“The word “homicide” is neutral: it merely means the killing of one human being by another human being. Homicides may be justifiable, excusable or criminal, depending upon the circumstances of the killing and the state of mind of the killer. … A human death is a homicide if the dead person was once alive and is now dead because of the act of another human being.”

https://www.in.gov/ctb/files/appendix1.pdf

The above link contains the generally recognized definitions of justifiable homicide, excusable homicide, criminal homicide , murder, manslaughter, and voluntary manslaughter. Each state’s criminal statutes and the elements required to be proven vary in minor degrees as does the federal laws.

ABQ’s AND BERNCO’s HOMICIDES

On June 7, it was reported that multiple investigations are underway in southeast Albuquerque. According to APD, there was a deadly shooting on Columbia Drive, and a separate shooting at Bell and Arizona, which was connected to a crash on nearby Zuni Road. APD also said there were multiple injuries from a crash that left a 6-year-old child seriously injured.

On June 6, it was reported that the Albuquerque Police (APD) is investigating two homicides that occurred in the morning. According to an APD spokesman, officers were called to a motorcycle crash at the intersection of Broadway Boulevard and Coal Avenue. They found a man at the scene, who had suffered a gunshot wound. He was transported to a nearby hospital, but did not survive his injuries.

On the southwest side of the city, officers responded to a shots fired call, in the 7300 block of Blue Avena Avenue near Unser Boulevard and Arenal Road. APD officers arrived and found a man dead.

https://www.koat.com/article/apd-investigates-2-overnight-homicides/36640370#

On May 29 it was reported the city suffered a second homicide in less than 12 hours and the 50th in the city this year. There were 25 killings by May 29 of last year.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2395290/overnight-shooting-leaves-1-dead-2-others-wounded.html

As of June 6, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) has recorded 52 homicides for the year. However, there have been more. The actual count of the number of homicides is as least 7 more within the city making the count 59 murders. The reason for the discrepancy is simple. Each law enforcement agency that has jurisdiction within the city limits counts those homicides they are investigating at the exclusion of the other agencies.

State Police numbers are NOT included in BCSO numbers nor APD numbers, with each agency reporting their own numbers separately to the FBI.

The best example is that recently it was reported that the New Mexico State Police (NMSP) are investigating a double homicide that happened in Albuquerque. NMSP said they responded after a car rolled off I-40 at Carlisle. Two bodies with gunshot wounds were inside the vehicle. The homicides are not included in the Albuquerque Police Department’s homicide count, which is 47 thus far for 2021.

NMSP said it took on the investigation because it was one of its officers that was lagged down. APD was not aware of the investigation until a week later. APD spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos had this to say:

“We typically have good communication. But in this case they (NMSP) did not communicate this investigation to APD until we reached out to them after learning from the DA that there was a case”

NMSP said local agencies are “not necessarily notified unless investigators determine there is a specific need.”

APD said it doesn’t include NMSP homicide investigations in their statistics because they follow FBI guidelines. NMSP said the incident was only the second time in five years they’ve taken on a homicide investigation in Albuquerque city limits.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/nmsp-explains-why-it-took-on-double-homicide-investigation-in-albuquerque/6114851/

APD HOMICIDE LIST FOR 2021

The Albuquerque Police Department (APD) maintains a list of dates, addresses and case numbers assigned to homicides. The list reflects homicides, or murder/nonnegligent manslaughter, in Albuquerque from January 1 through May 15 without listing the listing of 3 recent murders. The list does not include justifiable homicides or negligent murder, as defined by the FBI. The link to the list is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/apd-homicide-list-for-web-site-as-of-17may2021.pdf

According to the list of homicides, following is the breakdown of the number of homicides for the months of January 1 to May 30 are as follows:

JANUARY: 14
FEBRUARY: 6
MARCH: 7
APRIL: 14
MAY: 9
TOTAL: 50

BERNALILLO COUNTY SHERIFFS’ OFFICE FAILED TO REPORT TO FBI

On April 8, the Albuquerque Journal published on its front page a story written by Journal staff reporter Matthew Reisen with the banner headline “BCSO has been silent about this year’s homicides.” It was reported that BCSO waited until the week of April 5 to report on the 2 homicides that occurred in the county and being investigated by the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office. Further, the BCSO waited until April to report that the December 2020 death of Francine Gonzales, 36, on the West Side was ruled a homicide after an autopsy in late March.

The link to the full report is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2377985/sheriffs-office-was-mum-on-2021-homicides.html

According to the Journal report, in previous years, including 2020, BCSO regularly sent out email and Twitter alerts when BCSO detectives opened a homicide investigation. BCSO usually gave details on the incident and solicited tips from the public. Until April 7, BCSO had been silent on the 2021 cases, yet increased email and Twitter notifications for warrant roundup operations and “repeat offender” arrests often criticizing the actions of courts for previously releasing the suspects.

BCSO Transparency and Public Information Coordinator Jayme Fuller explained the delay in reporting on the 2 homicides as not always told about homicides, or other incidents, until reporters ask about them and they confirm them with supervisors.

