“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless, like water. If you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle and it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot it becomes the teapot. Now, water can flow or it can crash. Be water my friend.” - Bruce Lee

The above quote was taken from Bruce Lee many years ago. It involves adaptation. This saying is very powerful, when used as a means to push through difficulties, or to overcome obstacles, but it can be just as bad when used in the opposite direction and someone chooses to apply the “if you can’t beat them join them mentality to it.” Albuquerque NM is the result of this.

Since the Chavez administration, people have been calling for investigations into and prosecution of public corruption, along with true reform. Berry was elected, because he said what people wanted to hear, then he fell in line with those who knew the ropes within the city, to symbiotically further their agendas. In doing so, he destroyed the city through deception, evasiveness, dishonesty, vindictiveness, retaliation, fabrication, and fraud. 

The Berry administration used a corrupted city attorney’s office to assist him in the articulation of his actions, and the actions of those below him, who completed his orders. We have all seen the cases that the city was involved in to retaliate against those who spoke up fall to pieces after they were exposed. In all of those cases, those responsible unprofessionally ran their mouths collectively, right up until they got caught in lie after lie, and then it was no comment. Ten years ago, IPRA was not very popular, as many didn’t know their way around the law as laymen. That has changed drastically, as those being kept in the dark of the lies going on on the 14th and 11th floors of City Hall, and the 5th floor of the Albuquerque Police Department Main Building became tired of the run around, and began holding the liars responsible for evading open government by suing them. 

As citizens exercised their rights to public information, public servants actively violated the law by destroying evidence in administrative cases, and  wrongfully quoting case law in order to bluff their way out of providing requested materials that would cast certain police brass, and public officials in a bad light. Upon petitioners winning many of these cases, or someone leaking the info out, it has been found out that those within the police department and city administration were just trying to keep people from getting to the truth. That is a fact. Those serving the public did, and do not want the public, and the victims of their actions to know the truth. Many crimes were concealed. 

The last administration was famous for throwing up smoke screens, playing the shell game, and using smoke and mirrors along with timing positive publicity within the media with the word getting out about things they were trying to keep a lid on. 

Con man /ˈkän man/   noun informal

1. a man who cheats or tricks someone by gaining their trust and persuading them to believe something that is not true.

So many people spoke of owning the mistakes, and exposing the wrongdoing as a means to fix the problematic issues at hand. It was discussed almost daily about bringing in genuine individuals to address the corruption. If there were no corruption, these discussions would have never come up, so it is self-evident through this process that there was and still is corruption. Total transparency was spoken about as if there were no other way. No other way that is until political careers and those pledged to help those become threatened that he get decided to not carry the water, but put forth the illusion of change as they became the water. 

When you do not change the whole environment when it is rotten to the core, what you fill it with what has no option but to rot. It’s like putting on someone else’s shitted in pair of pants, or wrapping your lunch in the tin foil from last weeks lunch. 

In politics, politicians will be friendly with anyone who will get them votes. Here, politicians are even more unusual as they will change parties, and sometimes do a 180 degree turn from what they once stood for, because of a political agenda, greed and power, that causes them to lose sight of what is right. When this happens, it is because they never really were truthful about themselves. 

Things are so bad in the leadership pool in our city and state, that alliances that were in their infancy we were told about before the election were made. We disapproved of, and voiced the facts about them. Decisions were made, because better candidates turned down appointed positions because they knew how bad it was within APD. The poison runs deep and the desperation is evident. There is nobody. 

Plenty of con men found their way onto APD, and promoted up the ranks. Plenty more frauds are still here, and they do not know the first thing about what it is to be a police officer. 

Last week the Mayor hired the chief of Police of Bosque Farms as the commander of the APD police academy and she showed up for a press interview with the media dressed like a waitress in a police costume. 

There have been studies over the last few years concerning the decline of law enforcement as a profession. Many concluded how the wrong people were chosen, and how they rose up through the ranks to destroy policing as we knew it. This is a very sound conclusion, when you look at the Albuquerque Police Department. Here you have individuals being hired and or retained out of desperation, or because they had an in politically. 

Decades ago, there was a uniform standard for men and women, and that standard was used to show discipline and a command presence. Command presence is the first step in diffusing a situation before it begins, if you know anything about being a cop in the streets. The first thing a violent criminal sees is the first officer responding arriving to deal with him when they arrive. When you look like a pushover, or soup sandwich, you are more likely to be tested, or outright killed. Many career criminals have been interviewed about what they did during the commission of a violent crime against an officer, and they admitted the first thing they saw was someone they knew they could take. 

Back to the new APD police academy commander...

This new hire stated she has a plan. She showed up wearing dangling earrings with a bouffant hairdo, and bright red lipstick, talking about getting away from chasing bad guys. She wants to change the culture. 

