Violent Dangerous Gang Members Flood to NM While APD Cowards

While the public is staunchly warned about violent and dangerous gang members flooding into New Mexico, local police in Albuquerque take to hiding out.  This includes everyone from the Chief of Police down to the patrol officer.

It is a commonly known fact criminals prefer low visibility of law enforcement.  This allows them to commit crime freely without capture or accountability.  According to KOB Channel 4 News (READ IT HERE), “Dangerous and violent gangs are rushing to call New Mexico home…” Here is proof, according to the story, “Our crime rate is 200 percent higher than comparatively sized cities…A lot of those crimes are perpetrated by people who are in gangs.” Why is this occurring?  The story cites poor gang laws. Our take goes deeper to look at root causation.

Since APD has come under tight scrutiny, most officers have elected to take the low road and seek shelter from the venomous eyes of a public who are hurt with their police.  If the officers are not out and about enforcing laws and are being stealth when they do get dispatched; they substantially reduce the possibility of coming under fire for any reason at all.  We understand the officers’ skepticism but what we do not understand is the Chief of Police hiding.

The Chief is taking home a handsome salary of over $158,000.00 plus numerous benefits in exchange for services to the citizens of Albuquerque.  Why has the Chief decided to coward and hide from the media on issues that are critical to the public?  According to a KOB Channel 4 News story (READIT HERE), “After releasing the allegations in a YouTube video Monday – not in a news conference with media present, as is customary – then refusing to answer any questions from local media, Eden and the department came under fire for not practicing the transparency and openness they preach is necessary.” The YouTube video centers on allegations that two APD officers beat another person.

Our Eyes behind the badge have told us there were top level discussions with Eden and others and the decision to block the media was warranted.  APD would start using a media campaign modeled after the FBI.  The model calls for the use of YouTube, Tweeting and Facebook to “beat the media to the punch.” According to the story,  “In this instance, Eden and APD are using their agreement with the DOJ to provide an extra shield of defense from having to comment on the case – perhaps rightfully so - as part of their agreement states that no member of APD may impede, impair, or hamper a DOJ investigation.”  This statement was also disclosed, “"They are our partners, and one of the things they ask us to do is - it's their investigation, and they ask us to abide by their media policy.  And we will abide by their media policy," Eden told KOB Tuesday.”

Where is the signed agreement where the DOJ demands the Police Chief to be silent to the public he is supposed to be accountable to and serve?

This is all more rubbish and lies.  Eden and Berry look like morons when they do one thing then they are forced to back-peddle and do another.  Choose a lie and stick to it boys. 

One of our Eyes sent us this picture of Eden talking about transparency.  Anyone notice how he turns, looks down and away?  Our Eye tells us this is a sign of untruthfulness. 

You be the judge.

APD Decides to Brainstorm

After graduating less than twenty people from the APD academy; APD has decided to “brainstorm” ways to recruit more police officers and how to manage the current shortage.  APD is currently hundreds of officers short in the amount of officers needed to run the City.

According to a story on KOB TV (READIT HERE) “The department says it’s a great start, but acknowledges that they need hundreds more officers for them to perform the way they want to. APD leaders spent much of Tuesday brainstorming ways to recruit more officers and figuring out how to handle the current shortage.”  After hearing about this we started to dig and ask around.

One of our senior Eyes from APD who wished to remain anonymous due to the retaliatory nature of the City stated, “Seriously? Now they (APD leaders) have decided to start brainstorming? They have known about this crisis for years; and now they want to start brainstorming? This is just more feel good piece of (expletive) from the idiots at the top!”

With an extremely small class of less than twenty and twenty-five percent coming from out of state this is not even considered a band-aide on this problem.  In other states such as California a person must pay for police training and then apply to a law enforcement agency. Does anyone think these new recruits are going to stay in Albuquerque, New Mexico, or will they start applying in their home state?  This knocks APDs class size down to 14 from 19. There will be a few who simply cannot make and/or have other issues and will not continue past a year.  This brings the new recruit class down to around 10 new officers.