The most troubling fact in the Journal report was glossed over. Buried in the article is the statement:

“Last year, BCSO’s crime statistics were not included in the annual FBI report because the agency didn’t meet the March deadline to report them, and they couldn’t be certified in time.”

The problem is that the yearly FBI statistics are the best measure as to performance measures of BCSO. Further, Bernalillo County and BCSO rely upon those statistics to secure federal grant funding.”

ABQ REPORTS WEEKLY HOMICIDE STATISTICS

ABQReports is an online news and opinion outlet that has begun to publish “weekly” homicide updates by a retired APD Sergeant. ABQ REPORTS reported that as of June 9, 2021, Albuquerque has had 63 homicides. ABQReports includes vehicular homicides and child abuse resulting in death and those determined as “justified. ” ABQ Reports statistic of 63 includes 2 children who died in a DWI crash with their mothers, homicides that APD classified as “Justified” or self defense and at least 2 killings by APD officers. Police Officer deadly force shootings are not classified as homicides and are separate category.

The link to the May 23 ABQReports is here:

https://www.abqreport.com/single-post/abq-homicides-now-at-57

ABQ Raw

ABQ Raw is an “on line” and FACEBOOK news agency. ABQ RAW calls itself:

“the flip side of local news in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Created by and for a connected generation. Our documentaries and original video brings you an unvarnished look at some of the most important people, events, and happenings in Albuquerque, and shines a light on underreported stories. Unorthodox and at times irreverent, we get to the heart of our community and call it like we see it.”

According to ABQ Raw’s FACEBOOK page:

“ABQ RAW is a Run And Gun Web, Video Guerrilla Documentary Filmmaking/News channel created by, and for a connected generation. Our often short, raw, video clips, summary reports, documentaries, and docudramas brings you an unvarnished look at some of the people, events, and happenings in Albuquerque, New Mexico and sometimes beyond, we shine a light on often underreported stories. Unorthodox and at times irreverent, we get to the heart of our community and call it like we see it. #ABQRAW #ABQRAWClips.”

During the United States Senate Second Impeachment hearing of former President and Der Führer Donald Trump, many new videos attributed to ABQ Raw of the January 6 US Capital insurrection were offered as evidence.

On May 20, ABQ Raw published a listing of 65 homicides that have occurred in Albuquerque from January 8 to May 29 with dates, locations, gender and news source. According to ABQ Raw:

“Most cases were reported by other media outlets and the stories are posted next to the corresponding number. Some cases, as you can see were never reported to the media but we were told about them from anonymous sources. We count actual homicides and don’t depend on the city police department PR officials or other media outlets to tell us when a death should be considered a homicide.”

You can review the entire ALB Raw list of 65 homicides here:

https://www.facebook.com/abqraw/photos/pcb.4565965273432222/4565951996766883

EXPLAINING SUMMARY REPORTING SYSTEM (SRS) VS. NATIONAL INCIDENT-BASED REPORTING SYSTEM (NIBRS)

“In 2018, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) began reporting its annual crime statistics using the Federal Bureau Of Investigation’s National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). NIBRS is the most current national framework for reporting crime and replaces the FBI’s Uniform Crimes Reports (UCR). This change is important because, compared to UCR, NIBRS provides more comprehensive and detailed information about crimes against person, crimes against property and crimes against society occurring in law enforcement jurisdictions across the county.”

https://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/crimestats2018_19_apd.pdf

SRS SYSTEM
Prior to 2018, APD reported data using the Summary Reporting System (SRS), which included 8 crime categories and counted only the most serious offense during an incident. The 8 offenses were chosen because they are serious crimes, they occur with regularity in all areas of the country, and they are likely to be reported to police. In the traditional Summary Reporting System (SRS), the eight crimes, or Part I offenses are:

1. Murder and Nonnegligent Manslaughter
2. Forcible Rape
3. Robbery
4. Aggravated Assault
5. Burglary
6. Larceny-theft
7. Motor Vehicle Theft
8. Arson
A link providing a complete definition of each category under the SRS system is here:

https://www.bjs.gov/ucrdata/offenses.cfm

NIBRS SYSTEM

Starting in January 2021, the FBI will no longer accept data in the SRS format. The FBI is requiring crimes to be counted through the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). In NIBRS, there are 3 major reporting broad categories:

Crimes against persons
Crimes against property and
Crimes against society.

The 3 major categories are then broken down into 52 sub-categories. NIBRS counts virtually all crimes committed during an incident and for that reason alone NIMRS is far more sophisticated than the “most serious incident-based” reporting SRS reporting system.

“In the National Incident-Based Reporting System” (NIBRS), each offense reported is either a Group A or Group B offense type. There are 23 Group A offense categories, comprised of 52 Group A offenses and 10 Group B offense categories. Law enforcement agencies report Group A offenses as part of a NIBRS incident report, but they report only arrest data for Group B offenses.

Each offense collected in NIBRS belongs to one of three categories: Crimes Against Persons, Crimes Against Property, or Crimes Against Society.

Crimes Against Persons include murder, rape, and assault, and are those in which the victims are always individuals.

