Dangerous

We are sure it comes as no surprise to anyone, New Mexico is the second most violent and crime riddled state in the Union.  Why is New Mexico, especially Albuquerque so violent and dangerous?

According to the latest report out, “The number of violent crimes dropped across the United States by 4.4% in 2013 compared to the year before, according to estimates released by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.” (READ IT HERE) However, while the rest of the US is doing well, here in New Mexico we are reported as the second most violent state.  According to USA TODAY:

2. New Mexico
Violent crimes per 100,000: 596.7
Population: 2,085,287
Total 2013 murders: 125 (21st lowest)
Poverty rate: 21.9% (2nd highest)
Pct. of adults with high school diploma: 84.3% (6th lowest)


New Mexico's violent crime rate rose 6.6% between 2012 and 2013 — the most in the nation — to nearly 597 per 100,000 residents.  The increase in violent crime came despite Governor Susana Martinez's avowal in 2011 to be tough on crime.  As in other dangerous states, the concentration of crime in New Mexico's larger cities may have contributed to the state's crime problem.  Albuquerque, for example, the state's largest city, had an estimated crime rate of 775 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, more than twice the national rate. New Mexico residents were also among the nation’s poorest in 2013, with a median household income of $43,872 and a poverty rate of nearly 22%.

Yes, Gov. Martinez has some culpability but the majority lies with good ol’ Berry.  The crime rate for us here in Albuquerque is twice that of the national average.  What has led to Albuquerque’s demise?  This all points at leadership, our mayor has lead Albuquerque down the wrong path, which has led to our city’s economic depression and the huge spike in the crime rate and a mass of police involved shootings.

It is true Berry has been “left holding the bag” at this point.  But Berry asked to be elected and re-elected so he doesn’t have the luxury of claiming poor me, he wanted to the job.  The deterioration has been in play for some time dating back several mayors from Jim Baca to Marty Chavez.  This all involved a series of bad or flawed decisions. (This topic is a story for another day.)

Now the question is how do we fix this?  How do we pull ourselves out of this cesspool that has been created by our “leaders”?  We need economic stimulus and growth in all sectors.  We need a better-rounded and educated workforce.

No one wants to come here and bring their business here when we are listed by the FBI as the second worst place in the United States of America. This brings us back down to square one. We need a real Chief of Police to provide true leadership and professionalism to the troops.  A real chief who is not afraid to roll up their sleeves, clean house and restore APD to the once great department it was.  Eden was a political choice and a poor one at that.

Folks don’t respect the police anymore; public trust has been lost.  We can give the truth here and everyone can know it but nothing will change till the Mayor of Albuquerque feels the pressure from you, the tax paying voter.

SIDEBAR ADDED 1/19/2015 Compliments of one of our Eyes...

 

Who was supposed to be In-charge?

Here is the million dollar question.  Why was a high ranking police lieutenant an active participant in a low-level drug bust?  This debacle may cost one of APD’s finest his life.

An APD undercover officer was shot multiple times by an APD Lieutenant who was an active participant in the drug bust.  The officer is now struggling to hold onto life.

The Eye On Albuquerque has made it very clear; we support our officers, however, we are still bound by the truth.  Here is what our research has shown.

The undercover unit was conducting a buy-bust operation.  The purpose is to remove another drug dealer off of our streets.  This makes our community safer.  The undercover offer completed the transaction and the arrest team started to move in, to arrest the drug dealer.  As undercover officers approached the drug dealer (seated on the passenger side of the car) realized they were cops and drew a gun.  We are told the lieutenant was approaching from the driver’s side of the car where the undercover officer was sitting.  It was not clear what the actual or perceived threat was discovered by the approaching lieutenant.  The lieutenant started firing his weapon striking the undercover officer multiple times.  To dissect this case would take a week and several pages to include everything from use of force to target identification to bullet placement to who was in charge of this incident?

The bottom line is this lieutenant has absolutely no business being an active participant in an incident he was supposed to be in-charge of.  If he would have maintained his position of authority as the Incident Commander the rest of the issues would be null.

Then there is any type of police situation the highest ranking officer is automatically in-charge of the incident according to APD’s Standard Operational Manual.  It talks about “Unity of Command” and   IC System (Incident Command).  The definition of Unity of Command provides that an employee is responsible to only one supervisor, who in turn is responsible to only one supervisor, and so on up the organizational police structure.   “The Incident Command System (ICS) is a management system designed to enable effective and efficient domestic incident management by integrating a combination of facilities, equipment, personnel, procedures, and communications operating within a common organizational structure.  ICS is normally structured to facilitate activities in five major functional areas: command, operations, planning, logistics, intelligence & investigations, finance and administration.  It is a fundamental form of management, with the purpose of enabling incident managers to identify the key concerns associated with the incident—often under urgent conditions—without sacrificing attention to any component of the command system.”  (READ FEMA SOURCE HERE) Since this police lieutenant decided to be an active participant who was in charge?  Was there a captain, major, or perhaps a deputy chief out at this police situation?  The answer is no.  This lieutenant made a series of bad decisions with catastrophic results.