According to the Union Vice President, Shaun Willoughby, “officers are trying to keep up, but the situation is not ideal.” Willoughby continued and stated, “When I was a police officer in the street we actually took time to play with kids, a game of basketball- we had time to do that. These guys are going call to call to call, two Sundays ago there were 70 calls holding for service in the city of Albuquerque,” We are sure Mr. Willoughby’s thoughts interesting but Willoughby never offered or stated, “hey my brothers and sisters out there in the field need help and I am returning to the streets to help out!” Cheap meaningless talk is just that; cheap and meaningless.

Willoughby’s statement about the state of APD’s manning level being “less than ideal” hints at some type of empathy towards the gross mismanagement of APD by the chief and mayor.  We know this much; if Marty Chavez was Mayor heads would have rolled by now.  Chavez would have fired all of them and placed a competent staff at the top of APD.  Marty was a top level manager (just giving credit where credit is due).

One of the great ideas from APD is to civilianize some jobs that are currently held by sworn officers.  The example given by APD’s POI, Celina Espinosa was the CSI technicians.  Espinosa stated, “So for instance we're looking at our crime scene technicians.  They don't have arresting responsibilities, they don't need to have a badge to do that position and there's lots of people in the community who would love that job,” here we have caught APD spokesperson Celina Espinoza in a bold face lie.  Espinosa failed to state they have already hired approximately 20 people for these positions which primarily came from within APD’s staff of both sworn and civilians.  Offering an innuendo that these are jobs someone in the community can have is not completely true.  This also lends itself to criminals going free. These inexperienced folks are not police officers and do not possess the experience to know when something is wrong at a crime scene.  Yes we know these people will be trained but the text books will never replace actual life experiences.  Our thoughts; no one likes a liar but then again this is the top APD managers M.O. (Modus Operandi).

According to the financial analyst experts (We are being facetious) at the APOA “…one challenge is that many departments offer more money.”  Being a copper is tied to respect, pride, dignity, duty and service, and a calling to serve the community.  It is clearly understood by all the officers need to make a living and pay bills but there is a greater token here in recruitment in doing a job to serve your fellow man.  APOA missed this one completely.

According to Willoughby, “Albuquerque's not competing in the job market right now.  I honestly believe that a serious hard look at our compensation and our some good forethought into the actual problem and really putting boots on the ground and addressing recruiting is going to be the answer to our problems.” Ironically, the inference we hear is Willoughby has been dishonest in the past and now wishes to gain respect and wants the community to believe him when he states, “I honestly believe.”

The end of the story is where the rubber hits the road.  According to the story, “At this point APD is not worried about handling Priority one calls – the most dangerous kind – they say they have enough officers that those are under control.  But they ask for patience during calls that aren’t urgent.” This is another bold face lie from APD.  Our Eyes tell us it has become common for priority one calls to hold for a prolonged period of time (3 to 8 minutes on average). One of our Eyes stated over a recent past weekend there was over 70 calls for service holding in one day. This is completely unacceptable by any standards; it’s not like our City’s crime rate is 200% higher than any other city comparable in size. We stand corrected, the crime in Albuquerque is out of control literally and our City leaders continue to accept huge salaries but fail to deliver.

The lying by APD leadership and their representatives must stop and APD must face up to the facts.  It is an inept leadership that has led to APD’s demise; this is a commonly known fact. Here is what steps should be taken immediately to rectify the shortage of officers and answer calls for service for the citizens:

Reorganization of the department from top to bottom will be required (listed below is only the first and initial phase of regaining control)

Push all sworn desk jobs out to the field ASAP

This would exclude violent crimes detectives such as homicide, sexual assault unit, etc…

Area command detective (Impact) must return to uniform
SRO’s (School Resource Officer) must return to full duty in the streets
All field support officer such as field investigators, SWAT officers and K-9 officers will be required to handle calls for service

Officers will have to conduct complete investigations where there are investigative leads

Officers must become generalists and shift away from being specialists
Officers will be required to complete cases from start to finish unless it is a homicide or other extremely violent type of case

This is just the start of what should be a mandatory reorganization of APD.  These are critical steps that must be taken.  Recruitment is not all about the money but the moral fabric of what it means to wear a badge which demands the officers to defend, serve and protect the community with fairness, equality, respect and dignity.