Crimes Against Property include robbery, bribery, and burglary, or to obtain money, property, or some other benefit.

Crimes Against Society include gambling, prostitution, and drug violations, and represent society’s prohibition against engaging in certain types of activity and are typically victimless crimes.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/nibrs/2018/resource-pages/crimes_against_persons_property_and_society-2018.pdf

“In NIBRS, law enforcement agencies collect detailed data regarding individual crime incidents and arrests and submit them in separate reports using prescribed data elements and data values to describe each incident and arrest. Therefore, NIBRS involves incident-based reporting. … There are 52 data elements used in NIBRS to describe the victims, offenders, arrestees, and circumstances of crimes.”

The link to a complete guide to the NIBRS crime reporting system is here:

https://ucr.fbi.gov/nibrs/nibrs_dcguide.pdf

ALBUQUERQUE RANKS IN THE TOP 100 DANGEROUS CITIES 4 YEARS IN A ROW FROM 2017 TO 2021

Neighborhood Scout’s provides comprehensive database of real estate data.

“Neighborhood Scout uses over 600 characteristics to build a neighborhood profile for each and every neighborhood, census tract, and address, block-group in America. These include: school quality, housing costs, crime rates, income levels, the age, size and style of homes, the density of buildings, rental areas versus owner occupied, the proportion of families with children, educational attainment, languages spoken, types of careers of those living in the neighborhood, economic trends, demographic trends, crime trends and forecasts, crime risk by crime type, home price appreciation and HPA forecasts, unemployment trends, and many, many more.”

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/about-scout

According to the webs site, since 2012, Neighborhood Scout research “[reveals the 100 most dangerous cities in America with 25,000 or more people, based on the number of violent crimes per 1,000 residents. Violent crimes include murder, rape, armed robbery, and aggravated assault. The data used for this research are the number of violent crimes reported to have occurred in each city, and the population of each city.
…
There are some newcomers to the list this year. Atlantic City, NJ creeps back into the list at ninety-nine with a 16% year-over-year increase in its violent crime rate. Dallas, TX, the 9th largest city in the U.S., appears on the list for the first time at number eighty-nine with a violent crime rate of 8.7 per 1,000. This is an increase of 13% compared to the previous year. Spartanburg, SC, a historic Revolutionary War city, is the newcomer with the highest violent crime rate of 12.0 per 1,000 population.

ALBUQUERQUE MAKES THE TOP 100 MOST DANGEROUS CITIES IN 2021, 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017

The city has gone from the low rank of #74 to a current rank of #21 over the last 5 years. Following is Albuquerque’s rankings in Neighborhood Scout’s for the last 5 years:

2021
#21 Ranking Out Of 100
Violent Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents): 13.7
Chance of being a victim: 1 in 72

2020
#23 Ranking Out Of 100

2019
#25 Ranking Out Of 100
Albuquerque Violent Crime Rate: 13.9
Chance of being a victim: 1 in 72

2018
#50 Ranking Out Of 100
Population: 559,277
Albuquerque’s Violent Crime Rate: 11.50
No. of Violent Crimes: 6,429
Assault: 3,859 | Robbery: 1,962 | Rape: 547 | Murder: 61
Chance of being a victim: 1 in 87

2017
#74 Ranking Out Of 100
Albuquerque Number of Crimes

Violent Crime 7,711
Property Crime 32,338
Total Crime: 40,049

Crime Rate (per 1,000 residents)

Violent crime rate: 13.76
Property crime rate: 57.69
Total crime rate: 71.45

https://www.neighborhoodscout.com/blog/top100dangerous

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Although the NIBRS crime reporting system makes sense for law enforcement, it makes little sense to the general public. It does not allow the public to quickly identify the increases or decreases in the traditional categories of crime that the public are used to: Murder, Manslaughter, Rape, Assault and Battery, Burglary, Larceny-theft, Motor Vehicle Theft and arson. APD should consider publishing similar list of major crimes as they release for homicides. Otherwise, the public will remain in the dark.

IT’S KELLER VERSUS GONZALES

From April 17 to June 19, 2021, publicly financed candidates for Mayor must gather both 3,000 signatures from registered voters within the City and 3,779 qualifying donations of $5.00 to secure $661,309.25 in public financing.

Review of the City Clerk’s June 4 Processed Petition Signatures makes it highly likely that only incumbent Mayor Tim Keller and Sheriff Manny Gonzales will be the only two that will make the ballot, and it’s a damn shame.

There will be only two candidates for Mayor unless of course there are privately financed candidates who decide to run. Privately financed candidates for Mayor must gather the 3,000 nominating petition signatures from registered voters within the City from June 8 – August 10, 2021.

The link to the city clerks June 7 report is here

https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2021-candidates/petition-qualifying-contribution-tally-1

Tim Keller has been Mayor for 4 years of the 5 years where the city has ranked in the top 100 most violent cities. Sherriff Gonzales has been in office for 6 years, the entire time the city’s crime rates have spiked. The homicide statistics and accompanying headlines are the very type of headlines and statistics that should give both Mayor Tim Keller and Sheriff Manny Gonzales nightmares as they run against each other for Mayor. The statistics should mark the end of both of their political careers, but they don’t.

