Nature At Play: Mayor Berry's Mess

The following letter by retired APD sergeant Dan Klein was published in yesterday's Albuquerque Journal. We at the Eye applaud Sgt. Klein for refusing to remain silent like so many others do and speaking out against the failed policies of RJ Berry and Rob Perry. Policies that have brought the state's largest police department to it's knees.  Here's his letter as printed:

Mayor Richard Berry believes the reason the Albuquerque Police Department is having trouble recruiting/retaining officers is because of changes to the PERA retirement plan. He stated he will lobby the Legislature to enact a deferred retirement option plan (DROP). This will only harm the entire state, as the work done in 2013 to make PERA solvent would be compromised by such a plan.

Changes to PERA did not create the staffing crisis at APD; Berry’s policies have. 

There are four reasons why APD cannot recruit/retain officers. 

First, Berry ended the veteran officer retention program. This in-house Albuquerque program provided a bonus for officers who delayed their retirement. A total of 129 officers delayed their retirement when this program was in effect, swelling the ranks of senior officers at APD to almost 1,200. There may be a plan in the works to bring back a retention program, but it will be too late to stop retirements slated for the end of 2013. Why didn’t Berry act months ago to stop these dozens of officers from retiring on Dec. 31? 

Second is the change in hiring requirements that Berry imposed. APD applicants must have either 60 college hours or three years active military. This is not a “raising of standards” as Berry has stated. This only reduced our hiring pool to a puddle. This is why APD graduates fewer than 20 officers from the academy each year. This standard allows a 21-year-old with no work history, who lived at home, who has $30,000 in student loan debt, a 2.0 GPA, a majority of classes in “food arts” and only 60 hours to show for four years of college to apply with APD. This policy excludes the 30-year-old, who worked since 18 years old, owns a home, has no debt and has maturity through life experience.

APD must allow for an applicant who has maturity, but does not have college or military experience, to apply. These citizens make good police officers. 

Third, the contract impasse of the last four years has ruined morale. Finally there is a contract offer, but any city offer that does not recognize police officers as being just as important as Chief Administrative Officer Rob Perry will probably go down to defeat. Handing Perry a 22 percent pay raise and offering the police 1 percent will not get a contract ratified by the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, and will lead to a further erosion of morale and officers leaving. 

Fourth, the Department of Justice investigation has embarrassed Albuquerque on a national level.

Who wants to work for a department that has had so much scandal with no accountability? From the adultery “nature at play” comments made by the past chief to the millions in court judgments, something is wrong at the top of APD. This can be fixed by Berry refocusing accountability at all levels, but most importantly in the command staff. A good place to start will be for Berry to order a full investigation into why ex-APD officer Nelson Begay (arrested on child pornography charges) was able to pass all levels of the APD recruiting process – including polygraph, background and psychological testing – to become an APD officer. 

Is there a flaw in APD’s recruiting standards? Who is accountable for Begay being hired? We will not know unless a full review is ordered by Berry. I urge Berry to drop the DROP plan. Berry owns APD’s current mess; it is time for him to take responsibility and start fixing it in Albuquerque, not in Santa Fe. APD’s problems and solutions start and stop at Berry’s desk. Passing the buck to the Legislature is not the type of leadership Albuquerque needs.

As we've seen with the proposed police contract, it seems the Berry Administration has no interest in fixing this mess.

Schultz and Fischer Sitting in a Berry-Tree,_______...

As our Eyes have been reporting ever since APD's current chief, Ray Schultz was served a lawsuit at an apartment located near Paseo and Wyoming NE our posters have been flooding us with tips about Mr. Schultz's...um...activities. It seems certain things may be breaking out and may explain his bizarre comments supporting public employees sleeping around. Schultz claims its "...nature at play."

We think we've figured it out. But here is a story we posted earlier this year...perhaps there's more than awards going on here. Perhaps there's something more than what meets the Eye...

Perhaps one of our readers (NOT BERRY) can connect the dots...

"It's not nice to fool with Mother 'Nature.'"

