What's $9.47/per Hour Worth?

For 2012, the Albuquerque Police Department's operating budget was approximately  $154,000,000. Across the street at the Albuquerque Fire Department, they made due with a budget of about $70,000,000. Now we're not saying either department is comparable at all to the other in terms of costs. In fact it makes little sense at all to compare either department except together AFD and APD represent virtually the entire public safety line item on Albuquerque's expense budget.

Together, the two departments cost about $224,000,000.
 

APD however is finding it impossible to retain their finest and most experienced officers, and incoming applicants have all but dried up. Despite what the city's mayor says, our Eyes tell us that there are 853 sworn officers left in the department. Which is down almost 25% from four years ago.  Even with cadet pay of $19/hr, and patrolman pay of over $25/hr, and hiring bonus of $5,000, APD is hard pressed to populate a full academy class.

However, AFD is not having that issue. Their academy classes move forward as they train the city's bravest for endless rescue, fire, and haz-mat calls.

Astonishingly though, given that both departments combined constitute "public safety" and field personnel from both departments assume huge risks to their own safety when they put on their uniforms and go on duty; there is a huge disparity in the pay offered to department personnel.

Where APD cadets earn $19.00/hour, AFD cadets make a mere $9.18/hour. And once the AFD cadets graduate from their academy, they get a whopping 39-cent raise to $9.47/hour. Finally, once AFD personnel complete probationary period they are bumped up to $15.60/hour. In essence they are always at least $10.00 below what their counterparts in the public safety make.
 

We at the Eye believe positions in public safety are a calling and you cannot induce anybody to become a firefighter or police officer merely by pay. It's a profession where duty comes first.

But it has to be sustainable and proportionate. We at the Eye openly wonder whether a first year salary for a firefighter of about $20,000.00 is sufficient given the cost of living in Albuquerque? For a family of three, $20,000.00 is 100% of the federal poverty level. That means this family is eligible for public assistance.
 

Yes, there will be the fringe conservatives out there like Berry who will say "they should be so lucky to have a job" but when it comes to service providers, do we really want our public safety personnel at or near federal poverty levels? What does this say about our mayor and city?

AFD brass promote that the department is fully staffed with 700 uniformed personnel (our Eyes say it is around 670). But given that AFD pay is significantly less than their public safety counterparts at APD, one has to wonder, where the balance of the budget is going. Our Eyes and news reports tell us of aging fleet vehicles, insufficient gear, inadequate gear, and reduced staffing. Unlike APD where they spend millions of dollars into boutique units and operations that result in no increase in safety, money invested in AFD saves lives and reduces damage to property.
 
And yes, we here at the Eye know that AFD is based on a 56 hour work week. Notwithstanding, there still remain a substantial disparity in pay which totals over $500.00 per month. One has to wonder, how much more blood will AFD's chief Breen draw out of his firefighters at $15.60/hour....

Redlining Rescue Away

While much of the attention of Albuquerque's current mayor, RJ Berry has focused on his endless shortcomings and failures with the economy, APD, his extracurricular activities, and his absence of any public debate, it's time to turn our attention to the other half of the city's public safety: the Albuquerque Fire Department.
 

And by that we do not mean the hard working efforts of all our firefighter friends out on the street and in the stations across town. Unlike AFD Chief Breen who seems to think that as long as he tells his boss, Rob Perry that all is fine and so what if a few firefighters can barely make ends meet, that everything is fine in AFD and the citizens they serve. Let us be clear, we fully support the men and women of AFD who are assigned to ladder, pumper, hazmat, and rescue crews. But it seems when it comes to rescue crews, some areas of the city get abandoned by Breen's operations. You see, our Eye's have been busy telling us, and we have confirmed, that there are some glaring holes in the rescue coverage provided by AFD's rescue services.

Rescue crews are highly trained medical personnel that respond to persons in need of immediate medical attention and who require immediate transport to the hospital. They are the folks who respond to victims from anything to heart attacks to gunshots to overdoses and "scoop and run" the patient to the hospital while performing emergency life saving triage.

And while one could say these holes in the service areas are mere oversight by Breen, we know that nothing in the operations of the Berry/Perry administration are by accident.

They are by design.

 

You see, if you drive south on University from Gibson SE, you enter a very isolated and self contained neighborhood known as the Kirtland Addition--or "The Kirk" as many locals refer to it. This neighborhood is recognized as having one of the highest concentration of African-Americans in the state. It is also a very poor community, plagued with significant amounts of drug activity and violence. It's an area where even APD officers of the Southeast Area Command do not go alone, and rarely stage tac-plan operations. In many ways, and sadly, it has been abandoned by Perry, Berry, and Breen.
 

And right across the street, just north of Gibson, AFD installed a new station almost complete with a tanker and ladder truck. But you guessed it, there is no rescue unit assigned to a neighborhood that sees more overdoses than almost anywhere else in the city.

If you look at the map, all the dots in blue are AFD stations that have Rescue Units. The dots in red are stations that don't. If you notice, stations without Rescue Units run almost up the center of the city and correspond with predominately minority populated areas.
 