In 2017, Candidate Tim Keller campaigned to get elected Mayor on the platform of implementing the Department of Justice (DOJ) mandated reforms, increasing the size of APD, returning to community-based policing and promising to bring down skyrocketing crime rates. Mayor Tim Keller has tried repeatedly to take credit for crime rates being on the decline in all categories other than violent crime offenses.

Mayor Tim Keller repeatedly proclaims that the city’s violent crime rates are in fact a national trend, that his programs to fight violent crime are working, yet the city’s crimes rates have increased each year during his term. This coming from a mayor who campaigned and got elected on the platform to bring down the city’s crime rates.

Gonzales proclaims he can do a better job than Keller and with his tough on crime policies will turn things around. Gonzales also is now making the City’s Homeless crisis a priority, yet he has done absolutely nothing for 6 years to address the homeless crisis other than having his deputies break up homeless encampments.

Gonzales forgets he has been Sheriff longer than Keller has been Mayor and the County’s crime rates are just as bad. For 5 years, Sheriff Gonzales did next to nothing in helping APD bring down violent crime rates saying crime in the city was not in his jurisdiction as a Bernalillo County Sheriff, that is until he decided to run for Mayor. Gonzales proclaimed that businesses and residents in the South East Heights, which has often been referred to as the War Zone, contacted Gonzales and he decided to do law enforcement sweeps in the are and hold press conferences about his success no doubt to garner favor with voters and make Keller and the APD Chief look bad. It’s called political opportunism at its worst.

CHALLENGES WE FACE

The city is facing any number of problems that are bringing it to its knees. Those problems include the coronavirus pandemic, business closures, high unemployment rates, exceptionally high violent crime and murder rates, continuing mismanagement of the Albuquerque Police Department, failed implementation of the Department of Justice reforms after a full six years and millions spent, declining revenues and gross receipts tax, high unemployment rates, increasing homeless numbers, lack of mental health programs and little economic development.

The city cannot afford another mayor who makes promises and offers only eternal hope for better times that result in broken campaign promises. What is needed is a mayor who actually knows what they are doing, who will make the hard decisions without an eye on the next election, not make decisions only to placate their base and please only those who voted for them. What’s needed is a healthy debate on solutions and new ideas to solve our mutual problems, a debate that can happen only with a contested election. A highly contested race for mayor will reveal solutions to our problems. With Keller and Gonzales, we are faced with voting for the lesser of two evils, or not voting.

There is still time for other candidates to run as privately financed candidates and raise private campaign donations. Privately Finance Candidates for Mayor must also gather 3,000 signatures from registered voters within the City. The time for privately financed candidates for Mayor to collect signatures is from June 8 to August 10, 2021.

Anyone one interested in running for Mayor and who has a real love for this city and is concerned about what is happening is encouraged to contact the City Clerk’s office.
The link to the city web site for candidates is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2021-candidates

https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/CommitteeSearch.aspx

From April 17 to June 19, 2021, or 64 days, publicly financed candidates for Mayor must gather 3,779 qualifying donations of $5.00 to secure $661,309.25 in public financing. The 3,774 qualifying donations is based on the city’s registered voters and Candidates are required to collect qualifying contributions from 1% of the registered voters. The $5.00 qualifying donations must come from registers voters who live within the city limits, otherwise the donations are disqualified.

Both Mayor Tim Keller and Sheriff Manny Gonzales are seeking public financing for their campaigns. Two other candidates for Mayor also sought public financing with one dropping out of the race citing difficulty in collecting the $5 donations during the pandemic and another one having only collected 3 donations.

Candidates seeking public funding have until June 19 to obtain 3,779 qualifying $5 contributions to qualify for the $661,309 in public financing. The city’s election code requires the $5 qualifying contributions be paid by the contributor listed on the receipt and not by a candidate’s campaign. The city election code states:

“if the funds are provided by any other person other than the contributor who is listed on the receipt, the qualifying contributions will be deemed fraudulent.”
The link to the City election code is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/clerk/documents/ARTICLEXIII.pdf

The link to the 2021 REGULATIONS OF THE ALBUQUERQUE CITY CLERK FOR THE ELECTION CODE is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/clerk/documents/draft-ec-rules-2021-clean.pdf

ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST GONZLAES FILED

On June 6, it was reported that Mayor Tim Keller’s reelection campaign filed an ethics complaint against Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales alleging Gonzales personally told a voter that he did not have to pay a $5 contribution and that he would cover the $5.00 qualifying donation.

The Keller complaint accuses Bernalillo County Sheriff Manuel Gonzales of fraud. According to the affidavit filed, Gonzales and accompanying Sheriff Deputies attended a Salvation Army Advisory Board at their invitation, asked the board members to sign a document saying they had provided a $5 “qualifying contribution” that would allow Gonzales to qualify for public financing. The ethics complaint alleges the Gonzales’ campaign submitted the contribution receipt to the City Clerk’s Office on June 1.

