Sheriff’s Department Mimic Keystone Kops

The Eye was taken aback by the action of the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department during a recent police pursuit. As reported in the Journal (see here) convicted felon Roy Holliday failed to stop for deputies earlier in the day. A second attempt to apprehend Holliday failed when Undersheriff Ron Paiz blocked an escape route on a dead-end street that Holliday went down. This is when the “Keystone Kops” routine started.


Paiz was in an unmarked Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department vehicle. The article does not state if Paiz was in uniform or recognizable as a law enforcement officer. Taking into account that Holliday is and has been a convicted felon for some time, the probability of another criminal looking for Holliday is highly probable, not-with-standing, law enforcement. When Paiz responded and set up what appears to be a possible “roadblock,” at the mouth of a road that dead ended. Paiz waited for Holliday to return to the mouth of the street to exit the area. This is where Holliday tried to escape and where Paiz’s vehicle was hit. The alleged “ramming” of Paiz’ vehicle lead to a police pursuit. The Journal article claims that Paiz was not hurt and his vehicle only sustained minor damage.


There are several issues that come into question:


Did Holliday mistake Paiz’s vehicle as a regular car and not a police car, since it was not marked?


Did Holliday mistake Paiz for a “regular Joe” and not a law enforcement officer?


When Paiz obstructed Holliday’s’ path, did Paiz leave an avenue of escape for the offender which is mandated by case law?


After Holliday fled, did Holliday pose an on-going and continuous threat to life or peril to the public?


Was this perceived threat or actual threat monitored constantly to see if it was appropriate to terminate the pursuit?


Was this pursuit simply hurt feelings?


Doesn’t “ramming” another vehicle cause significant damage?


If Holliday was not worthy of a continuous pursuit earlier, what gave legitimate rise for the Sheriff’s Department to initiate this pursuit?


Shouldn’t a supervisor have realized the flaws and immediately called off the pursuit? Shouldn’t have Undersheriff Paiz called it off?


The media like the Journal enjoys coining key words such as, police “chase.” Children “chase” each other; police officers engage in pursuits to apprehend criminals. This is a huge difference.


Sheriff Houston should be applauded for his actions up to this point. Houston has raised the Sheriff’s Department from the dust and rubble to a higher level of professionalism that was left behind by Darren White. However, Sheriff Houston should ensure that his department adhere to the standard custom and practices amongst the law enforcement community. This pursuit does not appear to meet the standards that the public feels comfortable with and should be investigated. Pursuing a person who is no longer a threat for fifteen minutes during rush hour traffic is absolutely insane. This case has vicarious liability written all over it. If a pursuit is legitimate and bona fide; the community will always stand by law enforcement.


The public already knows that it is useless to file an I.A. complaint on an issue such as this one. White and Baragiola had a standing policy about I.A. (Internal Affairs) Investigations; if they liked you, no investigation no matter how serious the offense. If you were not liked, J walk and you’re fired! That is not public perception, it’s the truth.


Sheriff Houston will have to break out the shovel to clean up all the shizzle that White left behind. Trutouch was only one mess White left for Houston; there will be more to come like the mess with the Sheriff’s Departments’ I.A. Unit. Sheriff Houston should release the radio dispatch tapes of this pursuit to the public in order to maintain public trust and confidence, and to prove transparency.

Happy Easter

With the joy of the celebration of Easter; May God Bless.

Sincerely,
The Staff of the Eye

Schultz Away; Village Idiot Speaks

Haven’t you ever heard, “think before you speak?” Berry Bad Mistake and Mr. PSD White Lies obviously haven’t.

First; with all due respect our condolences to the Torres family for their recent loss.

By state law police officers of the Albuquerque Police Department are required to take 40 hours of Officer Safety Training, this training includes; safe pursuit procedures, domestic abuse, DWI stops, high-risk felony procedures, firearms proficiency along with many other specialty training. Police officers are also required to re-certify year with their firearms and attend mandatory training in order to keep their law enforcement certification.

The Albuquerque Police Department’s Academy provides the best training to its cadets, along with advanced training to its law enforcement officers. Departments around the nation request the Albuquerque Police Academy staff for training their personnel and police officers in their departments. The APD’s Academy is ranked amongst the highest in the nation.

