Public Safety Director, Darren White, Gets “Burro” Award

Channel 4 News reported this morning that property crime is down in the City by 18%. Public Safety Director, Darren White, was interviewed on camera. White lauded how APD has arrested several hundred offenders for property crime offenses. White stated, “You, ya, ya, you can’t have crime control until you have criminal control.” The Eye is not sure if White was serious or poking fun at “Porky Pig.” In any event his statement did not make any sense to anyone other than to himself. It is not so much what White said, but what he did not say. Why didn’t the on-duty APD PIO speak? Why didn’t Chief Schultz speak? Chris Ramirez? Anybody, anybody?

What White did not say was the underlying reason for the high property crimes that is plaguing Albuquerque. It is common knowledge that most property crimes are drug addicted users and this is the reason for the high property crimes here in the City. The City needs to address the real reason for the high property crimes and deal with that issue. These “criminals” are addicted to drugs. They need real help. They may never have been thieves before or ever thought about committing a crime. Drugs make people do things that they would never consider doing like prostitution, shoplifting, identity theft, burglaries or petty larcenies. The property crime issues would resolve itself by proxy. The recidivism rate is high because these people get arrest, released and return to the only life they know; the life of crime. Correct the underlying problem and all criminal related offenses would drop significantly.

Some of our Eyes behind the badge have told us that APD’s top command has been ordering some officers and teams not to investigate narcotics because, “This is not the focus of this Administration.” Yet, the citizens all know that narcotics are at an all time high in the City and in our schools. Strangely enough, White did not release the hard numbers with documentation to substantiate the claim of an 18% decrease in property crimes. Just because a City official says something does not made it so.

The Eye realizes that White is trying hard to legitimize his position by stepping in and doing the job of others who are already employed and paid to handle those functions. Notwithstanding, White needs to educate himself before he speaks; otherwise he makes himself and the Berry administration look like a bunch of “Burro’s.” This is why the Eye has awarded DARREN P. WHITE, the prestigious “Burro” Award.

Bigger Problem

We've often looked at immigration as a problem faced primarily by cities like Las Cruces, El Paso, Tucson, or San Diego. This Week's APD SOP fiasco got us looking around at crime statistics and what we found was to say the least, eye opening.

INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants

2006 (First Quarter) INS/FBI Statistical Report on Undocumented Immigrants

CRIME STATISTICS 95% of warrants for murder in Los Angeles are for illegal aliens.

83% of warrants for murder in Phoenix are for illegal aliens.

86% of warrants for murder in Albuquerque are for illegal aliens.

75% of those on the most wanted list in Los Angeles, Phoenix and Albuquerque are illegal aliens.

24.9% of all inmates in California detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally

40.1% of all inmates in Arizona detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally

48.2% of all inmates in New Mexico detention centers are Mexican nationals here illegally

29% (630,000) convicted illegal alien felons fill our state and federal prisons at a cost of $1.6 billion annually

53% plus of all investigated burglaries reported in California, New Mexico, Nevada, Arizona and Texas are perpetrated by illegal aliens.

50% plus of all gang members in Los Angeles are illegal aliens from south of the border.

71% plus of all apprehended cars stolen in 2005 in Texas, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California were stolen by Illegal aliens or “transport coyotes".

47% of cited/stopped drivers in California have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 47%, 92% are illegal aliens.

63% of cited/stopped drivers in Arizona have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 63%, 97% are illegal aliens

66% of cited/stopped drivers in New Mexico have no license, no insurance and no registration for the vehicle. Of that 66% 98% are illegal aliens.

BIRTH STATISTICS 380,000 plus “anchor babies” were born in the U.S. in 2005 to illegal alien parents, making 380,000 babies automatically U.S.citizens.

97.2% of all costs incurred from those births were paid by the American taxpayers.

66% plus of all births in California are to illegal alien Mexicans on Medi-Cal whose births were paid for by taxpayers

-Stephen Frank's California Political News and Views

Now before some of you become apoplectic we admit that we are unable to find the original report that these statistics are reputed to come from, but they're literally repeated all over the Internet; which doesn't make them true. Even sites like Snopes.com fail to refute them and other sites like the non-partisan Center for Immigration Studies seem to confirm at least some of the stats in a report entitled Crime and the Illegal Alien. What is undeniably true is that there is a link between illegal immigration (no matter where they're from) and crime.

What we do know is that Albuquerque has a serious property crime problem. Back in June, The Albuquerque Journal reported (Subscription) that 2006 was a "banner year" for property crime. Over 5,000 vehicles were stolen and more than 6,000 homes were broken into. That's almost 14 vehicles per day and almost 17 homes per day.

Our Eyes behind the badge (and sometimes on it) tell us that APD believes that an auto theft ring based out of Mexico is behind a large number of the thefts. We'd be willing to bet that a large number of those involved aren't exactly in this country legally. After all, you don't need to be a legal U.S. resident to get a driver's license in the state.

To make Albuquerque even more inviting, APD's SOP prohibits pursuit unless the suspect is exhibiting reckless behavior before their emergency equipment is engaged. What's worse is that officers believe that criminals know that APD will not pursue.

(Sidebar)
For some reason the most commonly stolen vehicle seems to be a Ford Truck. Good for your local Ford dealer - not so good for you or your insurance rates. If you own an F-150, F-250, or F-350, it'd be a good idea to hide it in your garage; except in the case of a F-350 which probably needs to be hidden in a barn.
(End Sidebar)

What that means to all of us is if APD officer spots a criminal stealing your brand new F-150 and engages his lights, when the suspect flees in your still being paid for pick-up they must let them go. Now that you've recovered from shock, let us say that again. They have to let them go!

Consequently, when a crook sees the red and blue lights of an APD cruiser, they simply keep going. Now if it's the solid reds of the State Police or BCSO, criminals know they've got a problem on their hands. One thing that's absolutely sure, if you create an environment where criminals know that they have a chance they're gonna' to take advantage of it.

It's no different in the immigration game. When illegal aliens enter this country from anywhere - Mexico, France, Central America, even Canada, where do you think they'll go? Where would you go? We'd head to the place with the most available jobs or the most number of potential victims if the crime connection holds, and the least likelihood that we'd get caught. That means sanctuary cities like Albuquerque has become thanks to the new APD SOP.