The Albuquerque Police Union released it’s annual “let’s all bitch and moan” survey it takes amongst sworn police officer’s holding the rank of lieutenant and under.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1158157/survey-most-apd-officers-have-considered-leaving-department.html

This year, 491 out of the 878 sworn officers took the survey.

SUPRISE! The survey found that morale is definitely low with 70% of the responding officers thinking about leaving APD in the last two years.

The union gave the officers a multiple-choice question to pick reasons why they were considering going elsewhere and 69% said work conditions, 67% said better pay and 67% said they want a better quality of life.

Specific comments that were revealing were written by officers as to why they had considered leaving APD and include:

• “Fear of media scrutiny and criminal charges.”
• “The (Department of Justice) has no business running a police department.”
• “This town sucks as a whole. Bad schools bad crime bad housing.”
• “Family would be safer outside of ABQ where police are allowed to do their job.”
• “The clowns that get promoted to supervisor.”

Patrol Officer’s First class make $27.50 an hour, no matter the number of years on the force.

When asked what could be done to increase the number of police officers, 77% of the officers said they could pay officers a more competitive salary.

Three-fourths of the officers who took the survey said a competitive salary would be between $32 and $36 an hour.

A whopping 98% of responding officers said APD’s staffing level has compromised officer safety, but that is not at all surprising given that APD has only 878 sworn police with only 458 assigned to field services hanlding 600,000 calls for service a year.

UNION SURVEY WAS TOOL FOR POLITICAL PROPAGANDA

What is noteworthy, nothing was said about how the rank and file feel about the future of the department.

There were no substantive questions if things are getting any better under the new management with a new Mayor, a new police chief and a new command staff.

There was no inquiry about the rank and file sense of loyalty to the department and the city nor question about their commitment to stay.

There are no specific inquiries as to what is wrong nor what has been done right with the Department of Justice reforms after three years.

There were no specific questions as to what policy or standard operating procedures need to change that will make things better for the rank and file.

No questions were asked about equipment and training deficiencies.

No questions were asked about the APD expansion plan put forth by the Keller Administration.

The union has never proposed any form of alternative pay arraignments other than making demands for increasing hourly wages.

The clear and unmistakable message from the survey and union was “give us more money so we will stay”.

APD POLICE OFFICER BASE PAY

Albuquerque Police Officers are some of the best paid law enforcement in the country when you take into account their pay, longevity pay incentives, benefits and retirement pay.

Based on the union survey, the police union and many APD police officers strongly dispute they are well paid, but in comparison to other city employees, they clearly are.

The Mayor of Albuquerque is paid $125,000 a year and the sixteen (16) city department directors are paid average of $110,000 and arguably these are 24/7 jobs.

Department directors must manage employees and more often than not work in far excess of a 40-hour week and they are never paid overtime, they are at will employees serving at the pleasure of the Mayor and their salaries stay the same for the fiscal year.

There are approximately 223 “ungraded,” full-time employees who are basically political appointees and who can be fired at will because they don’t have the rights and protections that the city’s 4,200 other “classified” employees do.

The average salary for classified city employees is $30,000 to $35,000 a year and they cannot be terminated without cause.

The average entry level Albuquerque patrolman first class makes $56,000 to $58,000 a year, depending on actual hours worked in a year, and are paid an additional 15% for benefits, such as insurance, paid sick leave and annual leave and the positions are classified and a police officer cannot be terminated without cause.

Even when terminated for cause or disciplined for cause, police officers are guaranteed and appeals process before the city personnel board.

All patrol officers first class are paid the exact same hourly rate of $27.50 no matter the number of years on the police force, therefore a four (4) year veteran of the force makes the same hourly wage as a ten (10) year veteran.

Under the union contract, sworn police officers are paid a mandatory two hours of overtime and paid “time and a half” for court appearances such as arraignments of DWI offenders and police prosecution of misdemeanor cases.

The Albuquerque Police Department is the only city hall department that pays longevity bonuses to city hall employees.

RETIRING FROM APD

APD police officers have one of the better retirement plans in the country and some would even say the best.

APD officers can retire after 25 years of service and be paid a pension of 90% of their top three (3) wage earning years with the city every year for the rest of their lives when they retire from the city.

APD officers are also allowed to accumulate all of their yearly vacation time and earned sick leave time and cash it out when they retire or they can be carried on the city payroll until it is paid out.

It is not uncommon for police officers to retire and be handed a check for thousands of dollars to compensate them for their accumulated unused sick and annual leave.

Further, APD officers are paid longevity pay bonuses of as little of $5,000 and as much as $15,000 to stay with the department and not leave or retire early.

APD retirement pay under the New Mexico Public Employees Retirement Association (PERA) is considered one of the most lucrative in the country.

APD PATROL OFFICERS FIRST CLASS SOME OF HIGHEST PAID CITY EMPLOYEES

According to city payroll records, a patrolman first class was the city’s seventh top earner, taking home nearly $147,000 in salary and overtime.

Seven patrol officers first class were paid at least $124,000 in 2016.

A review of the city’s 250 top earners in 2017 reveals that 66 patrol officers first class were among the highest paid city employees earning a total of around $7.1 million in salary and overtime.

A total of 124 of the 250 top wage earners at city hall are employed by the Albuquerque Police Department and include patrol officers, sergeants, lieutenants, commanders and deputy chiefs, assistant chief and the chief with annual pay ranging from $95,000 a year up to $166,699 a year.

(See City of Albuquerque web site for full list of 250 top city wage earners).

Five (5) APD Patrol Officers First Class are listed in the top 250 city wage workers as being paid $146,971, $145,180, $140,243, $137,817 and $125,061 respectfully making them the 6th, the 7th, the 10th, the 12th and the 20th highest paid employees at city hall.