RE-POST
(CLICK HERE TO VIEW ORIGINAL POSTING)

 

Schultz Defends His Incompetence By Blaming Others

“Property crime is up, the Department of Justice is here, APD is below 1,000 officers, there are only seven cadets in the current academy class, 911 response times are up, APD has lost over $30,000,000 of taxpayer dollars and counting in (police misconduct) lawsuits (since 2002,) and (a police union) survey says the officers don’t have faith in Chief Schultz” –Retired APD Sergeant Dan Klein

“It does raise the question of who was minding the store. There is a great benefit to spending time with others in the law enforcement community and attending conferences, but what did we really get for it? Was Chief Schultz out padding his résumé? Or was he bringing tangible benefits back to the city and the department?”—Retired APD Lieutenant Steve Tate

“The promotion of incompetent supervisors is the rule rather than the exception and numerous supervisors have their current position as a result of lawsuits. Leaders who supported their troops were punished by being passed over on promotions while the meek that followed orders without questions were rewarded.” –Retired Officer Chad Wilder

50% of the officers believe Schultz should be fired, 99% think Schultz is doing a poor job and the reason why morale is down.—APOA Survey

“Well there’s never been a story done on me before. I find it a little suspect. I’ve been chief for 8 years but that’s no problem.” “We are under investigation because of the force encounters in 2010. That’s it.”—(current) APD Chief Ray Schultz. Schultz then dismissed Klein’s criticisms, saying he had no direct knowledge of what it takes to be a police chief [and] that Tate was a “mid-manager” who has been gone from APD for several years and said he wasn’t qualified to assess the work of a police chief.

 

In Monday’s paper, Chief Schultz was confronted with his extensive travel and vacation time over the last couple years. In addition to the data in the report, in at least 16 trips covering over 51 days of travel, Schultz went hobnobbing with others to conferences and conventions. In his interview with the Journal’s Jeff Proctor, Schultz got very animated in his discussion regarding officer body cams, vendor discussions, and technology. For those that have interacted with Schultz, we all know how he gets very excited in talking about how technology will solve this or that. Except that we know ideas are worthless when they are not implemented or are implemented by people that have no skills involving law enforcement (for instance self-anointed “smart police” commander TJ Wilham).

But what is truly stunning, is Schultz’s continued denial of accepting any external criticism. As the above quotes indicate honest concerns relevant to APD current state of affairs, Schultz is more interested in discrediting his very critics. Yet despite all of Schultz’s endless posturing about how he’s implemented 95% of these ideas, or unique approaches, DOJ is very much here investigation a department that is in crisis. About 12 officers have graduated from APD’s new training “university” and there are less than 10 in the current academy. The date for the next academy is unknown. But while new recruits trickle in, officers retire as soon as possible and outpace new hires. A whole class of officers have now been determined to have been targets of discrimination. Crime is up. Costs are up. Lawsuit costs are up. Now we have a fatal accident involving a sergeant over the weekend that already smell bad given BCSO’s PIO putting their thumb on the scale comments about why the sergeant may have been running code (really so a person was killed while he was ATL’ng for a drunk driver…really?). Now even one of Schultz’s protected sergeants is in trouble with a domestic violence related arrest in Sandoval County.

Funny how no other department in the state, or region, seems to have so many daily problems. But Schultz will be pointing the finger at somebody else. But there’s one thing Schultz can’t deny, he knows how to use his time to his own benefit. In 2012, there were 240 working days. However of all those days, Schultz was on “work” out of town for 31 days and took 29 days of vacation. So out of 240 days of work, he spent 180 days, or 75% here in Albuquerque. So 1 out of every 4 days, he was somewhere else….And we all know that while Schultz boasts about working around the clock, there is a rotation of duty chiefs. So even Schultz gets to be off and out much more frequently than he states. And it seems he has a favorite companion….and a future trip already planned……..a revisit from last year’s show it seems:

 

September 19, 2013—New England Organized Crime Symposium& Trade Show
Keynote Speakers: APD Ray Schultz and Karen Fischer
                CLICK TO VIEW BY AGENDA HERE

September 28, 2012— New England Organized Crime Symposium& Trade Show
Keynote Speakers: APD Ray Schultz and Karen Fischer
                CLICK TO VIEW NEWS LETTER HERE

And lastly, Lieutenant (Ret.) Steve Tate responded to Schultz's comments with his usual accuracy:

I would like to point out that this "critic&qu­ot; is concerned with the value of the trips and conferences during a time when APD is involved in turmoil. What do we have to show that improved based on these trips and conferences? They may have been a benefit to the city, but what was the return on that investment? This is a valid and deserved question since tax payer money was used . It is a true embarrassment to the entire police department and community that the DOJ is even in town looking into APD. Do the DOJ investigators happen to be qualified to assess the "work of a police chief" since they most likely were never police chiefs themselves. What a ridiculous response by Schultz to valid criticism. I find it very telling that Schultz's response is to claim that his critics are not qualified to assess his work because they never held the position or have been gone for a few years. This shows how disconnected Schultz is. Who knows what his definition is of "work of a police chief". What does that mean anyway? I would rather focus on his performance as a leader. If we do this, then everyone in the APD, city and entire community is more than qualified to assess his performance. Let's ask if the department is in better shape during his tenure and see what the facts show. Let's ask about department morale......and about community relationships. A real leader would be very concerned with morale since it will ultimately impact how the department is viewed by the community. If you treat your department employees the right way, then you can expect them to treat the community the same way. Is it a coincidence that department morale is at an all time crisis level low and at the same time the DOJ has seen fit to come to Albuquerque? Successful organizational leaders understand this relationship with employee and customer (community) satisfaction and put in place initiatives to ensure they can impact this relationship in a positive and effective way. I find it interesting that Schultz has never proactively created an anonymous employees satisfaction survey to gain insight into department morale. The police union did their own survey and when the overwhelming numbers showed they had no faith in Schultz, what was his response? He attacked the critics just like he did in this case. A real leader would have been very concerned and taken steps to work on that relationship internally. A real leader would not blame everything and everyone else as Schultz had done for his almost 8 year tenure as chief. However, Schultz isn't an effective leader and that is what APD needs now....a leader running APD............­not someone just doing the "work of a police chief". Schultz should have stepped down years ago and when he didn't, Mayor Berry should have removed him. APD and the entire community has suffered because of Schultz's ineffective and plain lack of leadership. Don't take my word for it.....especial­ly since I've been gone for 6 years.....ask anyone currently with APD or that has recently left and see what they tell you.....you will be shocked.



Schultz Defends his Incompetence by Blaming Others

“Property crime is up, the Department of Justice is here, APD is below 1,000 officers, there are only seven cadets in the current academy class, 911 response times are up, APD has lost over $30,000,000 of taxpayer dollars and counting in (police misconduct) lawsuits (since 2002,) and (a police union) survey says the officers don’t have faith in Chief Schultz” –Retired APD Sergeant Dan Klein

“It does raise the question of who was minding the store. There is a great benefit to spending time with others in the law enforcement community and attending conferences, but what did we really get for it? Was Chief Schultz out padding his résumé? Or was he bringing tangible benefits back to the city and the department?”—Retired APD Lieutenant Steve Tate

“The promotion of incompetent supervisors is the rule rather than the exception and numerous supervisors have their current position as a result of lawsuits. Leaders who supported their troops were punished by being passed over on promotions while the meek that followed orders without questions were rewarded.” –Retired Officer Chad Wilder

50% of the officers believe Schultz should be fired, 99% think Schultz is doing a poor job and the reason why morale is down.—APOA Survey

“Well there’s never been a story done on me before. I find it a little suspect. I’ve been chief for 8 years but that’s no problem.” “We are under investigation because of the force encounters in 2010. That’s it.”—(current) APD Chief Ray Schultz. Schultz then dismissed Klein’s criticisms, saying he had no direct knowledge of what it takes to be a police chief [and] that Tate was a “mid-manager” who has been gone from APD for several years and said he wasn’t qualified to assess the work of a police chief.

 

In Monday’s paper, Chief Schultz was confronted with his extensive travel and vacation time over the last couple years. In addition to the data in the report, in at least 16 trips covering over 51 days of travel, Schultz went hobnobbing with others to conferences and conventions. In his interview with the Journal’s Jeff Proctor, Schultz got very animated in his discussion regarding officer body cams, vendor discussions, and technology. For those that have interacted with Schultz, we all know how he gets very excited in talking about how technology will solve this or that. Except that we know ideas are worthless when they are not implemented or are implemented by people that have no skills involving law enforcement (for instance self-anointed “smart police” commander TJ Wilham).

