Ghost of Christmas Past....

 Tis the season once again to look back and reminisce, remember, and reinforce memories of why we here in the Duke City have the mess in front of us that we have. Memories seem to run short, get clouded and sadly enough... get forgotten.

The internet is unforgiving and the Eye on Albuquerque is making it's list, and checking it twice. We plan to make sure that when 2015 comes, it is a year of long overdue accountability for the naughty and not nice. While those responsible for this mess are  nestled all snug in their beds with visions of BLOATED PERA CHECKS and KICKBACKS dancing in their heads, the lies, and past treachery arise from the dead.

Stink Stank Stunk

The former cause of this mess and resident coward in hiding, ex disgraced police chief Raymond D. Schultz, has chosen to recently poke his worthless head out. It must have been that uncontrollable urge to let out a lie or ten. Yes, it is amusing that we do not see hide nor tail of this turkey, but when we do, it is another colossal tale of untruthfulness that he spins with a strait face. You would think this confirmed liar would stay under his rock, but the lack of attention must have gotten to him. You see, this irrelevant little cancer is taking issue with accusations against him that he personally involved himself in a criminal investigation pushing for charges against Del Norte school principal Sandra Jo Sloan back in June of 2011 Why is this interesting you say?

Timing is the reason. Knowing how this administration works, and how they have done things since there was even a twinkle of a DOJ investigation, all you need to do is look at the patterns, behavior, reactions, and compare it all.  One thing is consistent. They all lie then hide when caught or to avoid being caught up further in their lies.

"Your soul is an appalling dump heap overflowing with the most disgraceful

assortment of rubbish imaginable mangled up in tangled up knots!"

After piquing our interest by this unexpected and odd surfacing, we here at the Eye decided to ask why. After that, we then asked Who, What, When Where and How? Then the twisted scam revealed itself, and how something that was once all about one selfish coward enveloped everyone around him, until it destroyed an entire police department, a city and numerous lives.

Something like a Department of Justice investigation just does not all of the sudden happen. There is rumor, speculation, and leaks over time as it approaches. Questions get asked, and people make phone calls, especially the fearful possible targets of such an investigation. It builds up until the point is reached to where all the speculation is either confirmed or dismissed. That day was Tuesday November 27th 2012, the day Kenneth J. Gonzales announced much to the chagrin of Mayor Richard Berry and FORMER police chief Raymond D. Schultz that they were going to launch an investigation into the Albuquerque Police Department. Knowing that this was a possibility from at least August 1st 2011, when the city council voted 5 to 4 for a DOJ investigation, but was then stalled and obstructed by Berry's veto, Schultz and this administration did everything they could to obstruct, if not totally roadblock the investigation by planning, conspiring, and contriving schemes, intimidating and tampering with witnesses, and cases, abusing the judicial system, destroying and or hiding evidence, maliciously prosecuting, or attempting to maliciously prosecute cases and lying under oath themselves or directing others to do the above before, during, and after the launch of the investigation. Since this was a boiling topic before the city council vote, this means there was warning going back to mid 2010 after the killing of Kenneth Ellis III, that the city council may push for a Department of Justice investigation into the Department. Looking at this time frame, we have from mid 2010 until the completion of the DOJ investigation on April 10, 2014 to fill in the pieces.

In November of 2010 prominent Albuquerque attorney Mary Han was found murdered in her home, and the crime scene was handled in such an unacceptable and unprofessional criminal manner that the Attorney General admonished the department for it's actions that day. Mrs. Han had just dissolved her partnership with her law firm partner, and was in the process of investigating numerous claims of civil rights violations involving many alleged prostitute contacts with APD personnel. While all of this was going on, the murder of 11 victims found in the West Mesa of the City of Albuquerque on February 2nd of 2009 was already a cold case. Word was that Mrs. Han was on to a possible prostitution ring. In June 2011, former UNM professor Chris Garcia aka "Burque Pops" gets arrested for running the internet prostitution ring, SOUTHWEST  COMPANIONS. None other than Lieutenant at the time William Roseman holds a press conference announcing the arrest. One media outlet reported that the membership base reportedly includes individuals from a cross-section of society, and Darren White was actually quoted as saying "There are probably some very nervous people out there right now." How about that? Our Eyes have told us the hard drives seized from Burque Pops contain the names and IPs of several high ranking politicians, city and state officials. Would this be enough to make ghosts out of people? We think so.