An article written by Jeff Proctor called, “Mayor Wants Changes in Training at APD,” came out in the Albuquerque Journal today(see here). The article states that Mayor Berry wants to make changes in the department and City officials are requesting APD officers to take an additional eight hours of training. According to city officials this training would include, "re-educate officers on the policy and procedures and case law regarding the proper use of deadly force, de-escalation techniques and decisional training," according to a draft copy of the proposal.

Berry Bad Mistake’s Public Safety Director, Darren White, said, "This training centers more on when to shoot versus how to shoot," and "When you look at the high number of deadly force situations we've been faced with, we felt that it was important to make sure our officers had all the necessary training." And according to this article, the training also would include such skills as assessing deadly force situations, proper use of cover, how to request and wait for backup, creating distance between officers and suspects and when to retreat. White described the proposed training as a “refresher” of classes officers take in the police academy.(See here)

WHAT? This training is already taught and required and police officers already take refreshers to keep up with their Law Enforcement Certification. To say otherwise, you would be lying Mr. White Lies.

If an officer observes an offender beating another officer (which is a felony) and that offender points a loaded gun at an officers’ head, and you know that the warrant being served is for the offender assaulting a lady and attempting to drag her out of her car violently; is there any doubt that the correct decision is to stop the offender who is in commission of a violent felony and is attempting to kill another officer?

In addition, APD is considering using virtual technology that simulates real-life situations in which officers are faced with the choice of whether to use deadly force. The technology would cost about $10,000 a month, White said.(See here)

WHAT? Mr. White Lies has no business purchasing more equipment. Mr. White Lies has a history of purchasing equipment and placing it in storage just to grow cob webs. The Eye wonders if TruTouch owns the “virtual technology” company. Remember TruTouch? Besides where is the Chief of Police? Oh, that’s right; Schultz is out of the Country on City Business. Great place to be Schultz, when your department is in crisis.

The Eye is in favor of Officer Safety Training but Berry Bad Mistake, Mr. White Lies and City Officials have just cost the citizens of Albuquerque potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars by alluding that the APD’s Officers were at fault for the bad decisions made by Mr. Torres. The APD officers do not need more training, APD officers and the citizens of Albuquerque need, “Better Leadership.”

The situation involving Torres on Tuesday, April 12, 2011, Detectives Brown and Hilger were violently and brutally attacked and battered by Mr. Torres. Detective Hilger was disarmed by Mr. Torres during the attack. Detective Hilger currently looks like he crashed into a concrete wall at 100 miles per hour, without a seatbelt; all the result of bad decisions and actions of Mr. Torres.

It has been reported that Mr. Torres has schizophrenia and a long case history of violent offenses against 23 different victims of Albuquerque. Mr. Torres did not comply with Detectives Brown and Hilgers’ simple instructions to “Turn around place your hands behind your back!” The family being knowledgeable and schooled in law knew the appropriate actions they should have taken to help control and protect Mr. Torres.

Mr. Torres continued to escalate the situation by brutally beating and trying to kill Detective Hilger; Detective Brown did not have a split second to think; he acted based on his police training. Berry Bad Mistake and White Lies haven’t you ever heard of “Motor Memory Skills?” Berry Bad mistake, you might not, but White Lies should, and he should educate you on the definition of what it means. But in case he doesn’t the Eye will give you this lesson for free…

Motor Memory Skills, also known as motor learning, is a form of procedural memory that involves consolidating a specific motor task into memory through repetition. When a movement is repeated over time, a long-term muscle memory is created for that task, eventually allowing it to be performed without conscious effort. This process decreases the need for attention and creates maximum efficiency within the motor and memory systems.(See here)

The decision that Detective Brown made, no law enforcement officer ever wants to be faced with. The lack of police officers on the streets because top city officials are loading their pockets, is creating a hostile environment for the city’s police officers and citizens.

