White says the police department has saved roughly $5 million in overtime since Mayor Berry took office. In that time, he says overall crime is down and overall arrests are up.Our Eyes behind the badge assert that while the city is raking in the bucks, DWI arrests are down 73%. Strangely, APD seems perfectly capable of calculating "savings" but utterly incapable of determining whether or not DWI arrests are down a month after instituting their new policy.
"There's been a lot of emphasis put on controlling the overtime throughout the entire department and it's paying off," says White.
Eyewitness News 4 specifically asked city officials if DWI arrests are down because of the new overtime policy. They answered that the policy has only been in place for a month, so it's too early to tell.One wonders whether The 5th Floor is using the same accountants that lost $16 MILLION over at APS. Here's generally how it's done. Count the number of DWI arrests in April 2010 and then subtract them from the number of DWI arrests in April of 2009. A negative number would be bad.
All of that said there is one department where overtime is not discouraged - records. In fact our Eyes tell us that the folks over in the records department are being forced to do time or at least overtime.
Back in January we told you records was some 22,000 reports behind at least partially due to the implementation of Crapper... uh, Copperfire (read it here). Now, records personnel are doing time on our overtime dime.
Understand, the judicial system runs on records - without them nothing gets done and criminals end up on the street. Frankly, we've got too much of that going on already. But what The 5th Floor has done is place data entry, uniform crime reports, and report review above imminent harm.
Of course there is an upside... since arrests are down, so are the number of reports that the records department will have to deal with. Or at least that would be the case if alcohol involved accidents hadn't doubled and generated a whole new crop of accident reports. Oh well... at least we're saving money.
19 comments:
If DWI arrests are down73% , shouldn't the auto accident rate have increased 73%? It appears that a whole lot of people have been arrested un-necessarily! After all, isn't this all about keeping "someone" safe? (Safe from what?)
Where is all this money the city is "raking" in? Please someone come up with real numbers if the city is hiding a huge income (instead of ignorant emtional outbursts with no logic or fact behind them) and present those numbers so everyone can see them! Other wise this city is like just about every other city in the nation... broke! Stop bitching and crying about having to give up some of your money so some $8.00 an hour worker can keep his job and live with it!!!
When is the populace, the mayor,the City Council or anyone is working with half a brain that what is told by the new PIO's,(Journal/KOAT)and the ones that spoon this tripe to the mayor and the public are just plain liars.
Dah !!!!!!!!!
$5,000,000 in savings from overtime since Berry took office ???
Darren; get off the Viagra or enhancers or whatever it is you're taking.
There are other indicators that follow the trends of DWI arrests...think about it and get those records....
figure this out: why did APD issue new guns to all the officers and make them either buy their glock or give back? how much did that cost???? no one needed a new gun.
someone got a kickback, follow the trail. get your eyes open and find out. in the meantime, get ready to see your check get smaller and your healthcare payout get bigger.
can i please have some vaseline with that new gun?
By the way, what math is our great police chief using this week when he counts officers?
When Farty was mayor Ray Boy counted everyone, Part timers, PSA's, full timers etc etc. I think he even counted the dogs in the K9 unit.
Now that Berry is mayor and the city is $66,000,000 in the hole, he now only counts full timers.
He admitted to the city council several weeks ago he is well over staffed. In fact, he admitted he ignored the city council budget of 1,100 officers and just went right on and hired an extra 100 officers (thinking he was going to get a Federal Cops grant that was refused because APD never spends the money for its purpose).
100 extra officers is about 10% of the $66,000,000 in the red that the city is facing. So why is Schultz still the police chief? Berry can't be happy with Schultz mismanagement of APD.
Berry says he is going to run this city like a business. Well in the business world a Schultz would be out of work for this horrible mismanagement of staffing and budget. Is Berry still going to keep this guy?
First of all ...... we have never met .... second, if DWI arrests have gone down 73%, shouldn't the accident ratio show a difference (even to some degree)? It appears like the fatal accidents you speak of still occur whether people are arrested, or not. It also is reported that those idiots have blood alcohol levels at least twice (or more than) the PRESUMED level of intoxication (.08), some of them have been booked numerous times, yet nobody seems to be able to get a handle on the true problem! I think if we go after actual drunks on the road (like we used to), we would be headed in the right direction. Instead, police officers have been making major bucks in overtime pay, and trying to meet quotas (everybody's got to make a living).
I think we both agree that people killed by an auto accident on the highways is always a tragedy (sober, or not). According to the agenda of the Mothers, you would have a 70% chance of being involved in a fatal accident by someone who hasn't had a drop of liquor (of coarse, they will never give you that figure to consider). My opinion is the other 30% of "alcohol related" accidents is inflated, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (MADD) should be ashamed of their inaccuracies and public lying.
I would say you are gullible, and a person without understanding, or without a valid solution to offer! Call me what you will, I too have an opinion about your lack of expertise, or knowledge. You remain ignorant and you (like rest of us) may never have a good answer to resolving the problem.
