminal conduct by her and issued an opinion that APD’s investigation of the Brandenburg was “politically motivated”.

Brandenburg and her office were removed from the Perez/Sandy prosecution because of allegations of conflict of interest made by the defense against her and related publicity and a special prosecutor had to be appointed by the District Attorney.

Ultimately, the trial of Perez/Sandy ended with a hung jury and the case was later dismissed by the special prosecutor.

APOA LEADERSHIP COMMITMENT TO DOJ REFORMS

The one comment that I must take strong exception to in the final Journal article on Eden was made by the Police Union President Shaun Willoughby when he said “[Chief Eden] basically told the public that in his assessment [of the killing of homeless camper James Boyd by two police officers] looked like a justified shooting. If you fast-forward years from that time, he’s proven right. Those officers were acquitted.”

Sorry Officer Willouby, Chief Eden was not proven right.

After a weeklong trial, the jury deadlocked and the special prosecutor decided not to retry the case.

The two police officers were never acquitted!

Many believe that the new District Attorney Raul Torrez should have gone forward with another prosecution, but the decision was made not to prosecute and to dismiss the case.

CONCLUSION

Officer Willoughby’s defense of Eden should not come as a surprise seeing as he felt that the police officers Perez and Sandy should never had been prosecuted.

Officer Willouby has never truly objected to Chief Eden’s handling of the implementation of the DOJ consent decree reforms.

Officer Willouby’s commitment to the DOJ reforms is seriously lacking and the APOA police union leadership oppose many of the DOJ reforms.

During the November 16, 2017 status conference before Federal Judge Robert Brack on the Federal Monitor’s sixth report, Willouby told the court that the use of force and deadly force policies that he help draft are unworkable and that “his” officers were having difficulty with the mandated reforms.

With the election of new Mayor and the appointment of a new Chief, perhaps it is also time to have a change of leadership at the APOA so the City can have truly a fresh start with the DOJ mandated reforms.

Will wonders ever cease!

An Albuquerque Journal front page, above the fold, bold headline declaring “71 homicides this year are the most in recent history”.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1100183/apd-shooting-victim-dies-number-of-murders-surpasses-record-high.html

The story included a graph reflecting the number of homicides a year since 1996.

The front page story greeted Mayor Keller the very day he is to be sworn in as the new Mayor, along with an editorial “welcoming” Mayor Keller to his new job.

Two days ago on my FACEBOOK page, I linked an Albuquerque Journal story that had the headline “City approaches homicide record with NW Albuquerque shooting, police say” reporting the 69th homicide this year and posted the following comment with the link:

“No one should be surprised that the Albuquerque Journal saw fit NOT to put this headline on their front page seeing as that their favorite Mayor of all time still has two full days of work left and it reflects his true legacy. Watch for the front page headline when one more murder occurs and the city breaks the homicide record of 70 murders in one year. The paper will then demand to know what Mayor Keller is doing to turn things around.”

I took some grief about my FACEBOOK post from a friend who I know and respect and who works for the Albuquerque Journal that said the Journal is not biased against Tim Keller and that they report the news based on facts and not who is in office.

My FACEBOOK friend suggested that I ask the Journal about a program on how a newspaper works.

My response was that the Journal editors needed to attend a program that will help them see how government and law enforcement actually works and what it is like to defend against someone who buys ink by the barrel.

Well the Journal Editors proved my point in their December 1, 2017 Editorial “Welcome, mayor Keller; Now the hard part begins”, page A-6, which welcomed the new mayor his first day on the job when it editorialized in part as follows:

“Keller’s appointment of Oriana Sandoval, chief executive officer at the Center for Civic Policy, to a newly created position of “deputy city attorney” to focus on immigrant rights protection, refugee affairs, environmental justice and civil rights, is baffling. In every recent poll, Albuquerqueans have overwhelmingly called crime the major concern facing the city – not refugees or environmental justice. It’s unfortunate that one of the new mayor’s very first hires bolsters concerns raised by his opponents – that he would focus on a national progressive agenda vs. addressing local concern.”

The truth is that the appointment of one deputy city attorney, an interim one at that, does not mean a national progressive agenda as the Journal implies.

Mayor Keller has also terminated City Attorney Jessica Hernandez by telling her that her services are no longer needed and that she did not have to report to work on December 1, 2017.