The Burque Pops case gets dismissed, and APD moves onto another investigation. As the city council of Albuquerque prepares to vote on bringing in the DOJ to investigate APD on August 1 of 2011, Keith Sandy of the Vice unit sensationalizes the arrest of former District Court Judge Pat Murdoch by arresting him at his office on Tuesday July 19, 2011 just prior. In August city council voted yes on the DOJ investigation and the Mayor Vetoes it. Pat Murdoch's case gets tossed out too.

In February of 2011, APD officers Doyle and Woolever apprehend an armed fleeing felon wanted for murder and numerous violent felonies without resorting to deadly force. They are cleared by their commander. As the city council DOJ vote draws near Schultz devises a second distraction tactic, and reopens an investigation into officers Woolever and Doyle, subsequently terminating them. While all of this is going on Christopher Torres is shot and killed in April of 2011 and Alan Gomez is shot in the back and killed while unarmed in front of his home in May of 2011. Remember how we told you things just don't happen. Apply this philosophy to city contracts and bureaucracy and they really don't just happen. It takes time. On January 17th of 2013 Tazer inked a 1.5 million dollar open ended contract with the city that was greased by Schultz in his own words. That plan was in the works since July of 2011, when APD got their first Tazer shotguns. In November of 2011 Doyle and Woolever are fired and Schultz, Jason Peck along with others are subsequently caught in lies involving the case and investigation. Now add in some more diversions and distractions and we are full circle now with what brought our attention to this matter in the first place, Schultz's meddling in the prosecution of a School Principal and several other matters to protect his own hide and the hides of his friends and people he owes favors to. Now we know exactly what they mean when they say "following orders from whoever tells us what to do" It is as clear as a bell now.

Christmas Present

In the custom of staying consistent in the only thing those running APD ever stay consistent in; extortion, retaliation, blame deflection, and ruining lives, and lying,  investigators from the same units are again directed to guide another investigation into another preconceived direction, by corrupt officials in order to cover for individuals, promote their agendas, and keep their track record of justified murders not getting prosecuted. Yet again, another shiny object is thrown out there to take attention away from the corrupt and prosecution of those deserving it; the Brandenberg investigation. It seems old Turkey Neck Schultz schooled his underlings well in the art of subversion and treacherous tactics. They have learned from the best how to abuse their positions to keep the cover ups going, and to deflect attention. Nothing has changed, and the officers in this case even admit how eerily similar their investigation was to the Murdoch case. It is evident that individuals running APD have turned the agency into a Criminal Enterprise worthy of most in depth criminal investigation since the Knapp Commission.

They have lied to the media, the courts and to the citizens. They have devised intricate plans and proceeders for optimizing the spread of lies beneficial to them by releasing such information only on the first three days of a week and never on a weekend. When the information to be released is damning to their agendas, it is released on a Friday late in the day and they hide from being interviewed or asked questions. All of the water carriers who have proven themselves loyal to this regime have been protected, promoted or rewarded for the water they have carried.

    

The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come

As we reach 2015, we here at the Eye want everyone not to lose sight of the big picture here. Keep your eye on the big present; discovery, investigation, and prosecution of everyone and anyone that is covering for official corrupt criminal abuse of power and office and those legally advising those involved in these activities exposed and stripped from employment, office and financial gain. The city needs to be made whole again. Schultz has used his position, the department, employees, the citizens and any means necessary to fill his pockets like a coward. 2015 should be the year he is held accountable for it. Not only him, but those in the city attorney's office who have assisted him, those in positions throughout the political landscape, active and retired who have been a part of this, and those in the media who have protected him...Kent. We know who all of you are, and what all of you have done.

Stay relentless this holiday season and keep the heat on. There's many chestnuts to roast. So, Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

Welcome to the Garden of Eden!

Richard Berry appointed Gorden Eden to the top position at the Albuquerque Police Department in February 2014.  Berry said after a national search Eden was the “best man” for the job.  It has been ten months and what brilliance has Gorden Eden shown us?

March 21, 2014, Eden holds a press conference regarding the Boyd shooting where he announces the shooting appears “justified” and then incorrectly names a Supreme Court case as the reason why.  This sparks riots in Albuquerque and protests around the nation. (this was during the 8 days Richard Berry went AWOL from Albuquerque).

April 8 2014, Eden names his friend retired APD SWAT command Robert Huntsman to the rank of Assistant Chief of Police.  Huntsman created the same SWAT team that is now the subject of damning comments by the DoJ.  Huntsman, when asked by KRQE, how he can now clean up the SWAT team when he created the current SWAT team, was silent.  Huntsman has not agreed to be interviewed since.

