The Piercing Truth

This is right from the dictionary and seems to describe Albuquerque, Berry and Schultz. Fascism (f ash ,izem) noun An authoritarian right wing system of government and/or social organization. (in general use) extreme right wing, authoritarian, chauvinistic and/or intolerant views or practices. Fascism tends to include a belief in the supremacy of one group over another, national, ethnic, especially social strata or monetarily; a contempt for democracy, an insistence on obedience to a powerful leader, and a strong demagogic approach. Compliments of one of our Eyes

Nov 19, 2011

Transition- What Transition?

The Eye received an email that showed us a story that the Alibi just posted. Here is the posted story, straight from alibi.com:

Lost in Translation
Commissioner contends a key APD report never made it to the mayor
By Carolyn Carlson

When the latest rash of officer-involved shootings had just begun in 2009, a transition team created a report for the incoming mayor about the Albuquerque Police Department. It pointed to corruption, fear of retaliation on the force, criticisms from the public and problems with APD's leadership.


Read the full text of the original report by clicking here.But Mayor Richard Berry may have never seen that version of the report.

Two years later, retired APD Sgt. Paul Heh tried to address the City Council about the two versions of the report. Heh’s presentation was cut off, and he was not allowed to discuss the differences between drafts. Heh says he wonders if Berry would have chosen to reappoint Police Chief Ray Schultz if the original had reached the mayor's desk as written.

Heh was not on that transition team but has obtained copies of two conflicting documents.

Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne Johnson was a member of the transition team along with eight others. He says the group was approaching a consensus for a final version but didn’t get a chance to finish. The process was cut short when members were told to wrap it up and submit what they had. Johnson says the team was working on a draft that pointed out systemic problems within the department and asked whether Police Chief Schultz needed to be replaced.

“The draft submitted to the mayor was not voted on and was not the direct work product of the committee,” Johnson says. “We were asked to do an honest assessment of the police department, good and bad. And we were doing that. Then we were not given enough time to finish the report.”


Read what was submitted to the mayor by clicking here.The team made 41 recommendations. The modified report that went to Berry had 38. Still, critical observations in the original never crossed the mayor's desk. Johnson says he doesn't know who softened the report.

The team reviewed the work of nationally known police expert Neal Trautman, including a paper titled “How & Why a Department or Jail Becomes Corrupt.” Members of the group found that aspects of APD could indicate shady leadership, according to Trautman’s “Continuum of Corruption” guidelines.

Fear among the rank-and-file is one of the major clues that a department is rotting, according to Trautman's paper. Others include: bitterness and harsh criticism by large groups of citizens; bursts of open defiance of administrators; workers rationalizing unethical actions during conversations with each other; and a departmental attitude of keeping corruption out of the media. Avoiding bad press, Trautman writes, becomes more important than addressing and disciplining corrupt acts.


“We were asked to take an honest, hard look at the department, then not allowed to finish the task."
-Bernalillo County Commissioner Wayne JohnsonThe team, in its first draft, observed that members of APD’s command were defensive and ignored requests for meetings. Some commanders met with team members but feared retaliation from their superiors, according to the original report. Field officers told the team they were afraid to identify problems and that higher-ups seemed distant from the cops on the front lines. Supervisors reported that they felt out of the loop.

Bob Martinez served as chair of the police transition team. He is president of the local chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. The modified report bears his name on the cover sheet.

“The report with my name on it is the official report of the transition team,” Martinez says. It was his job as chairman to wrap things up, he says, and reflect the views of the majority of the group. He says the transition team rubber stamped what was sent to Berry. “It was done and approved by the committee.” There may have been a minority opposition to what was given to Berry, he adds, but the official report is what the transition team agreed to turn in.

Johnson and other members contend this is not the case. Instead, he says, the transition team never finally approved anything, and critical observations of APD brass were deleted from the final draft.

The Alibi spoke with another member of the transition team who wishes to remain anonymous, “Steve.” He says at least half of the nine-member transition team felt there were significant problems in the police department, and a change in leadership was recommended. He also says the report was reviewed by newly appointed Public Safety Director Darren White before it was sent to Berry.

The softer version was given to the mayor before he reappointed Chief Schultz. Steve also wonders if Berry would have made a different decision if he had seen all the information the team collected.

Dayna Gardner, Berry’s spokesperson, did not directly address the question of whether White or anyone else reviewed and changed the report. Gardner also didn't say whether Berry knew about an earlier version identifying systemic problems.

More than 200 volunteers analyzed each of the city’s departments after the 2009 mayoral election, she says. Berry’s transition effort was led by Sherman McCorkle, a longtime supporter of White. “Each chairman, or their respective designate, submitted a final consensus report reflecting their committee’s work, findings and recommendations,” Gardner says.