Not having a Rescue Unit in your area means an increase of at least 10 minutes to respond to a medical emergency. This means while your loved one who is dying from a heart attack, gun shot, vehicle collision, stroke, seizure, or your baby has choked on a grape will have to wait even longer for a Rescue Unit.

With the station on Gibson is so new, it's hardly a coincidence that Breen failed to assign a Rescue Unit to it. And as you travel north up the Valley, you'll see that there are two other stations without Rescue Units as well. The one at Coronado Park, near 4th NW/I-40 and the one on Rio Grande NW/Candelaria.
 

We have to ask, was "The Kirk" left without coverage of a Rescue Unit accidental or by design? Because if you look up through the rest of the city, it is clearly well covered with Rescue Units....

Thanks to Berry, Perry and Breen, one's survival in the areas not covered by Rescue Units have been highly impaired. And as one of our Eyes told us, "...that extra 8-10 minutes means a 50% reduced chance of survival in an emergency."

 

This week the Eye On Albuquerque will discuss the blunder and clear disparity in how the city treats APD compared to AFD. Is it political gain Berry is seeking? Is it Berry's "speed of business philosophy?" We already know APD is in ruins and we know the administration must be replaced but what about Breen and his inept ability to lead? Is Breen to busy kissing Berry's...Uh, ring to do the job of the fire chief? Why can't AFD recruit cadets? Why are some cadet on "State Welfare?" All this will be address...

APD is not the only Public Safety Entity with a Liar for a Deputy Chief

Over the last few months, a seemingly endless and deepening string of failures continue their erosion of the Albuquerque Police Department’s effectiveness. Instead of confronting an upswing in violent crime and homicides, APD struggles with felony crime within its own ranks. Instead of addressing the shortage of patrol personnel, APD continues to add more “inside” positions having little to do with police work. Instead of constraining its own out of control $160 Million budget, a massive embezzlement investigation spirals out of control affecting more and more personnel. Instead of embracing solid leadership concepts and practices as espoused in “Speed of Trust,” APD promotes three lieutenants of inferior experience, knowledge, and ability (and one captain with at least one civil rights conviction to the position of deputy chief). While all this continues to explode, another crisis challenging Albuquerque’s public safety agencies unfolds. But this does not involve APD, it involves the Albuquerque Fire Department.

Tige Watson is AFD’s Chief of Personnel and our Eyes tell us he is next in line to succeed Chief Breen to take over AFD and its $60 Million budget. As the department’s personnel chief he should be intimately aware of personnel policies, rules, regulations and applicable labor laws. But his knowledge of such rules and regulations does not stem from skills and experience, it comes from breeching those very rules.

On December 14th, 1999, then a lieutenant, Chief Watson started paid leave under the Family Medical Leave Act in support of his pregnant wife. FMLA grants twelve workweeks in a given year for eligible employees to provide care for the employee’s spouse, child, or parent who has a serious health condition. Yet, while Chief Watson was supposed to be here in Albuquerque caring for his wife, he was actually pursuing employment with the Henderson County Fire Department in the state of Nevada. His employment status was that as a cadet in the Henderson Fire Academy. On January 6th, 2000, after this matter was brought to the attention of then Deputy Chief Ron Beckman, an internal investigation was launched inquiring into the extent that Chief Watson defrauded AFD. Under the terms of FMLA he was on paid leave to care for a family member’s medical condition. The allegations against Chief Watson were that he was not complying with the requirements of FMLA and Chief Watson was not allowed to have employment outside of his current assignment with AFD without permission. Upon completion of an internal investigation, Chief Watson was disciplined with 60 hours unpaid leave for his fraudulent representations. Our Eyes tell us there has been no other instance of an AFD employee receiving such a suspension, and that other shave been terminated for less. Our Eyes tell us that for unknown reasons, this incident has been buried despite the local media being alerted to it. We wonder if this is but another example of the Mayor Berry doing whatever is necessary to “appear” as if his administration is inclusive of all despite challenges to their merit, skills, ability, or knowledge.

We’ve seen, and continue to see the effects of poor leadership upon APD. AFD’s chief has already received a vote of no confidence. As the Chief of Personnel, Chief Watson has disciplined 14 AFD members for off-duty conduct, of which 6 resulted in the employees being fired. Yet, there have no other instances where AFD personnel have been disciplined at the level Chief Watson was back in 2000. Our Eyes assert that this is very troublesome within the ranks of AFD as, and similar to APD, there is significant disparity between the application of rules to supervisors versus rank and file employees. The fact that the city has buried this issue and its details is evidence of their awareness that this is wrong. Much as a guilty party runs away from apprehension, blames others, or hides evidence, the city’s efforts to conceal Chief Watson’s illegal acts speak as much about Rob Perry and Mayor Berry’s ability to do what is right.

With Chief Watson, we see Mayor Berry vote no confidence in Albuquerque’s bravest of the brave.

You say wheres the proof? Read below;