There are listed 66 Patrol Officers First Class in the list of the top 250 wage earners at city hall earning in excess of $95,000 a year and as much as $146,000 a year.

Combined, there are a total of 91 APD sworn police officers and sergeants who are named in the top 250 wage earners and city hall.

The fact that any APD Patrolman First Class are paid as much as between $95,000 to $146,000, or two to three times their normal salary in any given year should be very concerning to the Mayor and City Council.

Consecutive shifts or excessive overtime for any police officer can lead to extreme fatigue, emotional burnout and reduce an officer’s alertness and response times and reflexes that can endanger lives and public safety.

KELLER ADMINISTRATION EXPANSION PLAN

Midway through the current fiscal year, APD had 836 sworn officers despite being fully funded for 1,000 sworn police officers for the past three fiscal years.

The number of sworn police is currently 878 at the beginning of 2018.

Albuquerque needs at least 1,200 sworn police officers to effectively return to community-based policing that will reduce overtime costs and reduce crime statistics.

The Keller Administration is calling for an $88 million dollar of additional funding and increased costs for APD over the next four fiscal years from 2018 to 2022.

The $88 million dollars for expanding APD will include expanded academy training and the vehicles and other equipment that additional officers will require.

At a minimum, the expansion plan calls for $32 million dollars in recurring costs.

In the 2018-2019 proposed budget, $12.8 million is being proposed to carry out a four-year plan for recruiting new officers.

The Keller Administration APD expansion will be over a four-year period, with 32 million dollars of recurring expenditures, to hire 322 officers and expand APD from the current 878 sworn police officers to 1,200 officers.

An aggressive hiring and recruitment program is in the planning stages to increase the ranks of patrol officers.

Sign on bonuses, tuition debt payoff, mortgage down payment bonuses and moving and relocation bonuses need to be offered to new recruits before any progress in recruiting can be made.

The 2018-2019 proposed budget calls for APD to increase its ranks to 1,040 officers in the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2018.

The recruitment and hiring plan proposes to add 100 new police officers per year until a 1,200-staffing level is reached.

The ultimate goal is to return to community-based policing to reduce spiking crime rates.

REVAMP APD PAY STRUCTURE

A complete restructuring of APD hourly wages to base salaries with step increases should be implemented.

A mandatory “cap” on the amount overtime a sworn police officer can be paid needs to be established that is fair and equitable for all sworn personnel to make available overtime to more sworn police officers in the department.

APD should do away with hourly wage and time and a half for overtime for sworn police and implement a salary structure based on steps and years of service.

A system of overtime bonuses to be paid at the end of the year for accumulated increments of overtime could be implement.

Shift time to work would remain the same, but if more time is needed to complete work load, the employee works it for the same salary with no overtime and a modification of shift times for court appearances.

Salaries and step increase take away inflating overtime and motivates employees to get more done within the allotted shift or modification of shift times.

CONCLUSION

80% of the city council in increase in gross receipts tax, which will generate $40 million this year and the $55 million a year thereafter, will be going to public safety including APD.

The police union lobbied for the tax increase and pressured the city council to make sure at least 60% of the tax revenues would go to public safety, despite the fact the city was facing a $40 million dollar deficit.

Mayor Tim Keller was endorsed by the Police Union and no doubt the Union will want its pound of cash and make its demands relying on its deficient survey and demanding the Mayor to support whatever it wants when it comes to increasing pay.

Getting to the 1,200 level of sworn officers where APD is fully staffed is going to take years and it will have to be done in increments that is realistic and can be accomplished.

Until then, APD’s slogan will be “To serve and protect” while the police union’s slogan will be “What’s in your wallet?”

Keller Signs Pot Decriminalization Bill

April 12, 2018
|
By Dennis Domrzalski

Mayor Tim Keller on Thursday signed a bill that makes it a $25 fine to possess an ounce or less of marijuana in the city.

Here’s the mayor’s news release on the signing:

ALBUQUERQUE, NM – Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller today signed a bill passed by City Council to decriminalize small amounts of marijuana under municipal law.

The bill, sponsored by City Councilors Pat Davis and Isaac Benton, was passed by City Council on Monday, April 2, 2018. The legislation replaces the City’s current criminal penalty of fines and jail time for possession of an ounce or less of marijuana with a $25 civil fine. Marijuana possession remains a criminal offense under state and federal law.

“Removing the criminal penalties for possession of small amounts of marijuana will free up precious resources for law enforcement, who have plenty on their plate already,” stated Mayor Keller. “We’re facing real challenges in Albuquerque and this is a step in the right direction to allow our officers the flexibility to better prioritize their time tackling violent crime and property crime in our city.”

Chief of Police Michael Geier added, “This new legislation allows officers to focus on violent crime, property crime and drunk driving. It’s important for the public to be aware that this does not change state or federal law and officers will still have a choice to pursue criminal charges when appropriate.”

COMMENTARY

APD Police Officers have a wide discretion in making arrests and they normally do not make arrests for small amounts of marijuana preferring to dodge the bullets from guns being shot at them during the commission of one of the many violent felonies that go on in Albuquerque every day.

During the last legislative session State Senator Jerry Ortiz y Pino (D-Albuquerque) once again attempted to legalize the sale and use of marijuana in New Mexico by introducing legislation to put it on the ballot as a constitutional amendment for voter approval, and the legislation went nowhere.

In any representative form of government, people are elected to make the best decisions they can based on the facts and needs of their constituents, presuming those decisions and votes are really within their authority.

The legalization and decriminalization of marijuana needs to be addressed by the New Mexico legislature or the US Congress and not the Albuquerque City Council.

The truth is, our war on drugs has been a miserable failure in this country, especially when it comes to pot, and that is coming from someone who started his legal career prosecuting narcotics cases.