All of this matters, Sgt. Heh says, because the police transition team did a thorough review of the department in 2009, highlighting problems that have continued to plague the department. Both he and Commissioner Johnson say the first version, though rushed, reflected work by members of the community and pinpointed solvable problems. “We were asked to take an honest, hard look at the department," Johnson says, "then not allowed to finish the task."

Heh says it appears to him that the Berry administration hired police leaders who would rather hide or deny APD's problems than address them. “It doesn’t help to put a Band-Aid on a major wound.”


Well, now it is evident why City Council was so afraid to let Paul Heh speak at the council meeting.

The ORIGINAL report submitted by the transition can be found by clicking here.

The ALTERED report given to Mayor Berry can be found by clicking here.

Yet again, Mayor Berry we really hope you have the City checkbook wide open and the checks signed. (You may want to invest in Overdraft Protection, something tells us you will need it).

A special thank you goes to The Alibi for letting the truth speak!

28 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was never reported publicly who was on the APD transition team. However, it was the almost universal observation among APD Brass who made presentations before the transition team that many of team members had their own personal axes to grind, including Johnson, and who wanted to get rid of Schultz. The transition team was viewed by APD Brass as never having any real intention of giving the Mayor Elect and objective report, but one that trashed the Department. Enter Darren White and Bob Martinez, close friends who appeared toghether in Susana Martinez commercials, both supporters of Schultz, and both who have had their own performance called into question. And you really question why the orginal report may have never gotten to the Mayor-Elect? Also, reporters with 4 and 7 had been given copies of both reports two years ago and decided to do nothing with them. So why is this news now? Just because a rag like the Aliibi is just now catching up? You really need better sources.

Anonymous said...

Who was "They" that told the transition team to wrap it up and submit the report? I do not for one second believe that Mayor Berry is innocent in a single thing. Regardless if he knew at the time, he is ultimately responsible and sees the chicken shit that is going on with APD and Ray Schultz. He has had a choice for YEARS to replace this jackass of a chief and has chosen not to. This city is far more corrupt then what people realize. Can anyone say MOB?

Anonymous said...

I love to support Public Safety, but this is outrageous. I sent a letter to the internal affairs unit and still have not gotten a phone call. What is the wait time? Last week I went to Sonice and low and behold there is an officer acting less than professional. There was a young girl hanging all over him, sitting in his car, etc. I wanted to yell"get a room" The girl looked about 16. Is this what our tax dollars are paying for? If the officer had been paying attention to his job and not the young girl, he would have seen me taking a picture of them.

Anonymous said...

Wolf guards the hen house both at APD and the COA. And the Journal for that matter. Don't you guys get it? They don't give a fuck about you UNLESS you all pull it together. Sigalas ain't gonna do it. Why should he, no body bothers to show up at meetings. Who can blame him. If you all don't give a rats ass about your own union president I think it's safe to assume Berry, Schultz, and Perry sleep well at night.

Anonymous said...

The Union has helped me. Let me correct that dawn roberto has helped me. fought for me hard. problem is joey is pushing her out and fighting hard to get her out. we are in trouble

Anonymous said...

In light of the current events, everyone is in trouble, if EVERYONE does not see this as a pivotal point here, and decide to step up. Everyone should be voicing their outrage over the behavior by top city brass. Political agenda and corruption is running wild on our backs.

When city officials can get on the television and blatantly lie, and when the evidence or witness is available to prove they are a liar is right there, and nothing is done, THINGS ARE BROKEN.

The city of Albuquerque needs an enema. Every top official needs to be removed from their position. There is no integrity with them.
They don't care about their employees to the point that they wouldn't care if you were killed. As a matter of fact, their hatred towards some of their employees is so deep that it is scary. If that kind of hate harbors, you know people are being done wrong. Heck, I know for a fact that the administration of APD has retaliated against it's employees just for who they associate with if the brass does not like that person. They are as immature as 3rd graders. THAT IS SCARY. That type of mentality with the control that they have is something that needs changing or we are heading for doom. Setting people up, lieing, intimidation, extortion, concealing and tampering with evidence, threats,..... APD is like a mafia right now. I say that in regards to the 5th floor. The officers are oppressed, made to keep their thoughts to themselves and they are in an overall state of intimidation, and fear of what will happen to them if someone even hears them criticizing the corruption going on within the administration.

The more they try and hide it, the more they make it obvious.

