Nice Temper Tantrum Chief Schultz!

An interesting story came to us via email. As we started reading about the Appreciation Day that was held at the Valley Area Command Substation on Friday, we thought that for once the Administration of the Albuquerque Police Department would be shining for their outward support of the officers. THINK AGAIN. According to our letter, Chief Schultz was in attendance, standing near the APOA tent. Commander Rae Mason (our new hero) announced that for the first time ever, she was presenting an officer with the Officer of the Year award. According to the letter received, she announced Officer Dawn Roberto was receiving the award. As soon as Commander Mason announced the recipient, Chief Schultz turned and left. Even though he was standing directly behind the officer, he could not show the respect to even congratulate the officer. Lt. Dodi Comacho (our other new hero) quickly interjected. She stated all the good things Officer Roberto has accomplished and even stated no one can figure out why the countless nominations for Officer of the Month have been denied. Our eyes know why the nominations have not been approved. Chief Schultz is throwing another one of his well known temper tantrums. You know, the kind of tantrums he throws when people call him on the carpet, when he is caught off guard and has no time to devise an excuse. You may hate her, you may like her, but the eyes believe no one can doubt the fact that Officer Roberto is a hard working officer that has made this Chief look good. She is also a union member that continuously stands up for Officers and does not back down. We applaud Commander Mason and Lt. Camacho for their recognition. Chief Schultz, your tantrum was not gone unnoticed and you should be ashamed of yourself for the way you handle yourself. It is time for you to leave, bring the morale back to this department and for petes sake, leave the tantrums to the two year olds.

ATTENTION: DOUBLE CHECK YOUR PAYSTUB- RETIRED INCLUDED!

This is like a modern day Robin Hood. Only the City of Albuquerque is not robbing the rich to feed the poor, they are robbing the poor to feed the rich. We can not forget the pay raises the Mayor and some of his staff received, while the Officers of the Albuquerque Police Department are yet to get paid according to the contract they negotiated (taking a pay cut in fact).
Now on to the pay stubs. Our Eyes tell us that it is very rare to find a single employee that can decipher these pay stubs. If you work overtime, it is unknown and we think highly doubtful you are getting paid what you are supposed to. We understand that the Chief has yet to act on the numerous requests by officers to explain in detail how the officers are paid, and if they are getting paid what they are due.
We are hardly surprised that it does not end there. It has come to our attention that the City of Albuquerque is deliberately withholding money that is owed to its officers that retire. When an officer retires, their last paycheck still reflects all of the current deductions. When an officer retires prior to the end of the pay period (that is an whole "nother" story), one would think the deductions are prorated. For example, if someone purchases insurance, the monthly payment is prorated depending on the time of purchase. Right now, the City of Albuquerque deducts an entire month of deductions, regardless of your last day.
This exact scenario happened to one of APDs recently retired officers, Lynn Scott. She retired before completing an entire month of work. However, she received her last paycheck and an entire month of deductions was taken from her paycheck. The City of Albuquerque did not prorate her deductions. Officer Scott promptly notified the Department and over a month later, she received a letter from Mark Saiz (HR Manager, Insurance and Benefits Division). The letter indicates that the prorated deductions is "not possible".
Our Eyes tell us that Officers that retired from three years ago until now all have a grievance against this horrid practice and downright theft of monies that are owed to each and every one of these officers.
This is yet another example of the City taking from those that deserve so much more. Mayor Berry, you are no modern day Robin Hood, so stop trying to act like one.


As a side note: Legal action is pending. If any retired officer is interested in obtaining this information, please contact us at theeyeonalbuquerque@gmail.com

The Straw that Broke the Mayor's Back?

Was last night's embarassing and unprofessional behavior of Chief Ray Schultz, finally the straw that broke the camel's back? There was a City Council meeting last night. The usual "frequent flyers" were there, some to speak, others to observe. Prior to the meeting beginning, as it happens every meeting, many people (including Chief Schultz), meander about before taking to their seats. Kenneth Ellis, the father of one of those killed by APD, contacted us after last night's meeting. Mr. Ellis told us that at the meeting, he walked up to Chief Schultz and told the Chief that he was "praying for him". Mr. Ellis admits he ended with "you'll need it". The meeting started and was filled with many citizens giving their comments and stating their opinions. One subject was a student that talked for over 7 minutes about his inability to attend school without a free bus pass. Other people talked about the conservation of energy. Then former APD Sergeant, Paul Heh, approached the podium. Three people had vowed to relinguish their talk time in order to allow Paul Heh to fully talk to the City Council and citizens of Albuquerque. This has been a long standing past practice of the City Council; allowing those people that have a somewhat complicated matter to be able to adequately and fairly voice their concerns and comments. Right away Council President, Don Harris, announced he would not let anyone relinguish their time and demanded Paul Heh keep to a two minute time constraint. Council Member Ken Sanchez made a motion to override President Harris and allow the time for Paul Heh. He wanted to hear what Paul Heh had to say. The Motion was given a second nomination and of course when set to a council vote, the result was 4-5. This forced Paul Heh to stop midstream and NOT speak any further. It was clearly no coincidence that it was the Republican council members that voted AGAINST hearing Paul Heh speak. It was obvious by the actions of the Council that this was a premediated vote on behalf of the Republicans. Despite the crowd's pleas to continue, Paul Heh was forced to walk back to his seat. What were they afraid of hearing? What were they afraid of the public hearing? Paul Heh walked back to his seat and at intermission, Mr. Ellis approached him. This is where it gets even more exciting, as Mr. Ellis and Paul Heh were talking, Chief Schultz walked up to them and shook his finger at Mr. Ellis. Chief Schultz stated "Don't you ever approach me at a meeting again and say what you said to me". Mr. Ellis told the Eye that he felt threatened and was even afraid to walk to his car. Why would Chief Schultz be so angry that someone has offerred their prayers to him? In fact, doesn't the APD chaplain unit advocate daily prayers to the officers of APD? Our Eyes wonder what the Chief would have done if an officer had acted in the same manner. Our bet is that the officer would be shoveling papers in Report Review or answering phones at a substation. This is the definition of "Conducting Unbecoming" if ever there has been one. Does the Chief need remedial C.I.T. training? IF one comment like "Im going to pray for you", sets him off like that, what else will set him off? Chief Schultz, where is your higher standard? You know, the higher standard you demand your officers live up to or face immediate discipline. To you Mayor Berry, when will you see the liability that Chief Schultz is causing you? He is a time bomb and he is ready to explode, are you Mayor Berry prepared to write the check for the violations that he continues to exhibit?