Legalize, regulate, control sales and tax recreational marijuana by comprehensive legislation is what needs to be done.

The candidates for Governor, Congress and those running for the legislature should be asked where they stand on legalization of marijuana.

Healthy debate on comprehensive legislation during this election year could be a precursor to drafting viable legislation and adopted by the 2019 New Mexico legislature.

The city council’s ordinance is mostly symbolic, and it will be business as usual by APD.

The Albuquerque s DWI vehicle forfeiture program has been around for 25 years.

The program has always been controversial, effective and does take vehicles out of the hands of drunk drivers and makes driving the streets of Albuquerque safer.

The city ordinance allows the city to seize and impound vehicles of individuals who are stopped and arrested for DWI.

The city also relies on the city’s nuisance abatement laws as part of the authority to seize the vehicles.

Under the existing ordinance, the Albuquerque Police Department can only seize the vehicle if the person arrested has at least one prior DWI conviction.

After the seizing and impounding of the vehicle, the city initiates civil administrative and civil court actions to take title to the vehicles and then sell the vehicles at auction.

In order to avoid the city from taking title to a vehicle involved with a DWI, the car owner can request a hearing with the city before an administrative law judge and enter into civil agreements for “booting” the vehicle for a period of time and pay costs of impoundment and rental costs of the boot.

A defense of “innocent owner” is also provided under the ordinance when a vehicle is used or driven by another who is arrested for DWI allowing the vehicle to be released back to the owner.

The proceeds from the sale of the cars at auction goes to pay to administer the program and other city anti DWI programs.

The biggest complaint made against the program is that it deprives people of their property without due process of law.

The biggest benefit of the program is that it takes the very object used to commit a crime out of the hands of people who intentionally violate the law and who at times seriously injure or even kill people and it reduces DWIs.

FEDERAL COURT RULING

Last year, a federal lawsuit was brought by a woman whose car was seized by the city after her son was arrested for driving it while intoxicated.

The vehicle owner had no prior conviction but the city seized her car.

On March 31, 2018, Federal Judge James Browning filed a ruling against the city’s vehicle forfeiture program saying the city could not seize vehicles without a conviction for the DWI offense the arrest was made for at the time of seizure.

Judge Browning found that the City of Albuquerque’s DWI vehicle seizure ordinance violates people’s rights to due process of law and that it also violates the state’s civil asset forfeiture law.

The state law requires a conviction before police can seize a person’s property.

The city has been arguing its vehicle seizure program does not violate a 2015 state law that bars property seizures by the government before a criminal conviction in that it requires a prior or history of DWI.

Judge Browning found otherwise, rejected the city position and refused to totally grant the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

Judge Browning’s decision reads in part:

“The 2015 Amendment [to the state forfeiture law requires a criminal conviction before governments can seize property.] This purpose limiting forfeitures to criminal actions is expressly at odds with the City of Albuquerque’s civil forfeiture ordinance. … The Court concludes that the 2015 Amendments new purpose is strong evidence of the New Mexico Legislature’s intent to preclude municipalities from creating a civil forfeiture scheme.
…

“Although the Court concludes that the NMFA [New Mexico Forfeiture Act] preempts the City of Albuquerque’s forfeiture ordinance, the Court also concludes that this issue is novel as it is both new and notable.”

Media outlets have reported Judge Browning’s decision merely allows the lawsuit to move forward.

The decision does much more and made specific findings that the city’s vehicle forfeiture violated the plaintiff’s due process rights in two ways:

A. By placing the burden of innocence on a vehicle’s owner, and
B. By the fact that the forfeiture program is funded by the revenues it generates and that the city has used seized vehicles for its own purposes.

In response to the federal court ruling, the Keller Administration announced it will no longer seize cars from suspected drunken drivers and others who have not been convicted.

It appears the Keller Administration announcement was not very well thought out and was a “knee jerk” reaction to the federal court order in a still pending case.

ALBUQUERQUE’S VEHICLE FORFEITURE PROGRAM

The city’s DWI Vehicle Forfeiture Program is administered and managed by the City Attorney’s Office.

I was the Deputy City Attorney who oversaw the vehicle forfeiture program for seven years and it was part of the Safe City Strike Force.

Assistant City Attorneys and para-legals are assigned to initiate administrative actions, court action and enter into settlements agreements and boot agreements.

Following are the actual number of DWI Seizure Reports reviewed for the past 3 years:

2016: 880
2017: 778
2018: 366 (Mid-year)
2019: 700 (Projected)

Following are the actual number of DWI Vehicle Forfeiture actions filed for the past 3 years:

2016: 109
2017: 82
2018: 32 (Mid-year)
2019: 100 (Projected)

Following are the actual number of DWI Vehicles Booted for the past 3 years:

2016: 230
2017: 208
2018: 114 (Mid-year)
2019: 200 (Projected)

Following are the actual number of vehicles released on agreement by the city to owners:

2016: 237
2017: 232
2018: 81 (Mid-year)
2019: 200 (Projected)

Following are the actual number of vehicle seizure hearings conducted for the last 3 years:

2016: 576
2017: 522
2018: 243 (Mid-year)
2019: 500 (Projected)

Following are the actual number of vehicles auctioned by the city for the last 3 years:

2016: 441
2017: 338
2018: 130 (Mid-year)
2019: 300 (Projected)

Following is a breakdown of the amount of money generated by the auctions:

2016: $760,000
2017: $242,000
2018: $100,000 (Mid-year)
2019: $300,000 (Projected)

The amount of projected proceeds from vehicle forfeiture auctions is projected to drop dramatically from $760,000 to $300,000 over three years.