S. Sgt. Paul J. Heh ( Ret.) said...

Mayor Berry I told you durning your campain what would happen if you kept Chief Schultz. You promised you would not keep him,that you saw the problems with him yourself. You told me, and every other cop you spoke to that Schultz was gone. You told all the cops that you wern't going to fill the Public Safety Directors Position. I'll would ask you right to your face if you lied to get elected but you refuse to meet with me. I'll ask Bob Martinez President Of The F .O. P., did you have any part in KEEPING SCHULTZ AND APPOINTING WHITE ? You need to stand before the public MR.Martinez and answer these questions. Remember the people can forgive a mistake but never a cover up. Bottom line is this. The Albuquere Police DEPARTMENT is in trouble. My opinion is this: Officers live in fear of Schultz and his IRON HAND and are afraid to do their job. Schultz is doing what he does best and blames and fires Officers for his failure as a leader. Command staff will not speak up because they are afraid of being fired . NO one even knows were Berry is . This is going to result in Officers getting hurt and the City paying out millions in lawsuits. The crime rate will climb out of control,despite how the administratation try to fudge the numbers. You can't put a bandage on a major wound. The Citizens will and are suffering and it will get much worse. The Albuquerque Police Department is my second family. I CAN NOT STAND BY AND WATCH IT BE DESTROYED ! That is my opinion you are welcome to yours. I will not respond to anonymous comments.

Anonymous said...

The chief tosses hard working uniformed patrol officers under the bus. Yet let the mayors office catches burnout Johnston shopping at the Wal Mart on Coors By Pass at 3 in the afternoon during the week, in his city car, and Schultz will do nothing. Schultz can't discipline him because he will do his bidding for him him. What a mess this department is in. The community needs to petition the mayor, at every public meeting (including city council), to fire Ray Schultz and hire someone from outside the APD culture of corruption.

Anonymous said...

I was involved in an IA investigation kicked Schultz ass in the mean time and who was to busy spreading rumors about how he kicked my ass? Guess who? Schultz he spread all rumors which were not true so I say to him FU&^ you and he can go to he&& and whats the old saying? I would piss on him if he was on fire, so true.

Doyle you need to hang on to many procedural errors, there is no excuse for how he handled your investigation.

Anonymous said...

Under Ray Schultz, APD has become the laughing stock of the country. Period. He ain't a Lee Iaocca and can't turn this ship around. I feel bad for the honest cops who try to do what's honorable but when you have solid leaders refusing to test and promote what does that tell you? You're stuck with the Lopez, rosemans, gontermans, Comanchos, masons, Paiz, medina, prudencios, gittierrez, millers, wests, etc etc.

Anonymous said...

Paul,

pretty foolish to believe the Alibi has told the truth. Better be careful who you start blaming and believing my friend.

Anonymous said...

HERE WE GO!
An officer run over and dragged down the street downtown last night. This is the beginning of officers getting seriously hurt because they are more fearful of using force, and getting fired and indicted for it, than they are of dying. Mark my words, this is the beginning of it.

Anonymous said...

Couple of posts previous I see the words "hardworking uniformed patrol officer." That has to be somebody's idea of a joke. The other day I watched one of them "hardworking" jerkoffs ignore a red light runner. That was right after I came from TR library where one of them hardworking jerkoffs was sitting in parking lot in patrol car looking bored.

So you guys are fantasizing about a recall. Anyone asks for my signature the reply is going to be screw you.

I am going to see if I can get the mayor to put GPS on the bottom of your cars like they did for trash collectors.

Citizen

Anonymous said...

@Nov 21 3:37 pm
http://www.krqe.com/dpp/news/local/central/dragged-apd-officer-has-rocky-past

KRQE hints the officer deserved the dragging because he shot an unarmed 18 year old.

Anonymous said...

A GPS on Mark Johnson's car will show a lot of work time in Wal Mart's parking lot and not a lot of time at 4th and Marquette.

Anonymous said...

To Citizen - AKA Ignorant One

MAKE SURE YOU DON'T CALL ONE OF THE "JERKOFFS" TO HELP YOU WHEN YOU ARE GETTING ROBBED, OR FAMILY MEMBER IS GETTING RAPED OR IN A CAR ACCIDENT. YOU ARE A "FLYING, FLAMING HORSE'S A$$. TYPICAL OF THE MENTALITY OF "SOME" OF THE CITIZENS.

Anonymous said...

To the poster who thinks he looks pretty magnificent with the cap locks on. ...

How silly you are to think I would think a cop would show up "while I was being robbed."

If we had cops with a reasonable amount of ambition, us citizens could expect crime prevention and accident prevention. Ever heard of it?

See, citizens like me fell like we have some impunity when cops ignore us when we run reds or speed or drive recklessly. Then when we correctly figure cops for being pretty much lazy, we don't worry a whole lot when we are breaking into houses or cars or whatever.

Kick it off with this... we figure that a lot of homeowners have turned off their alarms or their monitoring because they can't afford the "mordida" to our lazy cops. So hey we got impunity on top of our impunity.