May 6, 2014, Eden cancels the National Police Memorial service on Civic Plaza.  This service had been done yearly to honor those local law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty.  Eden tells those who wish to attend to drive to Santa Fe and attend the service there.  Later in the month Eden and Berry do hold a small / dysfunctional service at the police academy.

May 2014, Eden hires PR expert Janet Blair to help his tarnished image.  In August 2014 Janet Blair quits amid controversy that she is at odds with Eden and his command staff over the releasing of public documents, as defined by the IPRA statute.

May 2014 Eden promotes Tim Gonterman to the rank of major.  Tim Gonterman cost the city $300,000 in a civil suit where he tortured a citizen with a Taser gun, burning the citizens’ ear off.  The DoJ blasted APD in their investigation for Taser abuse. Eden ignores outrage by the citizens, saying Gonterman has learned and now is a better officer.

June 2014, Eden bans APD officers from speaking to the DoJ without his permission.  Eden apologies, again.

July 2014, Eden sends an undercover officer to spy on citizens protesting police shootings.  This officer was also involved in a police shooting.  Again this sparks outrage among the community.

August 2014, Eden announces that he is postponing a new cadet class, even though APD (at this time) was below 940 officers and it is budgeted for 1,000, because APD didn’t have the money.  Richard Berry has to countermand this decision by saying APD is budgeted for 1,000 officers.

August 2014, Eden gives the Academy Director a letter of reprimand for falsifying documents of training that were sent to the state academy.  He gave the officer who blew the whistle on this crime an 80 hour suspension.  So much for protecting the whistleblower.

September 2014, APD and Eden are sued in court by KRQE and other news agencies for violating the IPRA statute pertaining to the release of documents.

October 2014, Eden / Berry put forth a proposal to retain senior officers with a retention bonus.  Richard Berry announces that APD has 891 sworn officers and could go below 800 by the end of 2015.  Eden says it is not his fault APD is losing officers faster than they can recruit, Eden says the fault is with changes to the retirement system.  Eden states that morale amongst APD officers is very high.  The state retirement PERA warns Albuquerque that the retention bonus is pension spiking and will cause a $6,000,000 unfunded liability.  Eden doesn’t respond to PERA.  APD continues to lose officers.

November 2014, Eden fires Officer Jeremy Dear for repeatedly not using his lapel camera, even though evidence supports that the Taser Axion Lapel Camera was defective.  During this same time Eden does nothing to Huntsman’s SWAT team members who continually ignore his orders to run their lapel cameras.  It seems the only lesson SWAT learned after the Boyd shooting was to make sure no cameras are running.  Nothing happens to SWAT because Huntsman provides his favorite officers cover.

November 2014, the Albuquerque Free Press reports that Reynaldo Chavez, APD Records Custodian, has cost the citizens $48,000 in settlements for illegally denying public records requests.  Eden does nothing.

December 2014, Eden gives the officer who crushed a citizens testicle 240 hour suspension.  Even though this officer is on camera destroying video evidence of this incident, Eden doesn’t fire him and does not request a criminal investigation into charges of evidence tampering.  The State Certification Board rescinds this officers police certification.

December 2014, APD leaks an investigation to their friends at the Journal that District Attorney Kari Brandenburg is being investigated for bribery of a witness.  This investigation started in October 2013, yet the NM Attorney General was not asked to take it over (because of conflicts of interest) until November 25, 2014.  The DA was never interviewed by any APD detective regarding these allegations.  Eden refuses to answer any media questions regarding the leaked investigation.  The IPRA statute allows law enforcement to not release documents of an ongoing investigation, yet APD handed the Journal everything regarding the Brandenburg investigation.  Eden won’t comment as to why.  Eden has not opened an investigation into who leaked this investigation to the Journal.  Eden will not comment as to when he knew about this investigation.  Eden allows a inflammatory, weak, investigation to be leaked to the press, making unsubstantiated allegations against the current District Attorney, but he won’t answer any questions about it.

(side note.  There is speculation that the District Attorney had hinted to Eden that she was going to recommend charges be filed in the Boyd shooting.  This may answer why one of the APD shooters retired right away, to protect his pension.  The law currently allows for PERA retirees to keep their pensions, even if convicted of a crime, but if they are not retired they could lose their pension.  This may also explain why the allegations against the District Attorney were leaked to the media.  This is just speculation as of now, but APD does not have a stellar reputation and this has further damaged it.)

Brandenburg of course came back swinging saying that, to heck with a grand jury, we're going to present the Boyd case before a judge. (this led many to speculate if DA Brandenburg won't be "Mary Han'd").

