By Jeremy Reynalds, Ph.D.
Founder and CEO
Joy Junction Inc.

With ongoing national attention of our city’s ongoing efforts to reduce homelessness and panhandling, it’s curious why the total number of homeless individuals doesn’t go down. If anything, according to who you ask and which statistics you believe, it keeps increasing.

In addition, we’re reminded of the sometimes deadly effects of homelessness and mental illness in the nationally infamous James Boyd case after two police officers were charged in his death in a trial which ended in a hung jury.

The case raises questions about what we as a community might have been able to do to prevent a man from seeking shelter on a mountainside. Does Albuquerque have the necessary resources to keep this situation from happening to another man, woman or even an entire family?

Having been homeless during some of the roughest times in my life, I do my best to think of potential solutions from the perspective of the homeless themselves, rather than from an ideology of “it’s not my problem,” or “the government should be responsible for taking care of homeless individuals.”

The mindset of wanting to do something myself instead of waiting for someone else to do it, was in part, what moved me to create a different type of homeless shelter in our community – one for the entire family — where (not withstanding space limitations), no one is turned away, no matter the time of day or situation.

This means that when a family of four comes through the door, we take them all in, regardless of gender, age, race, sexual orientation or religion.
Over the past 30-plus years, Joy Junction has grown to serve more than 10,000 meals each month, not including the more than 6,000 meals served by our mobile feeding unit called The Lifeline of Hope.

This service was started in 2009 to provide food, beverages and hygiene products to those who have shelter but very little else, and to individuals who for a variety of reasons live on the streets, where their “pillow” is often a concrete sidewalk.

In addition, recognizing that overnights are some of the most need-saturated times of the day, Joy Junction staff drive a van through the streets of Albuquerque between about 1 and 5 a.m. in search of anyone who might need assistance with food, water and when available, a blanket or sleeping bag.

Those small acts of kindness do make a difference, as some have showed.

At Joy Junction, we’ve made it our mission to not only provide basic needs like food and shelter, but also emotional and spiritual assistance so individuals can get back on their feet. In addition, guests at Joy Junction are welcome to stay as long as they need, so they can become “whole” again.

Because of the increased need we see in Albuquerque, at the time of writing Joy Junction is working on the last stages of obtaining funding to complete construction of an on-site apartment complex. Continued and increased community support is vital for the success of this project. Modular units which will form the basis of this exciting project are already at Joy Junction. We just need the financial resources to see them turned into something which will house the homeless in dignity.

Because we are a donations-only charitable organization, we receive no federal, state or local funding. It’s what we’ve always done. While it’s sometimes challenging, it’s the best way, with government funding for homelessness sometimes changing on a bureaucratic whim.

“It takes a village,” not only to raise a child, but also to lift an individual from their worst days. Success in assisting society’s most vulnerable, though, means that some homeless advocates and the homeless, along with area resident and business owners won’t always get exactly what they want. There’ll need to be some give and take, and a whole lot of respectful communication from both sides.

Never have we seen so clearly before how divided we are as a country. We’re an angry city, state and nation. That ugly political rancor needs to go. How do comments like this help anyone-or the cause you are trying to propagate? Look at this (edited). “(Trump) is an evil little sh*t! He’s not even looking after the 200,000 people of California who are facing a disaster… he’s one twisted mother f#%$er!” ”While it is definitely this person’s right to say what she wants, how is it helpful? What does it do to alleviate the problem? All this rancor does is to stir up people who are angry already.

Another post full of verbal slop read (in caps, which is considered rude when posting on line) when describing Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s net worth, ”Investigate everyone of these suddenly rich treasonous traitor fu**s.” It seems that this guy got really stirred up. But step back and think a moment. What good did it do? The writer was commenting in a public group called “The Deplorables”.

Then pontificating about Leslie Jones from Saturday Night Live on his Facebook page, controversial hate speaker Milo Yiannopoulos who creates trouble wherever he goes and was at UNM recently commented, “I’m conflicted about this because as awful a human being as she is, this is a black Trump which is of course the most sexually exciting proposition imaginable.” This is a really constructive piece of dialogue contributing toward the national debate, right? Not!