It is not a lack of training; it is a lack of “Good Leadership.” With all due respect to the Albuquerque Journal, according to the APOA (Albuquerque Police Officers’ Association) the Journal’s headline should have read, “Sixteen people have assaulted police Officers since January 2010 while possessing deadly weapons.” The APOA also stated, “This trend is in line with Local and National statistics. Nationwide assaults on Officers have increased at an alarming rate. A responsibility of the press is to educate the public. What you have done here is victimize the true victims; Detectives Brown and Hilger.” The Eye agrees with this statement. (APOA press release)

Any good leader knows when a grieving family vents publicly and makes inflammatory statements such as; APD is a “1000 percent negligent.” Let’s analyze this statement. Here we have the brother of a deceased man who is an educated attorney. It is common knowledge that the maximum of any given situation is 100 percent, not 110 percent and not 1000 percent. This was an inflammatory statement by a grieving family member. Any good leader knows the statement made by a grieving family member regarding hiring four detectives to look into Mr. Torres’ death, is only a statement of, a grieving family. Any attorney know that public statements like the ones made by the family in this case will allow or open the door for a change of venue. This could greatly hurt the family’s case. Once again, this is a grieving family publicly venting.

Any good leader knows that once there is a threat of civil litigation or actual litigation, the City should not make any statements pending the litigation. The reason that no statements are made are due to the fact that these statements will be used against the City during the court proceedings. The Eye assumes that the City Attorney, Rob Perry, was not contacted because he would have strongly advised both Berry and White to keep their mouths shut.

When Chief Schultz left town, he placed Elizabeth Paiz as Acting Chief. Acting Chief Paiz was guarded and cautious when she spoke to the media, thus protecting all concerned. Why would Berry Bad Mistake and White Lies think they know more or were more seasoned than Paiz, who was the PIO for APD for years and currently holds the rank of a legitimate Deputy Chief of Police.

If any liability derives from this case it will lie firmly on Darren White and Richard Berry. What took place with Mr. Torres was unfortunate; what came out of the mouth of White and Berry is shameful.

Is the Albuquerque FBI Oxymoron’s?

As reported to you by the Eye, there is the appearance that our local G-boys may not have been completely forth coming with information and the truth during the Brad Arensfield trial (see here). Now the local FBI wants you to trust them and report public corruption to them. Well FBI; consider this your first big case and investigate your own people who were involved in the Arensfield case. There is no difference between flat out lying and not saying. Any act or omission that involves untruthfulness is lying. Click on the link above, all the information you need is there for you to get started.

The First Amendment states, “The amendment to the U.S. Constitution that guarantees freedom of religion, freedom of expression (including speech, press, assembly, association, and belief), and freedom to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” The FBI should consider this a “petition to the government for the redress of a grievance.”

As reported in the Journal (see here) “People can dial 505-889-1580. A recorded message asks them to leave their name and a brief message, and says their report will be looked at.” Really? The FBI wants you, to call, and leave your name? Really? You might as well call whoever you’re reporting and give them your information directly. From there you can call the mortuary and make arrangements for yourself.

If the local FBI wants public trust they must earn it. Any solid leader knows that respect and trust is not simply given; it must be earned. The Feds need to clean their own closet before they start digging in anyone else’s. With the Arensfield case alone there are enough skeletons to fill the Santa-Fe National Cemetery.

Here is a comment that was posted on our blog last week. This is “Joe Public talking.” It has been edited to correct spelling and delete profanities. “Yeah, let's use the news station FBI report corruption link to report the corruption in this city. The next thing you know Darren and his goons will be at your door step giving you a ram rod. Yeah go ahead and report corruption to the ones committing it. Good luck with that. That is funny. Oh, and far as THEIR anonymous; trust that. They’ll find out who you are and do some bad bogus zoning things to your house, or frame you for something.”

Quality v. Quantity; Schultz Zings Albuquerque Citizens Again

Last week a Valencia County Grand Jury indicted Levi Chavez on First Degree Murder charges. Chavez is now under indictment for the murder of his wife. Chavez was a lateral transfer from the Los Lunas Police Department. At the time, Chief Ray Schultz was in a desperate frenzy to recruit police officers. Schultz was looking for quantity and apparently not quality. APD has a history of picking up other police departments’ trash. One of the most notorious is Matthew Griffin, dubbed the name of the Ninja Bank Robber by the FBI.

According to sources behind the badge, the Eye was told that another lateral from the Los Lunas Police Department, under Schultz’ watch, assisted in disposing of Chavez’ truck in an effort to commit fraud against Chavez’ insurance company.

The City of Albuquerque claims that neither they nor their employees did anything wrong but shelled out a big fat check to the Chavez family for $230,000.00. How often does a municipality give $230,000.00 for bogus claims? Of course the $863,000.00 paid out in the Sam Costales case dwarfs the Chavez family’s pay out. Chief Schultz was found guilty of a federal civil rights violation committed against Mr. Costales. Chief Schultz kept his job and was never disciplined for the civil rights violation.