Liberty Lost

Albuquerque Citizens have lost another liberty as the city succumbs to crime and criminals who perpetrate against the public.  Recently the local Wal-Mart stores have elected to change their hours of operation from 24-hours a day to 6 A.M. to midnight. The burning question is, why has crime gotten out of control in the Metro area and how do we regain control of our community?

We see the headlines daily across the country, “Suspect is accused of cutting 7-month-old fetus from her victim”, “Chief: New Orleans airport attacker had machete, Molotov cocktails”, “One dead and five injured after spree”, “Remains found in wood stove in cooking show finalist's death”, etc…  Has it really gotten worse or is the media driving certain issues with more vigor than others?

A statistic that has been used for several decades is ninety percent of crime is committed by ten percent of the population.  If this is true why does ninety percent of the population allow the ten percent to victimize all?  Is it because that ten percent is a relative, friend or family member? Perhaps they know a person or their family and feel bad for them?  Whatever the reason; we are all responsible for what is happening in our community.  Our silence allows the criminals in general to continue and to prosper from crime. The community itself encourages the crime by not standing up to the criminals (including the mentally ill) and by not fully supporting law enforcement in discharge of their duties.

When we look back at many of the police involved shootings, the vast majority involved people who were involved in a criminal act (that is why the police were involved) and many of them involved people who were also mentally ill.  The families and friends of these people knew the family member or friend was a criminal and/or was mentally ill but keep silent with the mentality “as long as I don't have to deal with him or her; I am good with that.” Which translates to; law enforcement will ultimately be called and force to deal with that person.

Mr. Boyd’s situation is a prime example of everything that can go wrong.  When we say everything we mean everything from a neglected mentally ill person in commission of a crime to police misconduct.  Mr. Boyd’s family knew he was mentally ill and kept their distance because they knew of his illness.  And yes, now the uncaring family is here in the metro looking to stuff their greedy pockets with cash because now Mr. Boyd has worth to them. We are sure there were many ambulance chasers who sought out the family members in hopes of pocketing cash themselves.  The family never intervened to ensure Mr. Boyd received the services he desperately needed nor did they care or give a damn until Mr. Boyd’s demise.

When family and/or friends fail to do their part and leave it up to the police to handle a criminal or a mentally ill person; this is an invitation for disaster which we have seen repetitively here in Albuquerque.  When family or friends fail to do their part and then become angered and blame the police are clearly hypocrites and are guilty of infractions themselves against humanity. Everyone must do their part; take responsibility for what they are accountable for. Certain people need to stop blaming the police when the problem lies primarily with them directly.  And we have heard it to; “I can’t deal with him.” Well, what makes you think it is going to be any easier for the police to babysit or handle the same person.  That person left unchecked is now uncontrollable and now the police are forced to deal with them.  Be responsible and do your part.

We as a community continue to suffer from enabling friends or family members who are involved in crime (and/or are mentally ill) we will continue to lose certain liberties. We are all paying the price for the ten percent who commit criminal activities:  losing access to our local store and paying higher prices to compensate for loss of businesses.

The cure, well, the blame for these issues must be shared equally by the public and the police. The community needs to support the police who are entrusted with public safety and the community needs to step up and do their part when they know a friend or family member is involved in crime or if they have a friend or family member who they know are mentally ill and are in need of services. Simply stated, “An ounce of prevention is worth a ton of cure.”  As a community we all need to do our part and stop loved ones before they are out of control and eventually become involved in a deadly encounter with law enforcement.  And if they can’t handle their loved ones and it results in a deadly encounter, stop blaming the police and place blame where it lies; in the one who committed the crime(s) themselves.