The appointment of a new city attorney is one of the most critical appointments that needs to be made given the Department of Justice Consent Decree, the litigation involving excessive use of force and deadly force cases, not to mention the complete reorganization of the Albuquerque Police Department.

It is not just the Albuquerque Journal but also the TV stations and one radio station in particular that have shown very favorable biases to the former Republican administration.

Two of the TV stations had reporters go to work for the Berry administration which resulted in unprecedented access to information at city hall.

The Berry Administration also had a very well-known Albuquerque Journal reporter go to work for it eight years ago.

The first six months of any administration sets the tone for the entire four year term.

The normal “honeymoon” period with the press is 4 to 6 months for any newly elected official, but I suspect that will not be the case for Mayor Keller.

Albuquerque voters tend to be very impatient and will want to see tangible results especially when it comes to our high crime rates and the Albuquerque Police Department.

The appointment of Interim Chief Michael Geier was a good first step to stabilize APD, but time is of the essence to do a national search and appoint a new APD Chief.

The next federal monitor’s report will be in six months.

If the Federal Monitor reports that nothing has changed and there is still resistance to the DOJ reforms even with the new interim chief and command staff, Mayor Keller will be held responsible.

With the press breathing down his back from day one, Mayor Keller has his work cut out for him.

On November 30, 2017, the Albuquerque Journal did one final front page story on Mayor Richard Berry in anticipation of Mayor Tim Keller being sworn in on December 1, 2017 as the new Mayor.

(See November 30, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, page A-1, “It’s never a me thing”; Outgoing maor Richard Berry credits staff, directors for making Albquerque a better place than when he took office.”)

https://www.abqjournal.com/1099723/its-never-a-me-thing.html

With this farewell fluff piece, the Albuquerque Journal confirmed what we have all know for some time: the Albuquerque Journal has lost most of its credibility as a source of objective news.

ANALYSIS OF THE ARTICLES

The fact that Mayor Berry did not articulate, and the Journal did not even mention or ask about what he thought his failures have been speaks volumes. Richard Berry is in total denial and in complete spin mode when he says “It’s never a me thing … I was surprised that I was as much a part of the campaign when I wasn’t even a candidate” and saying we have made “Albuquerque a better place” than when he took office.

Berry’s true legacy is that of failure and includes: 1. extremely high violent crime rates, 2. APD being placed under a DOJ consent decree under his watch, 3. 42 police officer involved “use of deadly force” shootings, 4. $90 million dollars paid out in taxpayer money for police misconduct cases, 5. six scathing reports from the Federal Monitor pointing out the obstruction tactics of APD command staff, 6. the ART bus project not being fully funded to the tune of $69 million, 7. a failed local economy, 8. and high unemployment rates just to mention a few.

The Albuquerque Journal did another front-page fluff story on Mayor Richard Berry giving his last State of the City address.

(See September 26, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, page A-1, “A hallmark of fiscal responsibility”)

https://www.abqjournal.com/1068887/berry-new-mayor-inheriting-an-economy-on-the-rise.html

The speech was before the monthly luncheon of the National Association of Industrial Parks (NAIOP), a group of contractors and developers who have made millions in city contracts such as the ART bus project over the years thanks to Mayor RJ Berry. Two front-page articles appeared and were truly astounding given the absolute tragic irony exhibited on the paper’s front-page.
On the left of the page was a flattering full color picture of the Mayor giving his speech as he gazes upward and it appears he is looking at the adjacent bold headline “FBI: Crime up sharply in ABQ; Murders increased 41.8% violent offenses rose 15%.”

Mayor Berry proclaimed in his speech, “the state of our city is strong,” and said Albuquerque’s next mayor will “inherit an efficient city government that is living within its means, a growing economy and close to $1.2 billion in infrastructure projects that have been built or are in the pipeline”.
Addressing the city’s rising crime rate, Berry said he feared that hiring more police officers by itself won’t solve the problem and then called for more resources for the local District Attorney’s Office, something the city has no control over.

Berry largely emphasized what he felt he had accomplished over the last eight years as mayor and proclaimed his administration has been a “hallmark of fiscal responsibility”. To Berry, $1.2 billion in infrastructure projects and efficiency in government is far more important than people’s safety, people living in fear and needing a job. As he ended his second term, Berry blamed all the increases in crime on the courts and says nothing about destroying one of the finest police departments with the hiring of political operatives like Gordon Eden as APD Chief who never managed a municipal police department.