December 2014,  Without any comment by Eden, APD's police union independently comes out and says:

"... the New Mexico PERA board has taken legal action against the City of Albuquerque to prevent this pay increase from benefiting any officers top three retirement percentages, the PERA board is accusing the city of unlawfully spiking the retirement averages. This is an absurd reaction by PERA and the City of Albuquerque is planning to take this fight to court, to ensure that officers will benefit from these increases. The executive Board also gave authorization for the APOA to assist the city in defeating this frivolous clam made by PERA. Our assistance will be, that of an ingested party and we will not be providing the city any monetary assistance for this litigation." --APOA President Stephanie Lopez.

These are just a few of the mistakes Eden has made in just ten months at the helm of APD.  Do we think he was the “best” or “most qualified” man for the job of Chief?  No.  Do we think it is time for Richard Berry to dismiss Eden?  Yes.  Will Richard Berry do anything?  No.  The next three years are going to damage APD and it will take years to repair the injury.  Eden is not the chief to lead APD into 2015, he should be replaced and a real qualified officer hired. 

                                                                                                                                   ---Desert Hawk

APD Staffing to Fall Below 700 in 2015!!!

Recently, the great alcalde stated that it was all Santa Fe's fault that APD officers were leaving the department in droves. Nevermind what's been reported that there are more cops retiring from APD than all cops retiring statewide, once again Berry-Alcalde has failed to take any responsibility for his mess. We are not alone in this observation, and as the email written by retired APD sergeant Dan Klein forwarded to us from one of our Eyes shows, we are in the company of well respected retired members of APD:

"Dan McCay of the Journal wrote an excellent article on December 14, 2014 detailing the manpower crisis within the Albuquerque Police Department.  Mr. McCay's article unfortunately did not answer one very important question; Why did APD go from 1,100 officers in 2010 to 884 officers in December 2014?  Answer this question and Albuquerque can start to fix their police staffing problems, without getting PERA and the State of New Mexico involved.  But does Mayor Berry want to know this answer?

Here is what happened, in early 2010 newly elected Mayor Berry got rid of the Senior Police Officer Retention Bonus program.  This program did not involve PERA and was run in-house by the APD.  An audit of this program in 2012 showed that 129 APD officers delayed their retirements to take advantage of this program.  Once Mayor Berry ended it, those 129 officers retired.  In 2010 Mayor Berry set aside the labor agreement that had been agreed to between Albuquerque and the APOA.  APD officers subsequently went five years without any pay raises, and the raises that were promised were taken away by Mayor Berry.  More APD officers then retired because who wants to stay working for a city that won't honor it's own contract?  In 2010 Mayor Berry changed APD hiring standards to require sixty college credit hours to become an APD officer.  Immediately, the hiring pool for APD shrank, just like it did in 2001 when past Mayor Jim Baca tried the same requirement.  APD, which under the old standards, would have Academy classes of over fifty cadets, saw this number shrink to less than twenty.  Several times since 2010 APD would graduate only ten new officers. With cadet classes lasting six months it was easy to see that APD Recruiting was not keeping pace with retirements.  If Mayor Berry thought this college requirement would bring in more actual cadets he needed to raise the pay accordingly (college graduates), but instead he took away pay and for five years refused to sign a labor contract with the APOA.  The college requirement excluded candidates who, instead of going to college, went to work. These non-college applicants showed they could keep a job, support a home and family.  Under the college requirement at APD, proving you were a mature worker and a stable part of the community didn't matter, all Mayor Berry wanted was sixty college credit hours, this even includes degrees in Liberal Arts and Culinary Arts! 

Now you have your answer as to why APD has lost over twenty five percent of its’ police officers since 2010.  Poor policies by Mayor Berry at the beginning of his tenure as mayor has come back to haunt us now.  And what is the biggest problem with APD?  Mayor Berry's refusal to accept responsibility for his actions and his refusal to change direction.  Mayor Berry finds it easier to blame PERA and others instead of looking in the mirror and seeing that he created this mess."

Thank you for your service Sergeant Klein. And our Eyes inside APD tell us that the exodus within APD is not stopping with the mere offering of cash to those who are eligible to retire. One would think by now Berry-Alcalde would know that you can't pay somebody enough to risk their life everyday while at work. So what's causing these retirements must be something other than money.......

Shake Ups and Break Ups Oh My!!