The ethics complaint was accompanied by an affidavit from Dean Zantow, a member of the Salvation Army Advisory Board, who stated Gonzales attended a May 27 board meeting as an invited guest. After speaking to the board, Gonzales and two Deputy Sheriff’s asked board members to sign nominating petition to place Gonzales on the November 2 ballot as a candidate for mayor. Then they were asked to sign donations receipts.

Zantow in his sworn affidavit said he agreed to fill out a receipt showing that he had provided a $5 qualifying contribution, then asked Sheriff Gonzales “Am I supposed to give you $5?” According to the affidavit, Gonzales allegedly stated, “No, that’s OK, we’ll cover that.” Attached to the ethics complaint is a copy of a $5 contribution receipt, dated May 27, signed by both Zantow and Gonzales.

It turns out that Zantow later made a $5 contribution to the Keller campaign when he informed a Keller campaign worker that Gonzales had not required him to pay $5. The campaign worker then alerted the Keller campaign.

GONZALES CAMPAIGN DENIES ALLEGATION

Megan McMillan, a Gonzales campaign official, called the complaint “baseless” and said “neither Sheriff Gonzales nor the campaign covered any contribution.”

https://www.koat.com/article/things-heating-up-in-race-for-abq-mayor/36665928

https://www.krqe.com/video/mayor-keller-files-ethics-complaint-against-bernalillo-county-sheriff/6700378/

https://www.abqjournal.com/2397668/ethics-complaint-accuses-gonzales-of-election-fraud.html

QUALIFYING DONATIONS AND NOMINATING PETITIONS

All candidates for Mayor seeking public financing are given a mere 64 days to collect the 3,779 qualifying donations of $5.00 and the 3,000 nominating petition signatures from Albuquerque registered voters. Collecting the nominating signatures very easy, but not so easy collecting the $5,00 donations because of people’s reluctance to donate to politicians.

The $5.00 qualifying donations are donations made to the city and not the candidates. If a candidate seeking public financing donations does not secure the 3,779 qualifying $5 donations made to the city, all the money reverts to the city. It cannot be kept or given to the candidate that collected the donations.

Candidates that decide to go with private financing as well as measured finance committees for candidates can solicit unlimited cash donations from any source including out of city and state contributions.

With public financing, receipts must be issued by both the donor and the collector of the donation. The receipt requires the donor to certify they are a registered donor and that they are making the donation and soliciting party must also sign the receipt. The original receipt is given to the donor and copies of receipts and the cash are turned into the city clerk’s office for verification.

Once all the 3,779 qualifying donations are turned in, the city transfers the entire $661,309.25 in public financing within 24 hours into the candidate’s campaign bank account.

As a condition to receiving public financing from the City, a public financed candidate must agree to a spending cap not to exceed the amount given and agree not to raise and spend any more cash to financed their campaign.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2018/01/02/2018-year-to-reform-city-public-campaign-finance-laws-revised-article/

PROCESSED $5.00 QUALIFYING CONTRIBUTIONS

As of June 7, City Clerk numbers for Processed $5.00 Qualifying Contributions are as follows:

MAYOR TIM KELLER

Required $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 3,779
Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 3,703
Rejected $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 294
Remaining $5.00 Qualifying Contributions Needed: 76
Percentage of Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 98%
Remaining $5.00 Qualifying Contributions Needed: 129

SHERIFF MANNY GONZALES

Required $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 3,779
Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 2,542
Rejected $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 216
Remaining $5.00 Qualifying Contributions Needed: 1,237
Percentage of Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 67%

https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2021-candidates/petition-qualifying-contribution-tally-1

SHERIFF MANNY GONZALES

Required $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 3,779
Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 2,542
Rejected $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 216
Remaining $5.00 Qualifying Contributions Needed: 1,237
Percentage of Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 67%

Gonzales has collected 2,794 of the required 3,000 signatures, or 93%. Gonzales needs to collect another 206 verifiable signatures, which is highly likely over a 12 full day period.

A problem for Gonzales is that his campaign is struggling to collect the verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions. The Gonzales campaign has collected 2,542 verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions or 67%. Gonzales needs to collect another 1,237 donations or at least 106 plus 1 qualifying $5 donations a day for the next full 12 days which is a very daunting task.

If Gonzales does not qualify for public finance, he could declare he will seek private financing and stay in the race but it will be a major setback to his campaign. All the $5.00 qualifying donation Gonzalez has collected are donations made to the city. The Gonzales campaign cannot keep the the donations and the campaign will get no public financing. Gonzales will no doubt ramp up private donation efforts but donors will be reluctant to contribute to both him and a measured finance committee. Another impact of failure to qualify for public finance will be to dry up private contributions to the two measured finance committees set up to promote him.