The Keller Administration’s proposed 2018-2019 fiscal budget projects the city’s legal department will hold 500 vehicle seizure hearings in the upcoming fiscal year that starts July 1, 2018.

The 500-projected vehicle seizure hearings for the 2019 year is on par with the 522 number of hearings the city held in 2018 fiscal year.

Of those 500, the city is projecting to release 200 vehicles to owners with an agreement to boot the vehicle for a period of time and for the city to take ownership of 300 vehicles and sell them at auction.

FORFEITURE PROGRAM JUSTFIED BECAUSE OF DWI PROBLEM

It is no secret and very common knowledge that the city and the state have very serious DWI problems.

On December 1, 2016, it was reported that New Mexico has a high percentage of fatal drunken driving crashes and that New Mexico was ranked Number 1 in pedestrian and bicycling deaths involving drunk drivers.

https://www.abqjournal.com/900324/high-rates-of-drunken-driving-factor-in-poor-rating-for-states-drivers.html

In 2016, New Mexicans ranked among the top 10 worst drivers in the nation for the second year in a row.

There are repeated news stories about how defendants are being arrested 9, 10, 11, 12 times, and they serve very little time unless they wind up killing entire families in a car crash.

On November 21, 2017, a DWI court monitoring program by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) in the six counties with the highest DWI-related fatalities was released.

(See November 21, 2017 Albuquerque Journal, Metro & NM Section, page A6, “New report shows high DWI dismissal rates.”)

https://www.abqjournal.com/1095710/gov-announces-results-of-dwi-monitoring.html

1,106 DWI cases were monitored in six counties and it was found that 36% of the DWI cases were dismissed, 35% resulted in guilty outcomes, 23% resulted in prosecutions; 4% of the charges were reduced or amended, and 1% were found not guilty.

The statistics from the MADD report in the six counties is nothing compared to what has been going on in Albuquerque and Bernalillo County for the last eight (8) years.

ALARMING DWI STATISTICS

The statistics from the Bernalillo County Metro Court are alarming and reveal just how bad things are with the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) being unable to patrol our streets, get drunks off the road, make DWI arrests, prosecute DWI cases and impound and seize vehicles.

In 2008, there were 633 felony DWI arraignments and the number steadily declined each year to 104 in 2015.

In 2008, there were 6,538 DWI/DUI misdemeanor arraignments and the number steadily declined each year to 2,942 in 2015.

(Source: http://www.nmcourts.gov/reports-and-policies.aspx)

According to the proposed 2018-2019 city budget, the Albuquerque Police Departments DWI arrests are declining by considerable numbers.

In fiscal year 2016, APD made 1,720 actual DWI arrests.

In fiscal year 2017, APD made 1,338 actual DWI arrests.

Mid fiscal year 2018, APD made 775 actual DWI arrests.

The 2018-2019 proposed fiscal budget is projecting and hoping for 1,500 DWI arrests.

A decade ago, APD was making more than 5,000 DWI arrests a year.

The Bernalillo County Metropolitan court handles cases for virtually all law enforcement agencies that make arrests in Bernalillo County, including the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department (BCSO) and the New Mexico State Police.

The largest percentage of cases arraigned in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan court is for APD cases.

In 2009, there were 746 people arraigned for felony DWI and that number dropped to a mere 104 in 2015.

In 2008, there were 6,538 people arraigned for misdemeanor DWI and in 2015 that number dropped by close to 60% to 2,942.

ODDS ARE 50-50 BEATING DWI CHARGES

Sadly, the odds of beating DWI charges in Bernalillo County are about 50-50 when at one time the conviction rate was in the 85% to 90% range by the Bernalillo County District Attorney.

According to a January 29, 2018 news report, 42 percent of all DWI cases resolved in Metropolitan Court last year were dismissed either by judges or prosecutors while 58 percent ended with a guilty verdict or plea.

www.usnews.com/news/best-states/new-mexico/articles/2018-01-29/odds-of-beating-dwi-charges-in-bernalillo-county-about-50-50

In 2016, the percentages favored defendants with 55 percent of drunken driving cases being dismissed compared to 45 percent ending in pleas or convictions.

CONCLUSION

The Keller Administration claims it will submit to the city council proposed changes to the vehicle forfeiture ordinance.

Ending the city’s DWI vehicle forfeiture program is ill advised given the city’s high DWI rates and the failure of our criminal justice system to deal with the city’s out of control DWI rates.

The changes proposed should be to the extent that the city’s existing forfeiture ordinance guarantees due process of law.

Repealing the ordinance will add to the number of people injured or killed on our roads from DWI crashes cause by drunks getting behind the wheel of their cars.

Another option would be to amend the city’s existing nuisance abatement ordinance to allow civil nuisance abatement actions against vehicles whose owners have a history of DWI convctions.

The current nuisance abatement ordinance allows civil actions to be filed against real property.

If drunks are not being held accountable for their actions criminally, then the city should be able to hold them accountable civilly and financially by taking away the very object, some would argue weapon, they used to violate the law and perhaps injure or kill someone.

Mayor Tim Keller and his administration are learning albeit the hard way the difference between running for office and governing, especially when making a decision and dealing with the media inquiries and the public.

After close to 4 months in office, a recent Federal Court ruling and the Keller Administration reaction to that ruling is yet another prime example that the Keller Administration is slowly developing the reputation that it and their public information officers (PIOs) do not know exactly what they are doing nor when nor how to stay on message.

Even worse, Albuquerque may have a Mayor whose PIOs have no idea what his decisions are, what he wants said to the media nor what he wants his top executives to be saying.

Keller’s public relations people and administration officials, when it comes to the release of public information, are not doing their boss much of a favor by trying to protect him from the decisions he makes and by playing games with the media by withholding information or not being candid with the media.