While the diatribe continues, at Joy Junction, we’ll continue to do our part every single day and ask that you help in any way you can, especially as the colder weather is here.

We hope everyone will continue to rise to the challenge and help us end homelessness and hunger, one life and one meal at a time.

It has been reported that an estimated $63.3 million the City of Albuquerque has paid in legal settlements in law enforcement civil rights cases from 2010 to 2016 has resulted in a $40 million shortfall in the city’s risk management fund, which pays for uninsured losses.

(See February 14, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, Metro& NM “Payouts leave Duke City $40M short”, section C-1: https://www.abqjournal.com/949518/claims-payouts-leave-abq-40m-short.html)
This is dangerous and the City could lose its self insurance status.

Another point is that if judgements against the city become so high, payment could be placed on the property tax rolls.

The report makes one wonder exactly what has the Berry Administration and the City Attorney’s office actually done to defend the City and police officers in police misconduct cases, even in frivolous cases, other than writing checks and just “rolling over” without defending and settling the cases without advocating any defense.

The Albuquerque City Attorney’s Office employs 34 attorneys, numerous para legals, administrative assistants and support staff.

The City taxpayers are entitled to demand and expect competent and aggressive defense when the city is sued.

In 2010, it was the Berry Administration, on the recommendation of then City Attorney Rob Perry, a plaintiff’s attorney before becoming City Attorney, that abolished the “no settlement” policy to the absolute delight of plaintiff attorneys and the courts.

As City Attorney and as Chief Administrative Officer, Rob Perry sits on the City Risk Management Committee that approves city settlements of the cases.

The “no settlement policy” mandated that all “police misconduct cases” be tried before a jury with a few exceptions allowed when liability and misconduct was absolutely certain.

The philosophy was that the “sunlight” of an open courtroom and the presentation of evidence was the best disinfectant for police misconduct to inform the public.

The “no settlement policy” mandated that the City Attorney’s office aggressively defend the cases and police officer’s actions and required plaintiff attorneys to prove police misconduct and their client’s cases and damages.

Settlements are reached behind closed doors and the public is seldom given much of an explanation of how damages are arrived at and why resulting in much speculation.

The “no settlement policy” worked and the City would often prevail when it went to court saving the taxpayers millions of dollars.

Even when the city did not prevail, judgments awarded by juries were often significantly less than what plaintiff’s were seeking.

Plaintiff attorneys absolutely hated the no settlement policy and so did the court’s because it is a lot easier to settle a case than try a case before a jury.

With the abolishment of the “no settlement” policy, the City Attorney’s office has now acquired the reputation of just settling cases for the sake of settling and the city has become an easy mark to settle cases for large amounts of taxpayer money.

After 40 years of practicing law, mostly as a trial attorney, I for one have great faith in the American jury system and feel that there are times a jury needs to hear a case and determine damages, especially when it comes to police misconduct cases.

This is a story that appeared in Vol. 10, Issue 5, February 8 to 14, Albuquerque Free Press and written by the ABQ FREE PRESS WEEKLY STAFF:

“ART FUNDING STILL IN DOUBT”

“The City of Albuquerque could soon be facing a cash crunch when it comes to Mayor Richard Berry’s Albuquerque Rapid Transit project. With ART now 20 percent complete, the city has paid, or committed to pay, $35.8 million for construction and electric buses. That represents 63 percent of the $57.2 million in local money and previous federal grants that the city has on hand and has committed to spend on ART. The larger problem is that the $69 million Federal Transit Administration grant the city is counting on to complete ART still has not been approved by the FTA or been appropriated by Congress. Congress isn’t expected to even consider a budget until late March or early April. The cost of ART, when adjusted for inflation, is $126.2 million. Of that, $69 million, or 55 percent, is supposed to come from the FTA. The rest — $57.2 million, or 45 percent — is coming from previous federal grants and local funds. The $23 million in buses the city has ordered is supposed to come out of the FTA grant that neither Congress nor the FTA has yet approved. If the city doesn’t get its federal money, it might have to junk the bus order, scale back construction, or find the money elsewhere. It’s possible the city will get some FTA money. But remember that last year, the appropriations committees in both the U.S. House and U.S. Senate recommended cutting the FTA grant program by anywhere from $19 million to $23 million. So far, the city has paid $12.8 million to Bradbury Stamm Construction, the project’s main contractor, and has committed to pay $23 million for 18 buses it has ordered.”