PROCESSED PETITION SIGNATURES:

As of June 7, following are the City Clerk numbers for Processed Petition Signatures:

MAYOR TIM KELLER

Required Petition Signatures: 3,000
Verified Petition Signatures: 3,542
Rejected Petition Signatures: 503
Remaining Petition Signatures Needed: 0
Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met: 100%

SHERIFF MANNY GONZALES

Required Petition Signatures: 3,000
Verified Petition Signatures: 2,794
Rejected Petition Signatures: 442
Remaining Petition Signatures Needed: 206
Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met: 93%

https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2021-candidates/petition-qualifying-contribution-tally-1

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

On June 1, candidate for Mayor Manny Gonzales held a campaign event at Revel Entertainment Center in Northeast Albuquerque. About 70 people, including children, had gathered to hear him speak. Before the event was over, a drone with a dildo dangling beneath it flew next to the stage. A man was arrested and booked into jail on charges of petty misdemeanor battery and misdemeanor resisting, evading or obstructing an officer. Gonzales was quick to charge that the Keller campaign had something to do with the incident which the Keller campaign denied. Keller’s campaign manager Neri Olguin went so far as to say that Gallegos was desperate.

Gonzales suggested that the stunt with the drone may have been sent by the rival campaign of Mayor Tim Keller. The Keller’s campaign condemned the stunt as “disruptive, rude and immature” and denied any involvement, but took a swipe at Gonzales when Keller campaign manager Neri Holguin said:

“To suggest we were behind it is pathetic and the kind of desperation that has marked Manny’s troubled campaign.”

https://www.santafenewmexican.com/ap/albuquerque-mayoral-candidate-interrupted-by-sex-toy-on-drone-punched-at-event/article_033ad0ae-592f-510d-bfe5-5fe466c8d583.html

Now we have the Keller campaign filing ethics charges based on one donation essentially alleging wide spread fraud within the Gonzales campaign. The ethics complaint by the Keller campaign against the Gonzales campaign should be taken seriously, but it also reflects a degree of hypocrisy by Gonzales and Keller both. Truth is both Sheriff Gonzales and Mayor Tim Keller are ethically challenged with Keller admonished in the past also involving his current campaign manager Neri Olguin.

ABOVE THE LAW GONZALES

Gonzales essentially presumed and made the allegation that the Keller campaign was behind the sex toy incident without any evidence to back it up. This coming from a law enforcement official who should know you need evidence of wrongdoing.

Candidates for Mayor are required to meet with the City Clerk and the entire process of collecting the $5.00 donations is explained to them. Gonzales knows the $5.00 donations must come directly from donors. One donation however does not make widespread fraud and the city campaign finance auditor needs to investigate and determine how many other donations has the Sheriff name on the receipts and if he in fact advanced the donation. The likely penalty would be invalidating the donation, not the Gonzales candidacy.

If Gonzales did in fact tell the donor he would cover the donation, such an action sends the clear message that Gonzales feels he is above the law. More troubling, if he volunteered to pay the donation and personally sign the receipt, there is an element of fraud upon the donor by misleading the donor to get the donors signature on the receipt or on the nominating petition.

KELLER NO STRANGER TO ETHICS VIOLATIONS

Four years ago when then New Mexico State Auditor Tim Keller ran his successful campaign for Mayor, he was the only candidate out of 8 candidates to qualify for public fiancé. Keller had two separate ethics charges filed against him.

One complaint filed against Tim Keller’s campaign involved the allegation that “cash donations” for political consulting were reported as “in-kind” donations.

The Election Board of Ethics and Campaign Practices ruled that the cash contributions were in fact an ethical violation but that the Keller Campaign acted in “good faith” and there was an “unintentional” violation of the ordinances with the Keller Campaign receiving an admonishment and with no fines.

A second complaint file against the Keller campaign was that the Keller Campaign for Mayor committee was coordinating their campaign and expenditures with ABQ Forward Together. Neri Holguin was the chairperson “ABQ Forward Together”, the progressive measured finance committee that was formed specifically to raise money to promote progressive Tim Keller for Mayor in 2017. “ABQ Forward Together” raised over $663,000 for Keller’s 2017 bid for Mayor as Keller qualified for public financing and given $340,000 for his 2017 campaign for Mayor. In 2009, Neri Holguin was the campaign manager for former State Senator Richard Romero against then Mayor Marty Chavez and RJ Berry. Many believe within the Democratic Party that Romero split the Democratic vote with Chavez resulting in the election of Mayor Richard Berry.

In 2021, Neri Olguin is the campaign manager for Tim Keller’s re-elction bid and another measured finance committee has been set up by Keller supporters. On April 26, one measured finance committees was formed to support Mayor Tim Keller’s bid for a second 4 year term identified as “ BUILD BACK ‘BURQUE”. Chairperson for “Build Back ‘Burque” is Michelle Mayorga, a highly experience progressive fund raiser and treasurer is the former Democrat Party Treasurer Robert Lara.

THE CHALLENGES WE FACE

At this point in time it is obvious that there will be only 2 candidates for Mayor out of the 4 announced, who will make the November 2, ballot. Further, it is more likely than not that Mayor Time Keller will be the only candidate that will qualify for public finance, with Sheriff Manny Gonzales falling far short of collecting the 3,779 qualifying $5.00 donations. It’s a damn shame.

The city is facing any number of problems that are bringing it to its knees. Those problems include the coronavirus pandemic, business closures, high unemployment rates, exceptionally high violent crime and murder rates, continuing mismanagement of the Albuquerque Police Department, failed implementation of the Department of Justice reforms after a full six years and millions spent, declining revenues and gross receipts tax, increasing homeless numbers, lack of mental health programs and little to none economic development.