Then what is even sillier is bicycle cops. So here we are in the big city where the preponderance of crime is the stuff of motor vehicle violation. We see how serious our cop department is about managing that when the give cops bicycle to go play on. Hey, it is not just a job, it is a recreation adventure.

So a bicycle cop gets his leg run over... hundreds of cops will huddle behind him saying "see we are heros!"

Now, I am glad he didn't get killed but I think the whole scene exposes the compound stupidity of APD. Maybe that is what KRQE was trying to express.

Citizen

Anonymous said...

There are some officers that look the other way when a traffic law is broken. As a matter of fact, I have been pulled over four times in the past year on north 2nd street for various and sundry reasons, only one valid reason when a tail light was out. I am asked for my license and insurance card. I drive an old Saturn but it is in good repair and I am an old woman but I can drive OK. The men and women dealing drugs out of their cars in the parking lot of my apartment complex need not worry. Despite complaints, management allows this sort of activity on the premises. We are told that only pot and coke are being sold, and neither are life threatening. Really, the cops don't mind.

Anonymous said...

The entire COA is broken, lame, on crutches, oxygen, and that's the administrators in each and every department. The poster 11/20 @9:23 is absolutely right! I've seen directors physically turn their heads the other way when they see their employees coming towards them. Uppity, uppity, entitled, haters one and all. Has this Mayor poisened all department heads towards their employees.

Anonymous said...

November 23, 2011 9:15:00 AM MST

"How silly you are to think I would think a cop would show up "while I was being robbed."

Thanks to technology..we won't.

Have a nice day.

Anonymous said...

To the Citizen:

I used capital letters, because that is how angry your words made me that day. Not apologizing for it either.

From your response, I now get the definite impression that you are a major, anti-policer officer citizen that no matter what you see or hear, if it pertains to police officers, they are going to be wrong no matter what. It is called tunnel-vision. I have seen how the people of ABQ drive and a lot of you don't give a rat's tail about the speed limit. However, you all don't hesitate to report what police officers do for the dumbest things. Maybe you need to ride in a car for a week and see what they do or what they may be doing when they don't see every violation out there. Some of your other comments weren't too bright either. You see, police officers everywhere don't get respect or support from the citizens. In ABQ, they don't even get it from their leadership. Two officers just took a major felon off the street in ABQ and they lost their jobs for it because the ranking leadership needs to clean up their image. The only thing I will agree with are departments putting in bicycle cops for many different reasons. NOT for those you stated though. You cannot categorize a whole department of street officers on a few!!! I am a citizen too, not a police officer.

Anonymous said...

How sad. You are the silly one 11:12:00 PM post.

Anonymous said...

To: November 20, 2011 9:23:00 AM MST

Great Post and to the point !!!!
Keep them coming.

Anonymous said...

It is sad to see the city in such a disaray. I have seen the rank and file first hand just care about CYA policis. I feel bad for the chain of command on constantly having to please both sides; the mayors wishes wants and needs and the citizens. It sure cant be easy to have to constantly please both.
However from a patrol cops perspective it gets more complicated. We are fighting a battle on three front: First to please the chain, then the citizen, and lastly now the criminal. I signed up for the greater good of helping society which is what i also told the chief in my selection interview at the beginning. It appears i was unawere that criminals have more freedom and rights the the victim who i signed up to help on a daily basis. Furthermore i failed to understand when the chain started to not back officers in their doing. The city on the other hand pays out at every instance instead of fighting and by that signed a guilty verdict.the citizenry knows they can get money so everybody tries. People have told me this on the street. Lastly when did a police department become a secretary for the mayors issues when we should be fighting crime objectivly in all areas. The APD should be neutral to any outside influences: mayor, citzens, criminals. All should get the same service when breaking the law.
Citizen and ......

Anonymous said...

Well I don't feel sorry for the chain of command. They all have mouths that are capable of saying no but they refuse to. We are all adults and can do whats best for the City of Albuquerque and they elect not to. Thats as bad as saying give Schultz another year because chavez had him under his thumb. Well here we are, two years later things are getting worse. Hows morale treating you.

Anonymous said...

Give him another year! He'll make sure the mayor is a one term mayor. Make one of his DC's the next chief and they'll make sure the next mayor democrat.

Anonymous said...

To: November 29, 2011 6:53:00 AM MST

Your absolutely correct. There is one in the chain of command who definitely turned into a Judas. For what, to continue working on the side of corruption. Not only did she go against what she said repeatly and on numerous occasions, she added more salt to the wound and actually lied on TV about what she saw on the video. I still can't figure that out for the life of me. What goes around comes around baby!!!!!

Anonymous said...

Judas????
MS13 has more consistency then the chain of fools. At least one knows where they stand at all times with those criminals.