Albqueruqe Free Press Staff

District Attorney Raul Torrez is head of the largest DA’s office and law firm in the State.

After being on the job for less than six weeks, Torrez is already complaining before the legislature his office does not have enough resources to do its job. (See February 11, 2017 Albuquerque Journal “BernCo DA says crime “out of control” in county, page A-2)

Torrez says criminal justice in Albuquerque is in dire need of change, and he like APD Chief Gordon Eden and the Mayor Berry finds it easy to blame his predecessor or the Judicial system and the impact of “catch and release” of repeat offenders on public safety. (See Albuquerque Journal, “Justice Derailed”, February 11, 2017, page A-1)

Why not, it’s easier to blame someone else, especially the court’s, than to just buckle down, do your job and find a solution to the problems even if you did not create them.

On closer look, the overall budget for the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office is $18,128,000 with personnel salaries & benefits compromising $16,809,000.

The Bernalillo County District Attorney’s budget dwarfs all other DA offices in the State, as it should, because it has the highest case loads.

The DA’s office employs 287 people which include 108 attorneys, 35 Prosecution Specialists, 15 Victim advocates, 15 investigators 114 Support Staff.

Actual felony grand jury indictments are down by 50% from 8 years ago, yet Torrez says he needs more staff.

Based on my own experiences with the District Attorney’s office, Torrez can do the job with the resources he has and he should just get to work and stop complaining.

Mr. Torrez will be surprised what can be done when he starts to manage and hold people accountable within the office for doing their jobs.

When I was appointed Chief Deputy District Attorney by District Attorney Jeff Romero, we were faced with the identical dilemma of heavy case loads, stacks and stacks and stacks of files in the hallways because of no storage, a poor case management system and poor working conditions in a deteriorating building, low salaries and bad morale.

We successfully lobbied the County Commission for construction of a new District Attorney’s office and worked closely on the construction of the new District Court House.

Four years later and when we left, the District Attorney’s office was in the best shape it had ever been with increased staffing, salary increases, a case management system, the construction of a brand new District Attorney’s Office and significantly reduced cases loads to the national standard, especially the violent crime divisions.

Torrez can get the job done, but it will require him to make difficult decisions, decisions he was elected to make, especially when it comes to caseloads.

My suggestion to Torrez is try managing first, make changes within the office, before complaining to the legislature.

http://www.kob.com/investigative-news/officer-shortage-traffic-tickets-issued-bernalillo-county-hit-low-albuquerque-police-apd-sheriff-office-bcso/4392806/?cat=500

TRAFFIC COURT ARRAIGNMENT PROGRAM

In 2006, as a Deputy City Attorney, I was tasked with implementing the Traffic Court Arraignment Program where Assistant City Attorneys and paralegals were hired and assigned to the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court to negotiate plea agreements in traffic cases at the time of arraignments.

A Metropolitan Judge is assigned on a rotating basis to approve the plea agreements negotiated, and on any given day as many as 500 cases can be negotiated, resolved and approved by the Court.

When a person is stopped and issued traffic citations, the citing sworn officer determines if the driver will contest the citations and if the driver wants to contest the citations an arraignment date and time is immediately scheduled.

The Metropolitan Traffic arraignment program streamlined the process, saves time and money and negates the appearance of police officers at the arraignments.

There are upwards of 170 different traffic violation citations that can be issued by sworn law enforcement.

The most common traffic citations include speeding, reckless driving, careless driving, failing to stop, improper lane change, no registration, no insurance, suspended drivers license, failing to yield, and open container.