Our Eyes tell us that Levi Chavez’ new wife, Heather Hindi, is actually a former step-daughter of Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg. The Eye wonders why Brandenburg has failed to disclose this information. The Eye is not surprised. Brandenburg has failed to pursue charges against Albuquerque’s Public Safety Director, Darren White, for felony activity after it was reported to her by the New Mexico Attorney General. White has been appointed by Gov. Martinez to sit on the Judicial Standards Commission.

Schultz is the Chief of Police and is responsible for his department and for his choices and selections. In order for Chavez to be hired; it required the ink of Chief Schultz. Schultz needs to learn the difference between quality and quantity. He must be held accountable for his part in the repeated chaos that keeps repeating itself under his watch.

What is awkward, Chief Schultz had the audacity to state in an interview with Channel 13 News (see here), “mistakes were made; wholly and solely by the Valencia County Sheriffs.” After reading this story and hearing his statement, this brought to mind an old saying, “is this not the pot calling the kettle black?”

Bottom line, citizens want one thing; “justice," that goes for anybody who commits any unjust, including Levi Chavez and Ray Schultz.

Proposed Appointment Leaves Fox in Charge of Henhouse

The Honorable Governor Martinez’ blunder will end up costing all of us. By Darren White’s past, it is clear to see that these judges will feel the wrath and retaliation of White. During White’s tenure as Sheriff he “served on the board of directors of a group that launched an advertising campaign targeting judges in 2004” as reported in the Journal (see here.) Any of the public who has educated themselves on Whites’ past know that he will now have the power and backing of the Judicial Standards Commission. Appointing White to the Judicial Standards Commission is no different than the Governor appointing a KKK member to the Human Rights Commission. With White on the Judicial Standards Commission, it’s truly like “leaving the fox in charge of the hen house.”

White has a history of questionable actions. Whites’ history includes everything from paying over $333,000.00 by proxy for a machine that his department never used, to allegedly lying on the stand during the Brad Arensfield federal trail.

White may try and defend his Republican appointment to the commission, but many view this appointment as political corruption as the Manny Aragon case.

White asserted to the Journal, “he’s probably has more experience than anyone else on the 11-member Judicial Standards Commission in handling allegations of misconduct, because of his roles during 16 years in law enforcement.” Strange… retired Deputy Chief Michael Castro is on that panel. Castro has over 25 years as a fully commissioned police officer. That assertion Mr. White is a bold face lie. Another point that comes to the front is, if White considers his 16 years in law enforcement as a way to pound his chest proudly, what about Brad Arensfield? Arensfield had 15 years in law enforcement and possesses much higher and stronger credentials than White. Arensfield testified as an expert in the Orlando Comacho murder trial. Comacho was found not guilty.

White pounded Norman Thayer. According to the Journal, Mr. Thayer is a partner in Sutin, Thayer & Brown, whose employees have donated to Democratic campaigns, including former Gov. Bill Richardson's presidential bid in 2006. Later in the article White said he was not criticizing Thayer's fitness to serve on the commission, but pointed out that both he and Thayer have engaged in advocacy. It is an unprofessional tactic in many people’s opinion to “push someone under the bus and then say ‘disregard.”’ The damage has already occurred.


White is quoted as stating, "I believe that every member of the judicial commission has views on public policy issues, and expressing those views is not a disqualifier or virtually every member of this commission would be unable to serve," he said. We now know where White has been. He apparently has been living in a “virtual world” where he can do as he pleases without ever having to be responsible for them. It is inappropriate for White to compare himself to others on the commissions who have no baggage.


The Journal stated, “he (White) said the governor asked him to serve on the Judicial Standards Commission and he agreed, he said he did not seek an appointment.” Next time you need an appointment Governor Martinez look at the top shelf people before you start picking through the rubble. If you need glasses let us know; otherwise, people will start calling you “Ms. Magoo.”

Whose Fault is it for the rash of recent DWI Deaths and Crashes?

No one wants to get that 3:00 A.M. “knock on the door.” You know, the knock that is followed by a policemen and chaplain standing at your door. No one wants to hear the dreaded words, “I’m sorry to inform you that there was a bad accident and your loved one did not make it,” all to find out later that it was due to another ‘Drunk Driver.’

