Piling Up

Albuquerque's got a problem with property crime and violent crime; by now that has been well documented (ABQ Journal - Subscription). Less well known is Albuquerque's growing problem with white collar crime - you know embezzlement and identity theft.

This particular crime wave doesn't appear to be due to any outside influence, it's simply due to the fact that white collar crimes are piling up. Our Eyes tell us that there are somewhere close to 11,000 cases that are waiting to be fully investigated and only four detectives tasked with solving them.

Make no mistake we're not bashing the four hard-working individuals that are busy trying to shovel their way out of an avalanche of white collar cases, we pointing out that APD has made a priority of violent offenses. Maybe that's the right approach, but we doubt that someone who has had their identity stolen, their credit wrecked, and now find themselves in serious debt due to the unlawful use of their credit would agree.

The Eyes have it that if you are currently a victim of some white collar crime - like identity theft - you better hope you have a federal case, because there just aren't enough detectives assigned to clear the cases.

In our last post we were complaining about lowering standards for hiring officers and we certainly believe that APD is over specialized. However, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that if you have 11,000 cases waiting to be solved four detectives won't cut it. The cases are piling up and those involved deserve better than having to wait for one of four detectives to get around to solving their case.