See the City Council Video here.

Thanks to our Readers

Due to your diligence; Fairy Berry Land was put to a halt for now and the red light scam was voted down.

OUR THANKS TO YOU!

We have received several e-mails asking if the Eye is still active? The answer to this question is, "YES." The Eye does not make things up. Our staff finds stories we need to verify. We are working on some great stories for the coming weeks.

If anybody noticed, Berry has kept Schultzie on a tight leash. Recently, we have only seen the other court jesters out and about like: Banks. Too bad his family relative who he managed to sneak into APD wasn't availble for the photo shoot.

Stay tuned!

Listen to Mayor Berry; Vote His Way

You read the headline correctly! The Eye is recommending that you vote in accordance with Mayor Berry’s statements. Below you will find a link to a video where Mayor Berry clearly states, “You take care of the Fire Department, you take care of the Police Department. ‘You take care of the people who keep us safe every day first.’ ” Berry continues to state, “…and then you work on boutique projects after you’ve got those main dollars in place.” (Bolded added for emphasis)

HELP MAYOR BERRY KEEP HIS WORD! VOTE “NO” ON ANY BOUTIQUE TAX BONDS!!!

Listen to your Mayor; vote "NO" to the Faire Berry Botique bonds.

No more taxes till the City can restore all the losses Mayor Berry has slammed the citizens of Albuquerque and the City employees with.

NO MORE TAXES; PERIOD! Vote “NO” on the Redflex Scameras and vote for ANYBODY but Brad Winter or Trudy Jones. These two candidates are anti-public safety.

The Eye would like to thank our local firefighters and the Local 244 Union for their contribution to the link below.

Click HERE for video link.

UNM, An Advocate for Alcohol And Yet Another Black Eye!

Yesterday’s game was expected to be a handful. It was the first game the Lobos would play since the firing of Coach Locksley. The game was against the archrivals UNM Lobos and NMSU Aggies. UNM expected such problems (as demonstrated by last year) they even hired extra officers to be on duty.

Tailgate lots opened very early, despite a 6:00 p.m. scheduled kick off. Some people began to arrive at 10:00 a.m. and it appeared that UNM had a no rules tailgate party. Alcohol was plenty and people were piled in to the numerous tailgate lots. There were many tailgaters that had tents, full D.J. and people dancing, fighting, and drinking in the lot. One such tailgater was the "PIKE" fraternity house. During the tailgate party, an 18 year old girl was seen passed out near the "PIKE" spot. She had been drinking with them, along with several "PIKE" pledges and brothers. The female was so intoxicated she was required medical attention and Albuquerque Ambulance was called to treat and transport her to a nearby hospital. Several citations were also issued for minor in possession.

Many PIKE members were getting on the microphone and announcing which people were actual SID (Special Investigations Division)undercover officers. Isn't that interferring with a police investigation? What comes next is mind boggling. Supervisors on scene asked if UNM wanted the PIKE tailgaters to be escorted off property. UNM had briefed officers and stated there was a no tolerance and people would be cited and escorted off the property. Seeing that the PIKE tailgaters were providing alcohol to minor, or at least allowing minors to drink with them; it only seemed obvious that the PIKE tailgaters would be told to leave. The answer from the UNM big wigs was hypocritical at best, "let them stay." During the night, Albuquerque Ambulance and AFD were called to the lots in reference to intoxicated minors, numerous times. That does not seem to be the worst of it.

At 6:00 P.M., UNM officials told officers to let all of the tailgaters know that they had two choices; go into the game, or pack up and leave the property immediately. So let us get this straight. Officials KNOW people have been drinking ALL day long and their answer is "pack up and leave." Where does the responsibility of UNM lie? It has been on the news regularly that bars and other establishments are sued when a patron is in an accident after leaving their establishment. The courts have found that liquor establishments have a responsibility to know that certain intoxicated people should not be allowed to drive and that their intoxication level is the responsibility of the various establishments. What about UNM? Here is an "establishment," a SCHOOL no less that is KNOWINGLY allowing intoxicated people leave the area. UNM allows these people to drink all day long without any limit on the amount of alcohol they consume.

There are so many things UNM can do to help with this problem:

1) Make it a dry campus and they so often boast
2) Allow alcohol to be served only a certain time period and ending many hours prior to the start of the game.
3) Have trained staff to monitor and take appropriate action when they see someone is intoxicated.

One thing is for certain; UNM's policies must change. At yesterday’s game, many people were issued citations, many people were arrested, and many people were injured. It is only time before it becomes fatal.