Being truthful is an issue of establishing trust.

Two news stories, one published April 4, 2018 by ABQ Reports (Dennis Domrzalski) and the other published on April 10, 2018 on the front page of the Albuquerque Journal, has highlighted the serious problem for a second time.

FEDERAL COURT RULING

On March 31, 2018 a federal judge filed a ruling against the city’s vehicle forfeiture program saying the city could not seize vehicles without a conviction.

In response to the court ruling, the Keller Administration announced it will no longer seize cars from suspected drunken drivers and others who have not been convicted.

Federal Court Judge James Browning found that the City of Albuquerque’s DWI vehicle seizure ordinance violates people’s rights to due process of law and that it also violates the state’s civil asset forfeiture law.

The state law requires a conviction before police can seize a person’s property.

The city’s vehicle forfeiture program has been around for 25 years.

The city has been claiming its vehicle seizure program does not violate a 2015 state law that bars property seizures by the government before a criminal conviction.

U.S. District Court Judge James Browning found otherwise, rejected the city position and refused to totally grant the city’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.

The federal law suit was brought by a woman whose car was seized by the city after her son was arrested for driving it while intoxicated and Judge Browning is allowing the case to move forward.

Judge Browning’s decision reads in part:

“The 2015 Amendment [to the state forfeiture law requires a criminal conviction before governments can seize property.] This purpose limiting forfeitures to criminal actions is expressly at odds with the City of Albuquerque’s civil forfeiture ordinance. … The Court concludes that the 2015 Amendments new purpose is strong evidence of the New Mexico Legislature’s intent to preclude municipalities from creating a civil forfeiture scheme.
…

“Although the Court concludes that the NMFA [New Mexico Forfeiture Act] preempts the City of Albuquerque’s forfeiture ordinance, the Court also concludes that this issue is novel as it is both new and notable.”

Most media outlets have reported Judge Browning’s decision merely allows the lawsuit to move forward.

The decision does much more and made specific findings that the city’s vehicle forfeiture violated the plaintiff’s due process rights in two ways:

A. By placing the burden of innocence on a vehicle’s owner, and
B. By the fact that the forfeiture program is funded by the revenues it generates and that the city has used seized vehicles for its own purposes.

Given the magnitude of the ruling, it was the ethical obligation of the City Attorney’s office to notify the Mayor and the Chief Administrative Officer of the ruling so a decision could be made by the Mayor on how to respond to any media inquiries and make decisions on any policy changes or recommendations.

The filing of the federal court order a full week before media inquiries gave the Mayor and his top executives and PIOs more than enough time to prepare a response to media inquiries.

If Keller or his top aides were not told of the court ruling when it came out, they should have had no comment until they could formulate a legitimate response.

APRIL 6, 2018 ABQ NEWS REPORT

On Friday, April 6, 2018, a full week after the court filing, ABQ News (Dennis Domrzalski) was the very first to publish a report on how the federal court judge ruled in the case.

The article was published by ABQ News only after it sought comment and a response from the Keller Administration.

https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/2018/04/06/Federal-judge-ABQ-vehicle-seizure-program-violates-due-process-rights

On Saturday April 7, 2018, in response to the ABQ Reports article, Mayor Keller’s Deputy Chief of Staff Justine Tillman made an announcement on FACEBOOK and not directly to ABQ Reports.

What Tillman said in the FACEBOOK announcement was misleading:

“Earlier this week, Mayor Keller changed the policy to limit ABQ’s seizure program to cases where there has been a conviction. … In order to bring municipal law in line with state law and recent court rulings, Keller updated the policy and is calling on City Council to formally revise the ordinance. Going forward, APD is focusing its efforts on proactively combating drunk driving.”

By saying “earlier this week” it was not at all clear when nor how the changes in policy occurred.

The details and copies of whatever Mayor Keller ordered in regards to the city’s forfeiture program were not made immediately available, if in fact they were any to begin with, which resulted in Justin Tillman’s credibility coming into question and taking a hit.

Tillman added in another FACEBOOK post that those details would be coming soon.

By all accounts, nothing has yet materialized nor been released by the Keller Administration.

APRIL 18, 2018 ALBUQUERQUE JOURNAL STORY

On Tuesday, April 10, 2018 the Albuquerque Journal published a front-page story entitled “Mayor changes city vehicle policy.”

https://www.abqjournal.com/1156725/mayor-changes-city-vehicle-seizure-policy.html

The Journal story is replete with conflicts and statements to what actually is going on with the change in policy by the Keller Administration.

Following are 6 excerpts from the April 10 Journal report reflecting amateur contact when dealing with the media:

“In a statement Monday, Keller said he is asking the City Council to change the city’s ordinance to match his new policy. His office did not return repeated calls Monday seeking details.”
…

“Keller had said during his mayoral campaign that he disagreed with aspects of the seizure policy, and the Journal sought an interview Friday about the city’s ongoing vehicle seizures. The city canceled the interview and on Friday evening said the mayor was changing the policy. Follow-up calls were not returned.”

…

“On Monday, the mayor issued a statement that said: “Given changes in state law and recent court rulings, it’s time to update the city’s policy on vehicle seizures. As part of constitutional policing, APD can continue to seize assets in cases where there has been a conviction. I directed APD to implement this change and have requested City Council to update the ordinance.”

…

“The announcement about Keller’s policy change came a few hours after the city canceled an interview with the Journal on the topic.”
…

“Paul Gessing, the president of the Rio Grande Foundation, has advocated for changing seizure laws throughout the state, including Albuquerque. He said that Keller had said during the campaign that he would end the program but hadn’t taken action since taking office.”

NOT THE FIRST TIME

During the 2018 Mayor’s race, mayoral candidate Tim Keller made the repeated promise that his Administration would be transparent.