In a time when drinking and driving is a prevalent problem and part of the culture, in a time where most fatalities are involving alcohol, in a time where more and more innocent people are killed and the guilty rarely get the punishment they deserve; why is Darren White and Ray Schultz willing to put “public safety” aside for the sake of saving a “few bucks?” Because of their statistics that haven’t been proven to the citizens? If you ask anyone who has lost a loved one, the Eye is sure they would give White and Schultz 100 times return for their “blood money” just to have their loved one back.

Many officers and citizens of Albuquerque assumed that the implementation of the DWI Specialized Unit was largely due to Schultz and White. It was after all while Schultz and White were with the DWI Unit, they worked hard to take DWI’s from officers, sergeants, and anyone who needed to get back to their field duties and not have their time consumed with a DWI investigation. But then again, that is the philosophy behind the DWI Unit, isn’t it? Part of their mission statement is “to support field services.” Schultz has forgotten that he set the precedence and established the court ruling in the State of New Mexico on the “police officer team concept.” Chief Schultz was a rookie K-9 officer headed to a call and was forced to stop a drunk driver. Schultz needed to get to the call; he gave the DWI to another officer to process.

So, why would our Public Safety Director and our Chief of Police take away the responsibilities from the DWI Unit? Officers are not allowed to turn over a DWI investigation to a DWI Unit. Why is this important? As a citizen calling for police help, don’t you want an officer to show up as quickly as possible? Do you have or want to wait that extra 30 minutes, an hour, even more for an officer to respond? If a citizen calls for police it is because they need help now, not in two hours.

With all of this in mind, why would Chief Ray Schultz and CPSD Darren White jeopardize public safety and prohibit DWI officers to do the job they were assigned and paid to do? Why can’t an officer who pulls over a DWI offender be allowed to hand over the investigation to a member of the specialized DWI Unit? The safety of the public is jeopardized when an officer is called out of the field for several hours. This is the mission statement that the Department boasts? How did Schultz and White come up with the numbers they did when they claimed they single handedly saved the city millions? The Spin Doctors, as many refer to them, have a knack of spewing out $@!*, we mean numbers without being able to back them up. This is nothing new to the Berry Administration. Because officers are tied up with other calls or other drunk drivers; many other drunk drivers go about their business freely. DWI officers are seasoned and have been trained in depth to handle drunk drivers on a frequent basis. If the officers could still stop them and allow the DWI officers to do their jobs, this would make our streets safer. It’s a crazy idea but maybe an idea that would save a life?

If you have been keeping up with the news, Albuquerque has seen one DWI crash after another. Many of these crashes end with fatalities. The City had not seen a rash like this in some time. The common factor is the flawed policies of the Berry Administration. Trying to save a buck at the expense of the citizen’s safety is unacceptable. White and Schultz apparently don’t care who gets hurt, as long as they save a buck.

A DWI case takes months to process through the court system; there is no way to immediately see any cost saving measures. What we are seeing is more and more serious or fatal crashes involving DWI offenders. Just ask Chief Breen about his future brides’ crash. If only one life is saved; it is worth every penny! If money is their only benefit, most will take public safety over a few bucks any day. Comparing a few bucks to the life of any citizen, the citizen’s life is worth a few bucks. After all, Judas sold Jesus for a few pieces of silver; we all saw where that got him.

Chief Public Safety Officer Darren White is still being sued in court over his alleged failure to enforce the laws in the county while he was sheriff, and now this? Great pick Governor Martinez. It may be a good idea for everyone to start calling the Governor again. Governor Martinez needs to understand that respect is not just given, it is earned. Governor Martinez lost respect when she appointed White to the Judicial Standards Commission. Schultz lost his in Federal Court after being convicted of violating an officer’s civil rights. The Eye does not believe that White was ever respected according to all the votes of “NO CONFIDENCE” he has on his mantle.

Now that both Chief Schultz and CPSD White have blood money on their hands, maybe it is time to right the wrong. Correct the policy and get all these drunks off of our streets! Do not allow another person to die at the hand of a drunk driver. Do not continue with a “bloody” policy in spite of those who brought it to our attention; do correct the policy because it is the right thing to do.



PLEASE STOP THIS!
NO MORE!