Open response letter to CABQ... Our stance.

Below is a the final draft of a response we have written to reply to CABQ concerning the disappointment we are hearing from many. We do not believe this administration takes this into consideration, but we would like our readers to know that we are not accepting the dog and pony show going on. Until there is action taken, below will be out stance. We are tired of seeing the filth rise, causing a ripple effect in our community, that continues to endanger everyone and reward the wrong.

To whom it may concern,

Please remove us from your mailing list. The change we envisioned was ignored. The same people we advised candidate Keller were corrupt, were promoted and retained. You may confer with him to verify this. There is extensive bad history in the backgrounds of certain individuals retained, and promoted that we spoke out against. We advised against certain PIO individuals, along with their behavior involving the past administration, but our advice was ignored in favor of convenience. 

It has come to our attention that timesheet fraud is going on, and that too will be explained away, or ignored by this administration. We are disappointed that Keller decided to hold the hands of those who were biting his back, and sabotaging him during his election time, as we supported him. 

We are disgusted with this administration’s handling of the Jenifer Garcia case, and the way the city attempted to hide the investigation, and still tries to hide the interviews. 

Many individuals had their lives ruined over the years by the behavior that is still going on. We will no longer support an administration that does not promote complete and unrestrained transparency.

As we see it, this administration is continuing in the same direction as the last. 

Election campaign deals resulted in the promotion of an individual who was deemed to have caused the death of a mental patient, through the use of excessive force, after tasering that individual ten times within 2 minutes. The federal circuit court called it excessive, and a cause of the man’s death. This individual was promoted, despite bragging about it being a deal that was made. That is a fact.

Currently, there are several other cases of retaliation against 
whistleblowers going on. The culture has not changed, if you speak out about corruption within APD, IA will still be tasked with discrediting you, through trumped up investigations, that are obvious retaliation, engineered to ruin your life, in order to protect the guilty, who have a bigger connection.

Nothing has been done with the Taser Investigation into Ray Schultz, and Keller has been silent on it. This is also unacceptable. Sometimes you have to make the controversial high profile choices to do the right thing, and this administration is failing in that. Fear of doing the right thing is unacceptable. Picking the easy and popular route, while avoiding the unpopular and dirty issues that need to be addressed is poor leadership. Anyone can take credit for the good times. It is what caused the bad times that left unaddressed, will cause more bad times. This administration fails in their vision of that.

We have PIOs hanging out at the residences of reporters in city vehicles, at odd hours, and making $200,000 a year, while officers are running from call to call on the streets, risking their lives to plug the manpower deficiency holes, and violent crime is out of control. 

This is all going on while this administration jumps at any little drop in crime stat as a success. We feel that the leadership has no idea what community policing really is, and is endangering our officers with deficient leadership, training and intimidation, that suppresses police officer, discretion and ability to safely do their jobs. Essentially, politics is putting the lives of officers, and the public in danger.

Instead of appreciation for change or varying visions, we are seeing contemptuous behavior from appointed hypocrites, who want it their way. These political appointees were placed in positions, not out of qualification, but for image reasons, and their ability to be controlled. Their behavior is not much better than the previous administration either. 

Keller condemned previous Mayor Berry’s assignment of an alphabet acronym task force to every issue that pops up, but continues in that very same direction. 

Many, who could have steered this administration in a proper direction were ignored in favor of people who were recommended politically, by people who are politically established and connected, and would be beneficial politically for mayor Keller in the future. This is nothing but the same back door patron system of government responsible for the trash going on statewide. 

Netflix, more businesses, investors, and money will not fix the problem Albuquerque has. We have a corruption issue. That issue stems from poor leadership, and it involves the police department, court system, and politicians at all levels. The corruption is so embedded, that it takes aggressive investigation, and prosecution. This administration still covers for the corrupt, and they have no stomach for doing what needs to be done. Even the guilty have no shame to the point that after being caught, they think they are still fit for office. This is the epitome of being above the law. 

As more businesses pour their money and resources into the city, nothing will change, as no action is being taken on the root causes of the issues. All because the causes are connected to people politically behind the scenes, who are deemed more important than the city as a whole. Officers can not do their jobs, due to no confidence in a corrupted chain of command, who are nothing but pretentious liars. 

This reply was written as a quick response, and lacks many more, and intense reasons that may not have come to mind for our reasoning  behind this decision, but for all intents and purposes, we expect that the message has been relayed. 

Should we hear back, or continue to receive correspondence, I am sure we can come up with the 20 to 50 individuals, some of them ranking, who should be terminated for corruption, along with detailed descriptions of the actions that warrant it. We will start with a few who were promoted as political favors by Mayor Keller, and others who were protected for the 2nd and third times for having sex in city buildings while others were terminated for less. 

You may resume contact after Keller has a discussion with Hector Balderas about prosecuting Ray Schultz for his actions, which lead to the situation Albuquerque is in. A few others need to be asked to resign. After that is completed, and a few atrocities are made right, maybe things will change. He knows exactly who, and what we are talking about. We are still waiting for the “owning” and “admitting” part of Keller’s promise. He has forgotten all of this, because of some issues being unpopular, and a city attorney’s office who is vindictive, and supportive of past ways.

The cases that were made right were done quietly and off the grid. Although we are appreciative of this, it does not send a message that something was “owned,” especially when the same conduct is ongoing.

Nobody said this was going to be easy, but choosing the easy way, instead of the right way is malfeasant, lacking in courage, and a cop out. We get it. Nobody wants to be negative, or the bad guy, but sometimes you have to roll your sleeves up, and scrape your knuckles, in order to make people do the right thing, and make sure they do not do the wrong thing anymore. 

We are contacted daily about the poor behavior and leadership at APD. We have received emails containing some very disturbing concerns that are being ignored. We are seeing comments about the poor morale, and disparity in treatment within the ranks of APD, and we are still hearing about the out of control corruption. 

Frankly, we are tired of advising so many people to remain patient, while the same things are transpiring that were going on when RJ Berry was the mayor. We are being told daily that it is actually worse within APD.

Claiming success with the natural ebb and flow of crime rates, while merchants and citizens are victimized daily is embarrassing. What’s more embarrassing is telling victims that it is hard to protect them, or prosecute crimes against them without video proof as they worry daily about having their cars burglarized and windows smashed. 

As we sit here, and watch Chief Geier play hockey, APD hire officers who are just in it for the money, a mayor who needs an assistant, and a former federal overseer (whom we actually like) responsible for going after the corrupt, now working for that same agency, we can only say that this only happens in Albuquerque and it is not “Albuquerque One” as you have been marketing. It is individual political interests that come first, and the positivity only exists when certain individuals are getting their way. This is sad. 

Thank You, and good luck on all future endeavors,

The Eye