Keller also promised he would not raises taxes, even for public safety, without voter approval.

On Monday, March 5, 2018, the Albuquerque City Council voted to raise the city’s gross receipts tax rate by three-eighths of a percentage point to deal with a $40 million project deficit for fiscal year that commences July 1, 2018.

On Thursday, March 15, 2018, according to the city council web site, Mayor Tim Keller signed the $55 million a year tax increase enacted by the city council breaking his promise not to raise taxes unless there was a public vote approving it.

Mayor Keller signed the $55 million a year tax increase with no press conference, no fanfare, and no one looking on with no immediate news release.

On Monday, March 19, 2018, the ABQ Reports (Dennis Domrzalski) reported that the tax increase bill had been signed by Mayor Keller.

The ABQ Reports was able to do so only after reviewing the City Council’s web site to determine if the bill had been signed or vetoed.

On Saturday, March 24, 2018, the Albuquerque Journal, citing an email statement from the Mayor’s Office, and not a news release, reported that the tax increase had been signed by Mayor Keller.

It is probable that an email was sent only to the Journal late Friday, March 23, 2018.

It is more likely than not that no news release was issued in order to avoid excessive press coverage, especially by all the TV stations, that Keller had broken his campaign promise.

The Keller Administration is still very young and very green with less than four months in office.

CONCLUSION

There are approximately thirty public information officers that work for the city.

The Keller Administration does in fact have a few employees who have a wealth of experience having worked in the media in the past.

One of those employees works for Animal Welfare and use to work for the Albuquerque Journal.

Recently, the Keller Administration hired a former Assistant News Director who worked for a news station for 4 years and has 15 prior years experience in the Albuquerque market and who has a solid reputation.

There are at least two other PIOs who have worked for TV stations with respectable reputations.

The Mayor needs to identify an experienced news person to deal with the dissemination of information from not only his office but the entire city.

That person needs to be at the Mayor’s side to coordinate information when and where needed.

A PIO the Mayor can trust will do far more to protect the Mayor from self inflicted wounds than any security detail he now has that follows him wherever he goes.

Until Keller gets a handle on his PIOs we can expect the “amatuer hour” to continue on the eleventh floor of city hall.

If no decision has been made on a major policy decision or change of policy, there is absolutely nothing wrong with saying just that and having no further comment, until a final decision is made.

It’s called getting your story straight so as to avoid looking incompetent with your decisions and the messaging you want to convey.

It is also called governing and not running for office.

Murderers, drug dealers, gang members, and violent criminals all drive, pure plain and simple.

Simple traffic stops can be extremely dangerous and result in law enforcement being killed as anyone who has lived in Albuquerque for any length of time knows full well.

FALLEN AND INJURED OFFICERS REMEMBERED

When any police officer first approaches any vehicle on a traffic stop, no matter how simple it sounds, they have no idea who is driving the car and all too often it turns out to be a violent, hardened criminal.

A simple traffic stop can cost a police officer their life.

BCSO OFFICER JAMES MCGRANE

On March 22, 2006, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Deputy James McGrane, age 39, was killed in the line of duty when shot during a traffic stop he was making in Tijeras Canyon.

BCSO Deputy McGrane was shot twice and died at the scene from his wounds.

BCSO Deputy Sheriff Mcgrane was killed by Michael Astorga.

At the time Mcgrane was killed, Astorga was wanted for another murder.

APD POLICE OFFICER LOU GOLSON

On January 3, 2015, APD police officer Lou Golson, a thirty one year veteran of APD, spotted a speeding silver SUV in the middle of the night and originally thought he had a drunk driver on his hands, but it turns out the SUV was stolen.

Golson walked up to the driver’s-side window.

When Golson opened the driver’s door, the driver spun sideways in his seat, he had a gun and he fired point blank on Golson.

The driver fired 5 shots with four bullets hitting Golson.

Golson was able to draw his gun and return fire.

Miraculously APD Officer Golson survived his shooting, but spent months in the hospital recovering from his injuries.

APD POLICE OFFICER DANIEL WEBSTER

On Oct. 21 2015, APD Police Officer Daniel Webster, age 47, pulled over Davon Lymon riding a suspected stolen motorcycle.

Lymon was a convicted felon having served 10 years in prison for a killing tied to a car theft ring.

Webster was trying to arrest and handcuff Lymon when Webster was shot several times, with one of the bullets hitting Webster in the head.

After spending a week in the hospital in critical condition, Webster passed away.

TRAFFIC STOPS CAN APPREHEND VIOLENT FELONS

The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) is now focusing on increasing traffic patrols.

One major result of the traffic patrols is arresting more criminals who have outstanding arrest warrants and have committed other more serious crimes.

According to APD statistics, from January 1, 2018 until March 8, 2018, APD nearly double the number of traffic stops compared to the same time period four years ago in 2015.

Following are APD’s Preliminary Crime Data statistics on traffic citations:

• 2015 YTD: 4,990
• 2016 YTD: 5,506
• 2017 YTD: 5,522
• 2018 YTD: 9,560

http://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/albuquerque-police-department-apd-traffic-stops-arrest-offenders/4853226/

When a police officer stops someone for traffic violations, such as speeding, running a red light, improper lane change, broken tail light, the police officer making the traffic stop takes the driver’s license of the driver, goes back to their patrol car and runs a criminal background check on the driver.

The police officer is able to determine within seconds whether or not there are any outstanding arrest warrants, bench warrants and felony convictions.

The police officer also looks up the driver’s vehicle registration and vehicle identification number (VIN) to determine if the vehicle stopped is a stolen vehicle.

DRAMATIC DECLINE IN TRAFFIC CITATION CASES

Although the above numbers are encouraging, they are only preliminary comparing the first three-month periods in 2017 to 2018.

