The Legacy of The Evidence Room Scandal

How Government Grows and Politicians Prosper

The Evidence Room scandal should be a long time in our rear-view mirror. The problem with scandals like this is that they have long-term consequences. If you remember, Sergeant Cynthia Orr and Captain Marie "Sisi" Miranda came forward with accusations of misconduct in the evidence room. Evidence was missing, reports gone, cases placed in jeopardy, and all going on right before the 2005 Mayoral Election. The Mayor promised that heads would roll and Chief Gill Gallegos got the axe.

In order to restore confidence in APD and provide cover for the administration, Mayor Marty hired retired Bernalillo County Sheriff Joe Bowdich to serve as interim chief while a search for new APD chief. The administration worked quickly to hire a new Chief and brought in (or back) Ray Schultz to fill the post. Once Chief Schultz was hired Joe Bowdich stayed on as Schultz's 2nd in command and holds the title of Deputy Director, a civilian position making somewhere around $100,000 a year. (ABQ Journal - Subscription Required)

Our Eyes on the Inside tell us that Joe Bowdich is hearing the call of retirement once again. After all he was called out of retirement and has since done his duty to god and country. Now he probably wants to do the things that retired people do, like well retire. So we're going to have a high paying job opening up for a civilian... what to do?

Well if you're in politics, you hand the job to an ally and if necessary you re-write the job description in order to make it fit. That's exactly what our Eyes are telling us is going on with Joe's position in order to fit recently retired APD Captain Rob Debuck. The real question is, how many chiefs does APD really need?

Maybe you can make an argument that creating a permanent position for Joe Bowdich was a good idea... maybe. But we've got 3 Deputy Chiefs, a Deputy Director and a Chief AND Deputy Chief Administrator Nick Bakas. How many Chiefs do we really need? This is how government grows and politicians prosper. Create a position with a big title, bigger paycheck, and limited responsibilities, then stick a friend in it. The beauty of it all is everybody wins... except us.

Here's an idea... in light of the projected $22 Million budget shortfall, ($15 Million is attributed to increasing payroll costs) perhaps we should just eliminate the position? Government gets smaller, we save around $100,000 a year AND the Mayor avoids allegations of cronyism. What do you bet it doesn't work out that way?