When a police officer starts to promote up the ranks they are removed that much more from the “action.”  This lieutenant wanted to play and be a patrol level officer and he acted as such.  This debacle ranks with the catastrophe involving Mr. Boyd.  In order for Mr. Berry and Mr. Eden to prove they are in control of the APD, accountable and responsible to the Citizens of Albuquerque; heads MUST ROLL.  This action should be swift, direct and decisive.  This case may actually warrant criminal charges.

The police administration must act immediately to ensure the continuum of public trust. This was not an oversight type issue or situation; this was a calculated and malice act by a high ranking APD lieutenant who violated every single fundamental and basic principal of management which resulted in an innocent officer being gravely injured. This incident may still result in criminal charges as well against this lieutenant.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the injured officer and his family.

Let the Voters Decide how They Wish to Be Policed

                                                        

The time has come for our community leaders to initiate the discussion with the citizens of Albuquerque on how they really wish to be policed.

The Albuquerque Police Department takes hundreds and hundreds of thousands of calls for service each and every year.  For the sake of argument let’s say, “the APD takes one million calls for service per year and during this year APD shot ten people.”  The amount of people shot by APD would be represented by a decimal .0000001.  Thus, it is almost immeasurable.  It also means that close to a million people received satisfactory service without any issues or problems.

If the majority of our citizens truly believe our coppers are these violent, crazy and abusive officers; there is a simple fix.  Police officers can start running full code 3 to all calls so the offenders have plenty of time to leave the scene.  Officers will no longer stop speeders, drunk drivers, red light violators or reckless drivers.  Officers will no longer arrest people for domestic violence, burglaries, armed robberies, rape, home invasions, gang bangers, drug dealers, etc… this is due to the fact the offenders know officers are coming.  Another alternative is to have the dispatch department hold the calls for a standard amount of time/delay.  Sorry to the citizens who are frantic on the phone begging for an officer to come save them since we will not permit the officers to become involved in any situation that may cause the officer to become involved in a use of force/deadly force situation.  Officers will not conduct proactive patrols but will work out of a substation and only leave when dispatched and immediately return back to the substation after the call.  Officers can file criminal complaints and allow the courts to handle it.  Robbery suspects, rapist, pedophiles and others will not be arrested but will be formally charged in the court system.

There will be no more complaints about officers speeding or sitting in a Circle K drinking coffee or the officer sat and ate dinner for 32 minutes.  There will be no more take home cars.  Since we do not need officers out and about or giving the appearance the police force is larger than it is.  Let’s turn the city over to the thugs and the protesters.  No more officers hurt or killed.

This will also prevent overcrowding at the correctional facilities initially.

This will prevent the officers from becoming involved in any type of possible physical or violent confrontation.  We hear the question being asked, “Who will arrest all the bad guys?” We have a fix for that to.  APD will subcontract out to DOJ to handle all of the arrests or perhaps we could contract out to bounty hunters.

The public has a right to be policed the way they want.  The citizens pay the bills.  We can see gun sales going up and a lot more murders in Albuquerque.  The APD can act as administrators, taking reports, filing, processing evidence, preparing cases for prosecution and submitting criminal complaints.  This is not really far-fetched.

The true reality of this is; criminals dictate how they wish to be treated.  Do not commit crimes and you will never have a negative encounter with an officer.  Do not commit robberies, do not rape, do not commit child abuse, do not attack an officer, do not drive drunk, etc…How is it the voice of a few loud mouth rioters and looters control public policy.  They are not the majority but the minority.

Has there been a bad shooting at APD?  Yes, but this is Not reflective of the entire department.  The voting/tax paying citizens need to stand up for the officers and tell the cop haters to stop bashing our community servants.  The majority of the cop haters are people who are looking for a legitimate reason to commit civil disorder and to loot.  These people are criminals themselves.  It is time to put a stop to the bashing.  We need our police officers and they need full police authority to protect, defend and serve the community.  Otherwise we might as well all strap a gun to our sides and go back to the Wild West mentality or are we already there?

We Stand Behind Our Coppers

To all of our friends:

The Eye On Albuquerque has been dedicated to exposing lies and liars of the City of Albuquerque, the Albuquerque Police Administration and other government agencies and personnel.

The intent of the Eye On Albuquerque was NEVER to be cop haters or to bash our coppers.  The intent of the Eye On Albuquerque is to support and improve our law enforcement community by exposing the truth and rooting out the bad and evil.

In the coming weeks we will begin a systematic process of cleaning up in general. If you are for the truth of the matter this is a great place; if you are anti-police you may decide this is a site you may not wish to visit. We completely understand and harness no ill feelings.

Our message is clear: We stand firmly behind the men and women of the Albuquerque Police Department. We will not stand to see any police officer hurt or injured.

Respectfully,

The Eye On Albuquerque

"The Piercing Truth"