This administration hired Angela Byrd to head up the police academy. If statements are correct this new hire only worked on the streets as a uniformed patrol officer responsible for addressing issues practically as those she is responsible for training, for only four years. In APD, that is not even the 5 years experience needed to become a sergeant. This commander went to a UC unit after 4 years for the last two years of her career. If that is all true and does not include academy time or rounded up to the next year time, she was only an officer for 6 years. After that, it was schools and teaching from there, then appointed positions. That is not twenty plus years in law enforcement. 

We have been hearing that there has been claiming of a long career in law enforcement. To us, a long career in law enforcement means wearing a uniform, out from behind a desk, risking your life, and yes, chasing bad guys around. Hell... even attempting to chase a bad guy around. 

Mrs. Byrd came into law enforcement at a time during the above discussed uniform standards, which were put in place in order to protect officers, and not as in today’s philosophy, to suppress their self expression. Women wore post earrings, so as not to have them ripped out. They wore their hair up in a bun, so as not to get dragged around by it, and they wore modest make up, so as to look professional, and have a viable command presence. 

APD and those leading the police department have no clue about what they are doing, because those who have no clue are making the choices, and telling people they have a plan, when they do not have the mentality of a police officer, and they do not know what community policing is. They are also too busy being concerned with image instead of being genuine. 

Back at a time when this all started to go down hill was the time for officers to genuinely get out of their cars, and talk to people, gain their trust, and do things for them. Those actions combined with reciprocal treatment from the public, regardless of the appearance of an incident, until all the facts come forth is true community policing. Pretentiously taking photo ops, or these coffee sessions are not community policing. It is placating, and pacifying the community. The truth is that those whom you want to reach, are not going to show up at pop with a cop, or to some other pretentious event that is only a response, or reaction meant to put a band aid on the real issue. If you want real mistrust keep patronizing people and avoiding the undesirable topics that are plaguing people’s lives. 

While atrocious events were covered up, that lead to the divide in trust we now have, there should have been outreach, but as usual, inexperience has lead to another improper remedy of softening our approach to an out of control, violent crime epidemic, by acting like talking to purely evil, violent, repeat offenders is the only answer, along with teaching officers to be less aggressive. Think about hiring competent, able bodied officers, who are mentally stable, and can harness that aggression appropriately, in order to proportionally, legally, fairly, and efficiently bring the fight to the bad guys. How about properly sending the message to criminals, through the proper, controlled amount of aggression, teaching our officers how to go hands on, and backing them when they do, no matter how it looks until proven otherwise instead of lying to make it look so?  How about teaching them when to use deadly force, and giving them the confidence and trust in their own administration, before saying you are going to change the culture of an administration forged in pay to play, nature at play, patron system of government, dishonesty, and known for destroying lives? 

Community policing is having the trust of the community, in a way that officers and the public have a trust between them that conclusions no longer need to be drawn, and the community is comfortable enough to wait for the conclusion of an investigation that they have faith in is fair. You will never please everyone and acting like you can is another big lie. Community policing is the community having the trust in officers enough to go to them with their problems, knowing the officer will try to help them. Community policing is meeting impromptu with the public, anytime anywhere. Community policing is genuine. It just flows. Community policing takes a while to take root, but once it does, it enables officers to do their jobs with community support. The problem here with community policing is that the administration, and their antics are the flies in the ointment. 

This administration seems it would rather have malleable court jesters in uniform who are harmless and  un-imposing, rather than a professional in shape officer, who knows when to turn it on and when to turn it off. 

The words “change the culture” continue to come out of the mouths of every one in this administration, as they continued to become the polluted water of the filthy vessel it is contained in, and words continue to dictate the exact opposite of the actions going on. 

Mrs. Byrd is friends with Jack Jones who runs the APD range. Jones was the director of the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy during the allegations of fraud concerning master instructor certifications. We think an audit of those certifications and sign offs need to be completed, because the city recently settled a whistleblower lawsuit to make all of that go away too.

We can see the path the water is moving in, and it is as usual to the lowest point and it is the path of least resistance.

Just as much as the last administration has used the city attorneys to contrive and deflect from what is going on, by making up excuses, delaying, or refusing to be transparent, this administration is just as bad. They are using the same tricks, and they are doing it just as badly as the last. The sad thing is that it is selfishly being done, in order to promote self serving agendas, despite the atrocious and dangerous level of violent crime going on. Buy hey stolen autos are down. Meanwhile we are almost at 46 homicide for the year and it is only just over half over. 

It is a slap in the face to have to listen to, and see pretentious jiberish lobbed at the public, as if they are stupid. The only thing different here is that this administration is talking their heads off about kissing babies, while the city is burning, thinking everyone is stupid. 

Our advice is to just get up off of the information concerning the IA cases involving Garcia the other officers involved and any possible city counselors before the cover up becomes worse than the crime like we al, know it does. 

It always looks worse when an inbound IPRA lawsuit has to pull the truth out. 

It looks even worse when other cases come to light and a collapse happens when all of this could have been avoided by honesty and sticking to plan A. 

For a little more on this issue, we recommend you read Dennis Domrzalski over at the Abq Report. 

ABQ REPORT FREE PRESS IS SCANDAL COVERUP ARTICLE

Thank You,
The Eye