Good Ol’ Boys and Family strikes it Rich! No One Else Need Apply

For those men and women honored with wearing the Albuquerque Police Department’s badge know the challenges the academy takes both mentally and physically. Many officers talk about their days during the academy of running miles, short lunch breaks, defensive tactics, getting maced in the face, and endless writing. But if you are one of the Good Ol’ Boys or a family member of APD’s top command staff, this might be different. The APD Academy is seen by many departments as one of the best academies in law enforcement. In fact, laterals (current police officers) often uproot their families to move to Albuquerque just to join the Police Department.
The lateral police academy usually takes at least 8 weeks of getting the laterals acclimated to the way APD operates. Unfortunately, right now the hiring of laterals is at a freeze. (See @ www.apdonline.com). In fact, a recent call to the APD Academy confirmed this current freeze. An APD academy staff member stated that the interest card would be kept on file but the City is not hiring any laterals and there is no time frame as to when they would. Here’s a perplexing question, why is there a “lateral police officer” in a Civilian PTU (Prisoner Transportation Unit) Class?

Our Eyes through other sources, have told us that this lateral has not been in law enforcement for over 8 years. This lateral left the APD shortly after graduating from the academy, for military duty and then chose to live the last several years as a civilian. None of this lateral’s certifications were maintained, no firearms qualifications were maintained, nothing. So why is this person allowed to enter the department while going through a civilian academy? Wasn’t it Darren White who criticized the department in one of the last police involved shootings, crying that the department needed more training? So why is this person allowed to be an exception? Our eyes have told us the answer is simple, it’s called “family.” The person, who is male, is currently in the Prisoner Transport Academy and is supposedly related to Deputy Chief Allan Banks (yes, the same deputy chief in charge of the academy).

Our Eyes spoke to recruiters who stated this action is unheard of, but not surprising. There is no talk right now as to when the lateral hiring will commence, it is in fact, on a hiring freeze. Regardless of past training, laterals would be considered laterals only if they were coming in from another law enforcement agency. Especially when you are talking about a cadet that served very little time in the department to begin with. Regardless of state standards in reference to training, APD has never sent a lateral to a civilian training course in order to become a sworn police officer. We need to ask Darren White, does the department really need more training, or is it now acceptable that officers just need a “civilian” course taught by and attended by civilians to be a fully commissioned officer?