During his entire eight (8) years he deliberately reduced the size of government to the detriment of essential services and the determent of public safety to avoid tax increases at all costs.

TRUE LEGACY IS THAT OF FAILURE

During his first term (2009 TO 2013), Mayor Berry blamed Mayor Chavez for all APD’s problems, increased crime rates and budget deficits. As he ended his second term (2013 to 2017), Mayor Berry blamed all the increases in crime on the courts and says nothing about destroying one of the finest police departments in the country.

A review of Berry’s job performance over the last eight years and his true legacy is in order.

BERRY’S LEGACY OF DESTROYING THE ALBUQUERQUE POLICE DEPARTMENT

Eight (8) years ago when Berry took office, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) was the best trained, best equipped, best funded department in its history and was fully staffed with 1,100 sworn police officers. In 2009 when Berry took office, APD response times had been brought down below the national average and violent and property crime rates in Albuquerque were hitting historical lows. Today in 2017 as Berry leaves office, response times are at historical highs with calls to APD taking hours instead of minutes to respond threatening public safety. In eight (8) years, APD went from 1,100 sworn police to 853 sworn police all under the public safety leadership of Mayor Berry and his appointed police chiefs.

The first year he was in office, Berry made numerous mistakes that started the Albuquerque Police Department in the downward spiral it has yet to recover from and problems it will take years to correct. The first major mistake Berry made with APD was the appointment of political Republican operative Darren White as Chief Public Safety Officer who implemented policies that had a disastrous effect on moral and APD recruitment. Darren White wound up resigning under pressure after 16 months in office when he showed up to a traffic accident investigation involving his wife and was accused of interfering with a criminal investigation.

The first year of Berry Administration, Mayor Berry abolished the longevity program that kept experienced police officers from retiring, unilaterally decided not to pay a 5% negotiated pay raise, abolished the APD take home car policy, eliminated sign on bonuses and mortgage down payments for new recruits and implemented a college education requirement for new recruits but did not pay college wages. Moral within APD plummeted and the mass exodus of experienced police officers began with Berry’s gross mismanagement of APD. After four years of losing experienced officers because of his policies and because the police academy could not keep up with retirements, Mayor Berry began his efforts to advocate the New Mexico legislature to reinstate “double dipping” to allow retired police officers to return to work and get paid their salaries and retirement pay.

In 2017, APD is funded for 1,000 sworn officers but has only 853 sworn police officers. In 2016, field service officers responded to 546,550 calls for service with a priority 1 response time of 11 minutes, 35 seconds which is approximately two minutes over the national standard. In 2017, APD has 853 sworn police with 436 are assigned to field services and 417 sworn police officers assigned to the various specialized felony units and command staff.

Given the volume of felony arrests and cases, APD is severely understaffed to complete felony investigations. Over the last eight (8) years, Mayor Berry has been very hands off with APD and allowed his appointed Chief’s to destroy one of the finest police departments in the country. For close to four (4) years, Berry retained APD Chief Ray Schultz, first under the supervision of political operative Darren White who had no problem keeping Schultz as Chief. Berry allowed Schultz to mismanage APD without civilian supervision and Schultz engaged in questionable management tactics against rank and file police officers and at one-time Shultz labeled sexual misconduct within the department as “nature at play” without Berry voicing any objections.

Schultz left APD in 2013 but only after negotiating a million-dollar plus city contract with TAZER International a contract Schultz said had been “greased”. Schultz later went to work for TAZER within less than a year after leaving the city. The legality of the city TAZER contract is still being reviewed by the New Mexico Attorney General.

In 2013 after proclaiming the city conducted a “national search” for a police chief, Berry selected and appointed political operative Gordon Eden as APD Chief. Chief Eden had no prior experience managing a municipal police department before his appointment.

In 2014, a few months after Eden was appointed Chief, Eden declared that the shooting of homeless camper James Boyd was “justified”. The city ultimately paid the family of James Boyd $5 million for wrongful death to settle the civil case and two police officers involved with the shooting were charged with murder, tried and released with charges dismissed because of a hung jury.

