A Lot Less Safe

Public safety - an altar before which every politician kneels during their campaigns, but like many church-goers, they're more interested appearing to embrace the faith than actually doing so. The result is passionate support during an election and tepid support when governing. That's at least one why reason cities like Albuquerque have continuously escalating crime rates.

In last week's Eye Poll we asked the question "Is the City of Albuquerque safer than it was four years ago." You'll remember the Almighty Alcalde kneeling at the altar of 1,100 officers - a number that still hasn't been achieved. In fact, APD hasn't seen significant gains in personnel in the four years since Marty's campaign promise.

Eye readers have weighed in with 64% believing that they are not as safe as they were four years ago and 47% believe that the are "a lot less safe" (view it here). Only 12% believed they were a lot safer, 3% somewhat safer, and 21% said they were about as safe.

The responsibility for public safety rests squarely with the mayor. He has the authority to hire and fire the Chief of Police therefore - he is responsible for the chief's performance or lack thereof.

This week we're taking yet another look at the scam-era program. Scam-era shill D'Val Westphal told us on Saturday that the scam has resulted in a whopping 39% reduction in accidents in four intersections (ABQ Journal -Subscription).

There are so many problems with this "study" and Westphal's story that environmentalists should be suing the Journal for wasting paper and endangering the public with toxic ink. First and foremost the "study" only looked at four hand-picked intersections, yet Westphal would have you extend the results to the whole scam.

Second and most damning, the study only looked at accidents within the intersection box, thereby excluding any increases in rear-end accidents caused by the scam-eras. Lest you forget, this is the exact scheme Chief Schultz implemented after statistics indicated that accidents had actually increased at photo enforced intersections.

Our Eyes tell us that Chief Schultz has the 5th floor working on changing the criteria used for counting accidents at intersections. Under this new scheme, only accidents that take place inside the box formed by the crosswalks would be considered accidents at that intersection. The rest would be reported as occurring on the street leading to the intersection.

- eyeonalbuquerque.com

Since APD's numbers are meaningless and Westphal's story is simply a blatant attempt to paint a positive face on an established pig, your opinion is just as valid as their statistics. Let us know what you think in this week's Eye Poll.

Eye Poll: Not Safe in Albuquerque

Back in October we ran this same poll (see the results here). We're not happy to announce that there has been little change in the past couple of months. Those of us who reside here in Albuquerque by and large do not feel safe.

In our unscientific poll 43% of Eye readers felt unsafe, 19% felt somewhat unsafe, 27% felt somewhat safe, and only 11% felt safe (see the results here). The results are almost identical to those of our October poll. No matter how you slice it we don't feel safe and thus far APD and Chief of Police Mayor Martin Chavez don't seem to be making any progress in that regard.

This week we look into how you feel about the possibility of a third consecutive term for Mayor Chavez. Don't forget to vote!

Eye Alert - New Red Light Camera Locations

Marty's money makers are up and coming to two new locations. Recently we discussed the economic motivation behind the red light cameras, (Read it here.) Since the Mayor and Chief of Police Schultz claim that the only reason the city has begun its red light camera operation is public safety you would guess that these new cameras address these serious concerns at locations where there have been numerous accidents. If you did... you'd be wrong. The newest photo toll booths are at the intersections of Wyoming/Academy and San Mateo/Academy.

Neither of these new locations are in the top 20 for the most number of traffic accidents. However, they are located in the most profitable area of the city. I got a look at Wyoming and Academy and those new toll takers look just about ready to start filling the city coffers. The Eye has never advocated running red lights, breaking the law, or driving recklessly, but we maintain that this is about revenue not safety.

We heard a great observation recently, "if the red light cameras were about public safety, there'd be signs warning drivers that the cameras were in operation well before the intersection." Point taken.