But what is truly stunning, is Schultz’s continued denial of accepting any external criticism. As the above quotes indicate honest concerns relevant to APD current state of affairs, Schultz is more interested in discrediting his very critics. Yet despite all of Schultz’s endless posturing about how he’s implemented 95% of these ideas, or unique approaches, DOJ is very much here investigation a department that is in crisis. About 12 officers have graduated from APD’s new training “university” and there are less than 10 in the current academy. The date for the next academy is unknown. But while new recruits trickle in, officers retire as soon as possible and outpace new hires. A whole class of officers have now been determined to have been targets of discrimination. Crime is up. Costs are up. Lawsuit costs are up. Now we have a fatal accident involving a sergeant over the weekend that already smell bad given BCSO’s PIO putting their thumb on the scale comments about why the sergeant may have been running code (really so a person was killed while he was ATL’ng for a drunk driver…really?). Now even one of Schultz’s protected sergeants is in trouble with a domestic violence related arrest in Sandoval County.

Funny how no other department in the state, or region, seems to have so many daily problems. But Schultz will be pointing the finger at somebody else. But there’s one thing Schultz can’t deny, he knows how to use his time to his own benefit. In 2012, there were 240 working days. However of all those days, Schultz was on “work” out of town for 31 days and took 29 days of vacation. So out of 240 days of work, he spent 180 days, or 75% here in Albuquerque. So 1 out of every 4 days, he was somewhere else….And we all know that while Schultz boasts about working around the clock, there is a rotation of duty chiefs. So even Schultz gets to be off and out much more frequently than he states. And it seems he has a favorite companion….and a future trip already planned……..a revisit from last year’s show it seems:

 

September 19, 2013—New England Organized Crime Symposium& Trade Show
Keynote Speakers: APD Ray Schultz and Karen Fischer
                CLICK TO VIEW BY AGENDA HERE

September 28, 2012— New England Organized Crime Symposium& Trade Show
Keynote Speakers: APD Ray Schultz and Karen Fischer
                CLICK TO VIEW NEWS LETTER HERE

And lastly, Lieutenant (Ret.) Steve Tate responded to Schultz's comments with his usual accuracy:
I would like to point out that this "critic&qu­ot; is concerned with the value of the trips and conferences during a time when APD is involved in turmoil. What do we have to show that improved based on these trips and conferences? They may have been a benefit to the city, but what was the return on that investment? This is a valid and deserved question since tax payer money was used . It is a true embarrassment to the entire police department and community that the DOJ is even in town looking into APD. Do the DOJ investigators happen to be qualified to assess the "work of a police chief" since they most likely were never police chiefs themselves. What a ridiculous response by Schultz to valid criticism. I find it very telling that Schultz's response is to claim that his critics are not qualified to assess his work because they never held the position or have been gone for a few years. This shows how disconnected Schultz is. Who knows what his definition is of "work of a police chief". What does that mean anyway? I would rather focus on his performance as a leader. If we do this, then everyone in the APD, city and entire community is more than qualified to assess his performance. Let's ask if the department is in better shape during his tenure and see what the facts show. Let's ask about department morale......and about community relationships. A real leader would be very concerned with morale since it will ultimately impact how the department is viewed by the community. If you treat your department employees the right way, then you can expect them to treat the community the same way. Is it a coincidence that department morale is at an all time crisis level low and at the same time the DOJ has seen fit to come to Albuquerque? Successful organizational leaders understand this relationship with employee and customer (community) satisfaction and put in place initiatives to ensure they can impact this relationship in a positive and effective way. I find it interesting that Schultz has never proactively created an anonymous employees satisfaction survey to gain insight into department morale. The police union did their own survey and when the overwhelming numbers showed they had no faith in Schultz, what was his response? He attacked the critics just like he did in this case. A real leader would have been very concerned and taken steps to work on that relationship internally. A real leader would not blame everything and everyone else as Schultz had done for his almost 8 year tenure as chief. However, Schultz isn't an effective leader and that is what APD needs now....a leader running APD............­not someone just doing the "work of a police chief". Schultz should have stepped down years ago and when he didn't, Mayor Berry should have removed him. APD and the entire community has suffered because of Schultz's ineffective and plain lack of leadership. Don't take my word for it.....especial­ly since I've been gone for 6 years.....ask anyone currently with APD or that has recently left and see what they tell you.....you will be shocked.