The near doubling of the number of traffic stops for the first three months in 2018 is encouraging but yet very insignificant in comparison to the over 86,000 citations issued in 2009.

The Bernalillo County Metropolitan Traffic Arraignment court handles cases for virtually all law enforcement agencies that make arrests in Bernalillo County, including the Albuquerque Police Department (APD), the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department (BCSO) and the New Mexico State Police.

The largest percentage of cases arraigned in the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Traffic court is for APD cases.

In 2008, there were 84,527 traffic court arraignments and the number steadily declined each year to 31,163 in 2015.

In 2009, there was an all-time high of 86,175 traffic arraignment cases in Metro Court.

(Source: http://www.nmcourts.gov/reports-and-policies.aspx)

In 2015 traffic citation cases dropped to 31,163, or over 55,000 fewer traffic citations.

In the 2018-2019 proposed city budget, the City Attorney’s office reported on the number of actual traffic cases going to arraignment during the last three fiscal years:

2016: Actual traffic citation arraignments 34,077
2017: Actual traffic citation arraignments 28,643
2018: Actual Midterm traffic citation arraignment 13,053

APD STAFFING SHORTAGE

There is a direct correlation between the dramatic decline in the traffic citation stops and traffic arrangement cases and the severe decline in APD personnel.

In 2009, APD had 1,100 police officers with approximately 700 assigned to field services, patrolling our streets over three shifts.

In 2009, APD had a traffic unit that had upwards of 20 patrol officers and today it is at less than 10.

The December 11, 2015 Albuquerque Police Department Comprehensive Staffing Assessment and Resource Study prepared by Alexander Weiss for the Department of Justice concluded that APD needs at least 1,000 sworn officers.

Over the past eight years, the number of APD sworn officers has fallen from 1,100 officers to 878.

In 2017, APD had at one time 841 sworn police officers with only 440 assigned to the field services responding to 69,000 priority one 911 emergency calls.

CONCLUSION

The above statistics reveal just how bad things are with APD being unable to patrol our streets and issue traffic citations and for that matter identify and apprehend violent and serious felons.

The Keller Administration is calling for an $88 million dollar of additional funding and increased costs for APD over the next four fiscal years from 2018 to 2022 to increase APD personnel.

The 2018-2019 Keller proposed budget allocates $12.8 to carry out a four-year plan for recruiting new officers.

APD currently has 878 sworn police officers but is budgeted for 1,000 officers.

The 2018-2019 proposed budget calls for APD to increase its ranks to 1,040 officers in the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1, 2018.

The Keller submitted city budget for 2018-2019 is where “the rubber hits the road” when it comes to public safety and reducing our high crime rates.

Street patrols and simple traffic stops, although increasing a law enforcement officers exposure to danger, are classic and proven proactive law enforcement measures to apprehend violent felons, save life in the long run and reduce our high crime rates.

To all law enforcement, please, please, please keep safe during simple traffic stops and get back to your families safe and sound after your shifts.

Drug dealing, home burglaries, violent crime, package thefts, car break-ins, homeless taking up permanent residence in abandoned homes, broken windows, front and back yards full of trash and debris, yards full of weeds, inoperable vehicles parked in front yards, graffiti vandalism are all signs of a declining neighborhood and contribute to declining property values.

Because of our high crime rates, Albuquerque is suffering from a serious decline of many of our neighborhoods, including a few areas that are considered financially well off with high end homes.

The Ridgecrest area is one of those areas reported on by KRQE News 13.

http://www.krqe.com/news/investigations/albuquerque-neighbors-band-together-to-take-on-crime-wave/1104772795

“Buildings that were empty, the blight that had spread throughout some of the busier streets, and yeah the crime. The crime was palpable. … There was an absolute decline in the neighborhood,” said Helen Petropoulos to KRQE News 13.

Dave Hancock who also lives in the Ridgecrest area said:

“It got us to sort of look around and go, ‘do we wanna move or what’s really going on? We all get numb to things that go on and we’re into our day-to-day routine, and so you look around and all of a sudden, the park lights not working – well how long hasn’t it worked? Cause you’re not paying attention to what’s going on.”

Instead of moving, the Ridgecrest neighbors decided to take “crime fighting” into their own hands.

The Ridgecrest neighbors got to know each other better and exchanged phone numbers and started a neighborhood watch program.

The neighbors started to patrol their neighborhood together at night.

When the Ridgcrest neighbors spotted squatters living in an abandoned home and reported it to the city, the city did not do anything about it.

The neighbors bought wood and boarded up the windows themselves and put a lock on the gate.

When the neighbors spotted a car cruising the block at night with no lights on, casing homes, they called 242-COPS and a patrol car showed up right away.

This is what you call “citizen activism” and taking back your neighborhood and it works.

IT HAS NOT ALWAYS BEEN THIS WAY, NOR THIS BAD

According to the Channel 13 news report, it was six years ago that the Ridgecrest residents began to notice a real decline in their neighborhood.

Six years ago was the same time that the Safe City Strike Force was gutted and dismantled by the Berry Administration and after Darren White took over the program as the Director of the Safe City Strike Force.

In 2001, the Safe City Strike Force was formed to combat blighted, substandard residential properties that had become magnets for crime.

Thirty to forty-five representatives from the Albuquerque Police Department, the Albuquerque Fire Department, the Fire Marshal’s Office, the Planning Department Code residential and commercial code inspectors, Family Community Services and the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s Office participated and comprised the strike force.

The Safe City Strike Force was directly under the City Legal Department with a Deputy City Attorney in charge to enable it to take court actions and negotiate settlement agreements.

For eight years, seventy to one hundred fifty properties a week, both residential and commercial properties, would be reviewed by the Strike Force.