Fines for traffic citation carry civil penalties as low as $5.00 to as much as $1,000 in fines.

Failure to have insurance for example is a $1,000 fine.

The average Metropolitan Traffic Court arraignment case results in court fees and fines anywhere from $65 to upwards of $250.

APD PERSONNEL SHORTAGE

In 2009, there were 86,175 traffic arraignment cases in Metro Court and in 2015 traffic cases dropped to 31,163, or over 55,000 fewer traffic citations.

There is a direct correlation between the dramatic decline in the number of traffic citations and arraignments and the severe decline in APD personnel.

The number of APD sworn officers has fallen from 1,100 officers to 850 over the past seven years.

In 2009, APD had 1,100 police officers with approximately 700 assigned to field services, patrolling our streets over three shifts.

In 2009, APD had a traffic unit that had upwards of 40 patrol officers and today it is at less than 10.

Fewer APD sworn officers patrolling our streets results in fewer traffic citations.

Fewer cases results in fewer fines and it has a direct fiscal impact on court programs such as DWI education programs.

In 2015, APD has 841 sworn police officers with only 440 assigned to the field services patrolling responding to 69,000 priority one 911 emergency calls a year.

It takes an average of 15 minutes to dispatch a police officer to 911 emergency calls, which endangers public safety.

CONCLUSION

Based on review of the Metropolitan Court statistics, DWI arrest and traffic code enforcement are a very low priority of APD, not out of desire, but out of necessity.

With APD field officers responding to over 69,000 priority one calls a year, not to mention thousands of lower priority calls, it is surprising the statistics are not worse at Metropolitan Court.

APD can no longer be proactive traffic enforcement.

The net result is that Albuquerque streets are dangerous to drive.

Albuquerque Mayor Berry once again revealed his hypocrisy at a press conference to announce the creation of the city department the “Office of Immigrant and Refugee Affairs”. (See Albuquerque Journal, “City unveils immigrant affairs office”, Metro & NM, Section C-1, February 8, 2017.)

The office is intended to serve Albuquerque’s immigrant and refugee community by acting as a point of contact with other agencies that serve them.

Berry said the new city department will help immigrants and refugees without regard to their legal immigration status and that it will help allay the fears of people in Albuquerque’s immigrant and refugee community.

When asked if the office would serve people who lack legal immigration status, Berry said “It is not our job to check on that. That’s not what this office is about.”

Berry in the past has had no problem inviting immigration authorities into city facilities to check on immigration status of people.

Berry said “There has always been rhetoric from the left and right regarding immigration … But I do not think it has ever been ramped up to the level we’ve seen most recently”.

It has been mostly right wing Republicans that have ramped up the rhetoric on immigration in the past and it was done by none other than candidate Richard Berry.

Berry used the issue of “sanctuary city” in 2009 to get elected the first time with his supporters driving a vehicle around the city with a billboard mounted on it condemning then Mayor Marty Chavez making Albuquerque a “sanctuary city” for immigrants.

After elected, Mayor Berry declared that Albuquerque was no longer a sanctuary city.

In 2010, Berry ordered the implementation of a policy that screened every person who is arrested, no matter the offense, such as misdemeanor DWI, shoplifting, drug possession, to see if the person is in the country legally.

By Berry’s orders, US Immigration and Customs agents (ICE) were allowed into city jail holding facilities to screen virtually all people arrested and brought in by APD and determine their immigration status.

In 2010, Berry said, “If convicted, they will serve their sentence and could be deported. I’m not looking at this as an immigration issue, but more as a public safety issue,” said Berry.

The truth is once ICE determines a person is not in this country legally, it will take that person into custody and institute deportation action.

What Berry was endorsing with allowing ICE into city holding facilities to screen people is the deportation of people no matter the offense and no matter their guilt or innocence of people arrested and taken into custody by APD.

Albuquerque City Councilors introduced a measure to reaffirm a 16 year old resolution making Albuquerque an Immigrant friendly community.

I wonder if Berry will have a press conference to sign it if it passes or will he veto it?