Hey did anyone read about me in the journal ? April 10 2010, you cant miss this hit job. I wonder who planted that story HMMMMMMMMMMMMMM. To the person that wrote that I had it all wrong supporting Berry, you are right. At the last APOA meeting I APOLOGIZED to the membership for supporting Berry and asking and receiving membership support for him. I will not make that mistake again. Before I gave my support to Berry I had sit down face to face meetings with him with other potential supporters. The things we were told by the candidate , in my opinion and others that were at the meetings turned out not to be ture. I have tried to meet with the mayor but he refuses. WHY ? I will debate the mayor anytime in a public forum. NO PREDETERMINED QUESTIONS. To the person that wrote you have no answers : HERE IS THE ANSWER: Get the court under control. When an officer appears on the same case 20 to 30 times and the lawyer is allowed to continue it all thoes times is criminal in my opinion. How much money did it cost the city , and I will use me as an example, to show up all thoes times for the same case. Do you really think that I am going to work all night and go to my second job court and not get paid for it. I am still appearing on cases from 2007 and 2008. I have appeared 27 times on one case. I have no control over a case being continued nor does any other officer. We have to appear, we have no choice. But it is always easier to blame the Police. NO ONE WILL STAND UP FOR THE POLICE AND SAY WHAT IS REALLY GOING ON. I will. Maybe the journal could do some real investigating before they attack the police. So now you know Albuquerque where the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ IS WASTED. The only place you will read the truth is here. Wise men dont need advice. Fools wont take it. " Benjamin Franklin " The powerful only retain power as long as we the people allow them to retain it.You have a voice and a vote,use them. Get involved !
The APOA contract is meaningless when you allow it to be changed by MOU or by any other means. once it is signed then leave it alone. so much for a united front. No wonder the membership numbers are at an all time low.
"No wonder the membership numbers are at an all time low."
I don't know where you are getting your numbers because they are at an all time high...over 900.
Get your facts straight Goober.
Seriously folks, when are we going to learn? Politicians will spoon feed us anything we want to hear, but in the end, they NEVER have anyone's interest at heart other than thier own. PERIOD. That will never change. But we fall for it hook, line, and sinker everytime. Berry is a politician, and he is no different. All of us that voted for Berry, including Sgt. Heh, got screwed. We put our faith behind a dumbass like Berry, and look where we are: Same chief, same harassmaent, same policies, and now city employees are going to get a pay cut, and the we citizens of Albuquerque are going to have to face more drunk drivers, longer response times when we call 911, and more heartache and frustration.
You all are barking up the wrong tree. Berry is in office now, and he's not going to debate anyone, because he doesn't have to. He's going to sit there for the next four years and squeeze every penny he can into his bank account, and if you vote him out, so be it. He got what he wanted...and we all got screwed. And then some new schmuck will come along promising you the world, and you'll throw your support behind him, and you'll get screwed again. Politicians are scumbags...they lie, lie, lie; and shame on any of you who have faith in them or believe for even a second one word that comes out of their mouths.
Want to make a difference? "The Eye" needs to go mainstream. Step out of this blog and expose the citizens of Albuquerque to the things we see here. The TV stations won't. The Journal sure as hell won't. They're just going to run with the stories they are spoon-fed by the likes of TJ Wilhem and others. Only a handful of people ever read this blog...isn't it time that EVERYONE know what truly goes on around the halls of city government?
Paul, I admire the courage that you have to stand up and fight- not only for yourself, but for your brothers and sisters too. But you can't back these a-holes, get burned, and not expect them to come after you when you call them to the carpet. They're going to chew you up and spit you out, and only WE (the meager few who read this blog on a daily basis) are going to know the truth behind it.
It's time for "The Eye" to come forward and find a better, more public venue. Hell, you could even continue to use this one, BUT GET THE DAMN WORD OUT ABOUT IT. Buy a damn billboard...rent a plane and sky-write it...take ad space out SOMEWHERE. But until the public is made more aware, NOTHING written here is EVER going to provide anything more than humor to those in power, and frustration to the people who want to see things change.
YOU HAVE A VOICE, "EYE", and you're voice has been heard since 2006. TIME TO START YELLING.
Police !! Berry is a "double-crosser"
He values someone like Darren White more, who will ultimately stab him in the back. It's Darren's nature to do so. He's now endorsed Suzanna Martinez for Governor as a way out of 'Berryville' for him and Ray should she be nominated and win in November.
Berry, you're being used.
... Oh, and everyone knows it except YOU.
If I was wrong about the APOA membership numbers then I stand corrected. I think that number will drop if they go through with the dumb ideas I have heard coming from the APOA.
To Albuquerque Fire: TRUE THAT!!! That's exactly what is happening and if ANYONE out there is still condsidering voting REPUBLICAN in the governor's race, just take a look at what our REPUBLICAN MAYOR did to us after we (stupidly) fell for his line of BS! Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice.....
I know for a fact, that if the COA was to audit Fleet Management we would save at least three million dollars. Really three days to PM my car. PLEASE EYE: look into this.
"If I was wrong about the APOA membership numbers then I stand corrected. I think that number will drop if they go through with the dumb ideas I have heard coming from the APOA" Sounds like Mark Garcia...
Why don't you show up Mark, then you'd know what ideas are being talked about
arrest barboa, he's a drunk driver.
o, can he arrest himself?
Mark you have changed!
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