The city cannot afford another mayor who makes promises and offers only eternal hope for better times that result in broken campaign promises. What is needed is a mayor who actually knows what the hell they are doing, who will make the hard decisions without an eye on the next election, not make decisions only to placate their base and please only those who voted for them. What’s needed is a healthy debate on solutions and new ideas to solve our mutual problems, a debate that can happen only with a contested election.

The time frame for privately finance candidates to collect the 3,000 nominating petition signatures for Mayor begins June 8 to August 10. Gathering 3,000 nominating petition signatures is extremely easier than collecting the $5.00 qualifying donations.

Anyone one interested in running for Mayor and who has a real love for this city and is concerned about what is happening is encouraged to contact the City Clerk’s office.

The link to the city web site for candidates is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2021-candidates

https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/CommitteeSearch.aspx

On March 31, in a special session of the New Mexico legislature, the state became the 18 state to legalize recreational cannabis . New Mexico already has a medical cannabis program that has more than 107,000 enrolled patients. The new law takes effect July 1 and sales are to begin no later than April 1, 2022. However, if new regulations are in fact adopted before then, sales can commence moths before the April 1 deadline and that’s no April Fools.

The law legalizes possession of up to 2 ounces of cannabis, or an equivalent amount of cannabis extract. A companion bill enacted will expunge the public records of thousands of New Mexicans convicted of cannabis related possession charges.

Advocates of recreational legalization argue it will generate at least 13,000 jobs and millions of dollars for the economy. According to some reports, legalizing recreational marijuana will generate up to $800 million a year, a $200 million increase from the last years estimate of $600 million.

Duke Rodriguez, president and CEO of Ultra Health, New Mexico’s largest medical marijuana company told lawmakers during legislative committee hearings:

“It’s going to change New Mexico and ways we can’t imagine. … I think we will be a powerhouse, not only within the state, but we have the potential of being a powerhouse not only in this country, but you’d be surprised, we have the ability to also compete internationally.”

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/recreational-marijuana-could-generate-up-to-800-million-a-year-according-to-new-estimates/5921047/?utm_medium=onsite&utm_campaign=thumbnails&utm_source=zetaglobal

FIRST PROPOSED REGULATIONS

On Tuesday, May 26, it was reported that the first proposed rules dealing primarily with marijuana producer license and plant fees were released. The link to the regulations is here:

ccd.rld.state.nm.us

The first proposed rules deal with marijuana producer license and plant fees. The drafted rules if adopted will set the cost of both producer and retailer licenses at $2,500 annually. Licenses for cannabis consumption areas, or designated places where adults can smoke, eat or drink cannabis products, would cost $2,500 annually under the draft rule.

The proposed rules call for a 3-tier system for cannabis producer plant limits with a maximum of 4,500 mature plants. Larger-scale producers would be charged higher per-plant fees than smaller producers.

Plant count limits have been the source of controversy with the States “medical marijuana” program with the current limit for licensed medical producers set at 1,750 plants. The 1,750 limit somewhat arbitrary as an attempt to avoid flooding the market with product.

The regulations must be adopted in order to meet the specific deadlines for implementing the law. Those deadlines are as follows:

No later than Sept. 1 – Start accepting and processing license applications from producers.

No later than Jan. 1, 2022 – Start issuing licenses and server permits; begin training and education programs.

No later than April 1, 2022 – Begin retail sales of recreational cannabis.

Regulation and Licensing Superintendent Linda Trujillo said the rules were crafted with input from other state agencies and existing medical cannabis producers. Trujillo had this to say in a released statement:

“… Today’s proposed rules don’t mean the conversation is over. … Through public comment, public hearings and ongoing conversations, we will continue to strengthen these rules to ensure the best possible outcomes. … Our goal would be to take it live with commercial sales before April 1, 2022.”

Depending on the pace of adopting new rules for recreational cannabis industry and court challenges that may slow down the process, recreational cannabis sales could start before an April 2022 deadline in the law enacted.

According to Regulation and Licensing Superintendent Linda Trujillo, the agency is moving quickly to hire top-level staffers for the department’s newly created Cannabis Control Division. Upwards of a dozen positions will be shifted over from the Department of Health once the new law takes effect, Trujillo said.

CONCERNS RAISED OVER REGULATIONS

Duke Rodriguez, CEO and president of Ultra Health Inc. the state’s largest medical cannabis producer, and former NM Health Department cabinet Secretary, expressed concern over the proposed limits and questioned what evidence was used to set the limits on plant growth output. Rodriguez had this to say in a report by the Albuquerque Journal:

“The model being proposed seems to advocate smallness in aspiration and doesn’t reflect the robustness that will be needed to achieve the 11,000-plus jobs and several hundred million-dollar cannabis industry.”

The link to the quoted source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2394218/recreational-pot-sales-could-fire-up-before-april-deadline.html

RECREATIONAL CANNIBUS LEGISLATION ALLOWS FOR ZONING RESTRICTIONS

Major highlights of the enacted legislation is that local jurisdictions, city and counties, cannot opt out of commercial sales, but can establish restrictions on operating hours and locations.