Berry Speaks Through "Psychic"

The open letter (political sarcasm) below is from Sgt. (Ret.) Daniel Klein.  Our Eyes tell us Klein was one of APD's better sergeant's back in the day.  Kleins letter hits it where it hurt because it is the truth.  You see folks, it is not the "Evil Eye" who is doing this to Berry and Schultz; they have done this to themselves. Yet, these cowards never stand up and take responsibility for their part in this pathetic mess that they have created.

Please read on and enjoy!
The Eye

 

After reading Mayor Berry's and the Albuquerque Journal Editorial response to the Department of Justice investigation (December 1 and 2), I thought I could simplify what they are trying to tell the citizens of Albuquerque. Since it appears the Journal Editorial Board and the Mayor are the same person, one reply will suffice. This is written as political sarcasm.

 

Dear Albuquerque Citizens,
 

After years of not holding accountable the Albuquerque Police Chief for losing over $30,000,000 of your hard earned dollars; and after spending months trying to keep the Department of Justice out of our town, guess what? The DOJ is coming to town, just like Santa! And just like Santa they will bring presents to the good boys and girls of Albuquerque! What are these presents? High paying federal jobs!
 

Let me take this opportunity to spin the DOJ investigation and try to make you believe that this is what I wanted all along. Just forget about my veto of the city council resolution, the democrats on the council are out to get me. Believe me when I tell you this investigation will be really good for Albuquerque. Think of the opportunities Albuquerque will have now that we are nationally recognized by the federal government. When Albuquerque lost the last DOJ investigation to New Orleans, we were disappointed. Chief Schultz and I considered this a challenge, as we knew we could convince the DOJ to relocate to Albuquerque, and we have been successful!
 

Since I have been mayor, Albuquerque has been faced with many challenges. These were brought on by Marty Chavez and Barack Obama. I blame them and you should to. Chief Schultz was only the person in charge of hiring at APD, I certainly do not hold him accountable for making dubious hires. Why heck, I never hold Chief Schultz accountable. It was Marty Chavez who provided the budget to hire more officers and by doing so it made Chief Schultz hire some bad ones. Chief Schultz was just not ready to take on growing APD, it's not his fault, he was in over his head. So even though it was Chief Schultz responsibility to hire good officers, I hope you will join with me and still blame Marty Chavez, that makes my life easier. As a citizen don't you want to make my life easier?
 

As your mayor I embrace the arrival of the Department of Justice as they will bring many high paying jobs to Albuquerque. After three years of losing large employers; I can now proudly tell the citizens of Albuquerque we have been successful at bringing in one of the largest employers in the federal government, The Department of Justice. Chief Schultz and I are now trying to convince the DOJ to relocate their headquarters to Albuquerque. To help facilitate this move I am asking the city council to provide tax incentives for the DOJ. I am willing to provide the DOJ free city offices at the police department. Since we are over 100 officers below APD authorized strength we have many vacant offices in the APD building!
 

Fellow citizens do not look at the DOJ coming to town as a failure of my administration. My plan all along has been to get a large employer to come to Albuquerque. I would like to thank Chief Schultz for helping to make this possible. He has worked night and day since 2005 to make sure this large employer, the DOJ, has reason to set up offices in Albuquerque. Chief Schultz has brought the DOJ here and I would like to join the community in thanking him for bringing good jobs back to Albuquerque and putting us on the map.
 

Merry Christmas fellow citizens and remember, even though I screwed up the Paseo rebuild (I really thought Albuquerque the Plan was a good idea), costing you even more money, the gridlock will begin in 2013!
 

Good for you, Albuquerque! And don't forget lumps of coal for Marty Chavez as it is all his fault.
 

Mayor Berry and the Journal Editorial Board

(Not really, they didn't write this)

Okay, so Sgt. (Ret.) Klein is not a "psychic" but this as close to the truth as we will probably ever see as it relates to Berry...