The Safe City Strike Force would handle referrals from the general public, neighborhood associations, the Mayor and the Albuquerque City Council.

The Safe City Strike Force routinely prepared condemnation resolutions for enactment by the Albuquerque City Council to tear down substandard buildings.

The city’s Safe City Strike Force also targeted hundreds of properties, both residential and commercial and took civil enforcement action against blighted and substandard properties and cleaned upped and boarded up properties found to be substandard.

The Safe City Strike Force took code enforcement action back then against a few vacant homes in the Ridgcrest area.

The city’s Planning Department secured federal grants upwards of $1 million dollars for clean ups and board ups of substandard structures that were designated as blighted properties.

In eight years, the Safe City Strike Force took civil enforcement action against upwards of 6,500 properties, both commercial and residential.

COMMUNITY ACTIVISM MAKES A DIFFERENCE

Criminals and especially drug dealers need to know that residents and neighbors are watching them.

A huge part of community-based policing is neighborhoods coming together and knowing who lives in the neighborhood and what is going on in their neighborhood and be proactive in reporting crime.

When residents are alert and report suspicious activity, it makes a difference.

I recall about 12 years ago, neighbors in the South East Heights got together and targeted streets and residential homes in the La Mesa/Trumbull area that were being used for illicit drug sales.

The Southeast Heights neighborhood associations and community activists became so enraged with the amount of crime in the area that they organized and did actual “marches to take back the neighborhood” and protested properties that had become “magnets” for crime.

Groups of anywhere between 25 to 40 neighbors and property owners would get together and walk the streets with signs and armed with “bullhorns” and chant slogans for the drug dealers to get out of their neighborhood.

“Hey, Hey, Ho, Ho, Drug Dealers Gotta Go” or “What do we want? Drug dealers gone NOW!” are the chants I can recall.

Police escorts and code enforcement officials would escort the neighbors during their marches.

Neighborhood clean ups were also organized with the city’s help.

Many high ranking Department Heads, including the Mayor and the Chief Administrative Officers, would get out into areas of the city and do trash clean up armed with rakes, shovels and garbage bags.

The city partnered with the activists and took action.

The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) identified homes they believed drugs were being sold by the owners or tenants.

APD’s Criminal Nuisance Abatement Unit and Code Enforcement Teams targeted areas separately with “sweeps” and law enforcement tactical plans utilizing specialized units.

The Safe City Strike Force would do “sweeps” of the area handing out citations for city code violations such as weed and litter citations.

I recall the former Mayor Martin Chaves and even then State Senator Tim Keller would participated every now and then.

The protest marches turn out to be very effective and made a difference driving out narcotics dealers in the neighborhoods.

EIGHT YEARS OF NEGLECT AND NO ACTION

In December 2009, Republican operative Darren White was appointed Chief Public Safety Officer, oversaw the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) and was appointed Director of the Safe City Strike Force.

Darren White has always had the remarkable talent of destroying everything he touches, which is what he did with the Safe City Strike Force and APD.

In January, 2010 the Berry administration and Darren White began to systematically dismantle the Safe City Strike Force.

Eight years later in 2018, the Safe City Strike Force has one employee, its Director who is a code inspector, and the Safe City Strike Force exists in name only in the Planning Department and not the Legal Department where it started and belongs.

For eight (8) years, little or next to nothing was done by the City of Albuquerque to address blighted and substandard residential properties despite repeated demands from neighborhood associations and property owners.

Eight years later, virtually all the progress that was made to clean up neighborhoods and bring down the crime in the city’s neighborhoods is virtually gone.

A conservative estimate is that there are approximately 4,000 substandard residential properties throughout Albuquerque that are in need of serious repair, clean up and many are vacant that have become magnets for crime and that bring down surrounding property values.

To complicate matters, the Albuquerque Police Department is so seriously understaffed that it is unable to do tactical plans or “sweeps” for civil code enforcement with Planning Department inspectors on a consistent and sustained manner in city neighborhoods.

In 2018, APD has only 878 sworn police but with only about 450 in field services handling calls for service throughout the city and on three shifts.

PROPOSED APD FUNDING AND REINSTATEMENT OF SAFE CITY STRIKE FORCE

On March 30, 2018, the Keller Administration submitted its 2018-2019 fiscal year city budget to the Albuquerque City Council for review and budget hearings.

Spending highlights in the 2018-2019 city budget include a significant financial commitment to APD and for crime reduction.

The Keller Administration is proposing spend $88 million dollars over a four-year period and return to community-based policing and increase the number of sworn police officers from the current 878 positions filled to 1,200, or by 322 sworn police officers.

The 2018-2019 proposed Keller budget includes $3.9 million for the city’s Code Enforcement Department and to fund the Safe City Strike Force.

The $3.9 million appropriation is a respectable commitment to reinstate a program that was dismantled by the previous administration.

Further, $102,000 in new appropriations is being proposed to undertake board ups of blighted properties and begin the process of condemnation and demolition of properties declared a nuisance.

Eight years ago, the Safe City Strike had $1 million in funding for board ups, teardowns and condemnations.

The $102,000 for board ups of blighted properties is a good start, but significantly more will be needed to address the approximate 4,000 substandard properties throughout Albuquerque.

CONCLUSION

Funding the Safe City Strike Force may not be a gloried legacy construction project like the ART Bus project, a library or fire station that Mayor’s and city councilors always love taking credit for in order to be remembered.

Notwithstanding, fully funding and staffing the Safe City Strike Force will go a long way to getting rid of blighted residential properties, which only sully entire neighborhoods and put residents in danger and bring property values down.

In the final analysis, neighborhoods should not be forced to take matters into their own hands as what has happened in the Ridgcrest neighborhood area.