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE INVESTIGATION AND CONSENT DECREE

During the last eight (8) years, there have been over 41 police officer involved shootings resulting in 38 deaths with over $61 million dollars in paid in settlements for police misconduct and excessive use of force cases. Almost four (4) years ago, a Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation found a “pattern and practice of excessive force” and a “culture of aggression” within the Albuquerque Police Department (APD).

Mayor Berry has done next to nothing about APD gross mismanagement, not even when the Department of Justice (DOJ) found a “culture of aggression” that lead to a federal consent decree and mandated reforms that have cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Each time the Federal Monitor has presented his critical reports of APD to the Federal Court, Berry has essentially remained silent and declined to demand accountability from his appointed Chief and command staff nor hold them responsible for dragging their feet on the reforms.

CRIME RATES UNDER BERRY

Violent and property crime rates in Albuquerque are at historical highs under Mayor Richard Berry. Albuquerque Police Department (APD) statistics reveal the total number of violent crimes in Albuquerque increased steadily and went from 4,291 in 2010 to 5,409 in 2015.

According to the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office, from 2009 to 2015, Albuquerque’s violent crime rates increased by 21.5%. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) reports that in the last eight (8) years, Albuquerque has become the is fifth-most violent city in the country on a per capita basis while the nation’s violent crime rate dropped by 13.7%.

In 2009, when Berry ran for office the first time, he made auto thefts a corner stone issue in the Mayor’s race by doing a commercial standing next to his burned out stolen truck and vowing that he could do better as Mayor and make Albuquerque the “worse place to be a criminal”. Eight (8) years later, Albuquerque has become number one in the nation for auto thefts.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau’s latest Hot Spots report shows Albuquerque and of Bernalillo County as the worst place in the nation when it comes to auto theft per capita. In 2016 more than 10,000 vehicles were stolen in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County or more than 27 vehicles a day.

According APD statistics, the total number of property crimes in Albuquerque has steadily increased each year during the last six (6) years going from 26,493 crimes in 2010 to 34,082 in 2015. In 2016 according to FBI statistics Albuquerque’s violent crime spiked 15.5% and murders spiked 41.8 percent.

(See September 26, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, page A-1, “”FBI: Crime up sharply in ABQ; Murders increased 41.8% violent offenses rose 15%.”).

According to FBI data, Albuquerque had 61 murders and 6,245 violent crimes in 2016. The number of murders in 2017 went to 70 and counting, the highest number since the 1993.

Property crimes increased by 13.3 and 38,528 property crimes (6,860 per 100,000 population) and 6,236 total burglaries (1,110 per 100,000 population) in 2016. In 2016, Albuquerque’s auto thefts jumped by the highest percentage with 7,710 motor vehicle thefts an almost a 50% increase over the year before.

FAILED ECONOMIC POLICIES

During the last eight years under Mayor Berry’s leadership, Albuquerque has fallen to the bottom and in many cases dead last of every meaningful ranking in the country, including economy, jobs, crime, education, real estate, desirability, and traffic. Even though Albuquerque is the largest city economy in the State, New Mexico is number one in unemployment and number one in children living in poverty. Albuquerque has lost 14,900 jobs during the last 10 years, which is roughly 4 jobs a day.

According to one Brookings Institution report, the Albuquerque metro area’s economy was so bad between 2009 and 2014 that it almost fell off the charts of three measures of economic health. Of the largest 100 metro areas in the U.S., Albuquerque ranked 100th, 99th and 83rd in the three areas measured by the Brookings Institute: Growth, Prosperity and Inclusion.

According to the same Bookings Institute report, economically hobbled cities like Jackson, Miss., and Rochester, New York, fared better than Albuquerque. Albuquerque ranked 99th for economic growth, 83rd for prosperity and 100th for inclusion, which measures how an area’s poorest residents are doing in the economy.

On October 1, 2017 Wallet Hub, a personal fiancé website, published the story “Fastest Growing Cities In America”.

https://wallethub.com/edu/fastest-growing-cities/7010/#city

Albuquerque ranked 450th in economic growth among 515 cities in the United States according to the Wallet Hub report. Wallet Hub ranked the cities using 15 metrics, including population growth, unemployment and poverty rate decrease, job growth and other measures. Among large cities, Albuquerque ranked 60th out of 64.