This has been an interesting week in Albuquerque and we don't really know where to begin. First we had the bizarre story of APD's kinda-of-investigation-but-not-really of District Attorney Brandenburg.  Our Eyes are telling us things inside APD, that is the high command, are scrambling to explain how exactly a detective on his own refers a case to the Attorney General's office without there being any statement by APD brass nevermind the detective's sergeant? Are we really to believe this Detective took it upon himself to send the case across the street on his own? Like her or not, Ms. Brandbenburg is the top cop in the county and this whole matter smells much like the Judge Murdoch affair. Except this time instead of sex we've got guns and money in play. Weird.

Then we saw this little article:

No sooner is David Tourek out the door then are the replacements lining up. One name however jumped out at us: Erica Anderson. You see, Ms. Anderson has been busy defending Perry/Berry/Schultz in the lawsuit brought against them by the family of the "departed" civil rights attorney Mary Han. (It's been a while since we reported on that case but you do remember that one right? You know, the suspicious death scene where virtually all of APD and City's brass arrived at a crime scene and said "nothing suspicious" and left possibly with diamond rings, computers, cellphones, pictures, and files.)  Funny, Ms. Anderson has been very busy over the past year outside of her representing the squad of crime scene contamination experts:

First she tried to run for a judgeship last summer:

And when she failed at that (it seems that even though she has been carrying water for the Republicans, she is in fact a Democrat, and we know Martinez doesn't like such creatures) she started her own law firm:

But what's even weirder is that apparently she's also working for Tourek's brother in law, attorney Stephen French still:

So we're not sure what's going on there but, either way it stinks.

Looks folks, it seems doing business at the speed of Albuquerque means..."kinda." Get in or get out. If you're gonna charge the DA with a crime then step up with department leaders leading the way, not some poor detective that is going to get left holding the bag to explain why the department fully complied with a IPRA request (when it rarely does) and did so when there was a clear exemption to the request (how often have we heard APD use the "on-going investigation" excuse?)

Add to that a clear scheme where an attorney who appears to have the inside track for the city's top legal position is working for the the retiring city's attorney's brother-in-law but also has her own practice on the side? And really, chasing after the Han family for legal fees. How 'bout you produce the cell phones and articles that were taken from the scene first? And Ms. Anderson, don't think for a minute we aren't aware of your interaction with Ms. Han....

We don't like the look of things to come and the year is all but over yet this mess keeps moving forward....

Survey Says!

In case you missed it, now our brilliant occupants of the 5th Floor Brain Trust have come up with a feel good way to assess performance of the hard working front line officers of APD. As the memo of Assistant Chief Huntsman show below, now whenever a person receives some good ole APD service, they might be lucky enough to get a follow up call from a APD lieutenant!

Kinda like when you buy something at Home Depot or Walgreens, after you pay for your item, you get a three foot long receipt with instructions on how you can call in and rate the performance of the store and the employee. But not to be outdone, under the leadership of super business man RJ Berry, now patrol lieutenants will be calling citizens who had encounters with patrol officers to evaluate how their service experience was.  We can hear it now:

1. Were you given water after the officer pepper sprayed you because you resisted and swung at my officer?

2. Was he polite to you when you were release from your leg shackles and booked?

3. Was the criminal complaint written well and accurate?

4. Was your seat in the patrol car comfortable?

5. You have a nice voice, would you like to continue this conversation over drinks?

Because let's admit it folks, there are lots of problems with this idea. In fact, isn't the department now just looking for issues to investigate when a citizen says they had a miserable experience because the officer was unable to help them because they had thirty calls holding? And how exactly will these random citizen calls exactly be generated.

Sorry, just when you thought things couldn't get worse, they just do and get more.....weird. Here's an idea, perhaps the 5th Floor should issue another survey amongst officers and ask them how their morale is doing and whether they feel the department is being run well....we're sure that would lead for some...interesting comments....

Bottoms out....

If the above picture looks familiar, that's because it should be. Over four years ago when the city's mayor was "transitioning" in with his take over, the above article was presented to him about what to do with APD.

As we see with the recent Consent Decree signed by the city, the chickens have come home to roost. Except now it's the people who caused this mess now running the show! When Neal Trautman talks about scandals growing from the individual acts of a few individuals where things are now in the city is virtually every department tainted.

From the library, to the zoo, to solid waste, to yes APD, the major department's have all but imploded and the proof is the endless increase in costs to run the city, morale at basement levels, and a flood of retirements.

One of our Eyes informed us that there are more officers retiring from APD this year than from across the state combined. Funny, that doesn't sound like a PERA issue but a Berry issue. But hey, since APD is now required to provide at least 120 hours of training each year for each officer, instead of what was 16 hours, we're sure our favorite academy director will find some more "distractions" with spending so much quality time with department personnel......