Among all cities, Albuquerque fared especially poorly on unemployment rate decrease (481); job growth (446); growth in number of businesses (443); median house price growth (433), and regional gross domestic product growth (433). According to US Census reports, more people are leaving the State than moving in, and our youth are leaving Albuquerque in droves to seek employment with a future elsewhere even after they get their college education at our universities.

During his entire tenure in office, the Berry Administration has failed to attract one single business or major corporation to Albuquerque. Four years ago, Berry proclaimed with a straight face that his economic development plan would result in 25,000 jobs created in Albuquerque. Not a single job has been created during the last eight years by the Berry Administration.

HEADLINES SAY IT ALL

The economic news headlines during the Berry years say it all:

1. Forbes Magazine ranked Albuquerque #162 for doing business. See July 29, 2015
— just ahead of Clarksville, TN, Allentown PA , and DETROIT, MI (#169)
http://www.forbes.com/best-places-fo…verall_page:16
2. “New ranking puts ABQ in cellar for economic growth”. See September 29, 2015
http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq…ic-growth.html
3. “2015’s Cities with the Fastest Growing Economies”, Albuquerque ranked #404 September, 2015 https://wallethub.com/edu/fastest-growing-cities/7010/
4. Bureau of Labor Statistics – Metropolitan Employment Rankings — Albuquerque ranked #324 – August 2015: http://www.bls.gov/web/metro/laummtrk.htm
5. Colliers US Downtown Office Vacancy Rates — Albuquerque Dead Last — December 2014 http://www.colliers.com/en-us/-/medi…e_d8_Final.pdf
6. Wikipedia: Traffic analysis firm INRIX in 2013, ranks the top 65 worst US traffic cities — Albuquerque #18, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Traffic_congestion
7. The Albuquerque metropolitan area’s 0.3 percent growth rate in the year that ended July . 2014 put Albuquerque in 77th place among the nation’s largest 100 metro areas, according to a Brookings Institution analysis of population trends.
http://www.bizjournals.com/albuquerq…on-growth.html — July 2014
8. 2017’s Best & Worst Cities for Jobs – Albuquerque #119 out of 150 , Jan 4, 2017
https://wallethub.com/edu/best-cities-for-jobs/2173/
9. NOV 30, 2016 MID-SIZED METROS WITH FASTEST GROWING GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT ARE PROVO, FAYETTEVILLE AND CAPE CORAL; SLOWEST ARE PALM BAY, ALBUQUERQUE, SYRACUSE, Albuquerque #2 Slowest Regional Product
http://headlightdata.com/medium-sized-metros-with…/
10. The Best Places for Business and Careers, 2016 RANKING ABQ #138
http://www.forbes.com/best-places-for-business/list/3/…
11. Albuquerque is the 5th most violent city in the nation, updated: 6:59 PM MDT Aug 12, 2016, http://www.koat.com/…/albuquerque-is-the-5th…/5072628
12. Fortune: ABQ the worst city in the U.S. to own a home: http://nmpoliticalreport.com/…/fortune-abq-the-worst…/
13. ABQ ranked among worst real estate markets:
https://www.abqjournal.com/…/abq-ranked-among-worst…
14. Albuquerque ranks 113 out of 150 for Most and Least Recession-Recovered Cities:
http://www.bizjournals.com/…/new-ranking-puts-abq-in…
15. Albuquerque ranks near bottom in list of best, worst cities for families:
http://krqe.com/…/albuquerque-ranks-near-bottom-in…/
16. Albuquerque Really Is Like Breaking Bad:
http://ideas.time.com/…/why-breaking-bad-rings-true-to-me/
17. NM again ranks 49th in child well-being, 50th in education:
http://www.lcsun-news.com/…/nm-again-ranks…/86140070/
18. Colliers US Downtown Office Vacancy Rates — Albuquerque Dead Last — December 2014: http://www.colliers.com/en-us/-/media/Files/MarketResearch…/Market-Reports/4Q_NA_Office_d8_Final.pdf

CONCLUSION

December 1, 2017 Mayor Tim Keller will be sworn in as Mayor. The single biggest crisis the Mayor Keller will be confronted with on day one is reforming the Albuquerque Police Department, selecting a new command staff and implementation of the mandated reforms for constitutional policing.

The second biggest crisis is to turn our economy around. With any luck, Mayor RJ Berry’s political career is at an end.