The legislation gives local governments, city and county governments, some authority to determine where cannabis dispensaries can be located.

The state’s counties will not have the authority to be able to prohibit cannabis sales nor prohibit the licensing of stores. In other words, local zoning rules would have been able to be used to control the number of stores in an area where they the stores could be located. This is identical to zoning restrictions placed on retail stores that sell pornography.

Cannabis establishments can also offer on-site consumption in certain circumstances.

The bill allows people 21 years or older to buy, possess and use marijuana outside the home up to 2 ounces of marijuana. People will be able to buy no more than 2 ounces of cannabis or 800 milligrams of edible cannabis. There are also limits on extracts. It is estimated that sales will generate more than $300 million in revenue for the state.

The state will regulate all sellers and there will be no limits on the number of licenses issued. This is a dramatic departure from the limited number of licenses available in liquor licenses which have a cap based upon population. There will be a cap on the number of plants sellers can grow. Households would be permitted to grow up to 12 mature plants for personal use.

The state would levy a 12% excise tax on sales to start, and the tax would grow to 18% over time. Gross receipts taxes would also be added on, pushing the total tax rate to 20%. There will be a maximum 20% tax on it.

https://www.petedinelli.com/2021/04/01/recreational-cannabis-and-expungement-of-criminal-records-approved-by-new-mexico-legislative-special-session/

ABQ ZONING RESTRICTIONS PROPOSED

Mayor Tim Keller originally requested the City Council enact an amendment to the Integrated Development Ordinance that would limit any marijuana dispensary to operate within 300 feet from any school, daycare, church or residential neighborhood. It is essentially identical to restrictions place on bars and adult entertainment establishments. The proposed ordinance also said they can’t open within 660 feet from any main street. As was orginaly written, the proposed zoning restrictions would have barred cannabis businesses from “main street” areas, which would include Downtown Central, the Nob Hill Central Area, Lomas, Menaul, Candelaria, Juan Tabo, Constitution just to mention a few, and within 300 feet of areas zoned for residential or mixed use.

Republican City Councilor Trudy Jones, who Keller asked to sponsor the legislation, said she wants to make sure that cannabis is being sold in the right areas. Jones put it this way:

“We just want to get ahead of it and make sure that we can make this legal but also safe for the people in the community as possible. … [We want to] just to make it fit in certain areas where it fits and where it would be most used and appreciated.”

Mayor Keller for his part said in a statement that his office is working with Councilor Jones “to begin a conversation on the implementation [of the state’s new recreational cannabis law].

“With only one chance each year to adjust the [Integrated Development Ordinance], we’re glad that Councilor Jones is addressing key issues for neighborhoods across our city. ”

KELLER ADMINISTRATION MODIFIES ORGINAL PROPOSAL AFTER INDUSTRY CONDEMNATION

The proposed zoning is allowed by the state statute legalizing recreational marijuana, but there was swift condemnation by the industry of the Mayor’s proposed changes to the Integrated Development Ordinance (IDO). Advocates for the cannabis industry said the change to the IDO will apply the same restrictions to cannabis dispensaries that now apply to strip clubs and adult bookstores. The ordinance would also require dispensaries to put 21 and over on all of their signs and prohibit them from using the marijuana leaf on any signage.

The New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, a cannabis industry trade group, wrote to Keller warning that his proposed zoning restrictions would have “unintended consequences” on business and the letter said:

“As written, the zoning amendments would preclude more than half of the current cannabis businesses – cultivators, manufacturers and retailers – in Albuquerque from participating in the adult use market.”

Ben Lewinger, executive director of the New Mexico Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, also had this to say:

“I don’t understand any reason for the rules. … They don’t seem to increase safety. It just seems to increase the stigmatizes of cannabis. … Based on the [proposed zoning change] … it is pretty hard to find a place this far away of the school, this far away from a daycare. These zoning changes would force them to move all of the facilities and not just the dispensaries but grow operations, manufacturing facilities all of the parts that go into making cannabis products.”

The link to quoted source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2393884/abq-proposal-would-limit-where-pot-can-be-sold-ex-call-to-bar-recreational-cannabis-merchants-from-main-street-areas-2.html

On June 2, it was reported that the Keller Administration has modified the zoning proposal that would have heavily restricted where the legalized recreational marijuana market could operate in Albuquerque. It turns out that the first proposal was rushed because the city has only one opportunity per year to update its zoning code. The yearly updating of the comprehensive zoning code was already underway when state lawmakers in April voted to legalize recreational cannabis.

Keller’s initial proposal would have blocked new shops from opening in Nob Hill and areas of Downtown and limited opportunities in mixed-use zones. According to the Keller Administration, the original proposal was based largely on other communities around the U.S. that have already legalized recreational marijuana and the frameworks they have instituted.

On June 2 after objections by the industry were raised, the Keller Administration released an updated proposal. The new proposal from the Keller administration would:

Prohibit cannabis dispensaries on the five roads designated as “Main Streets,” which include much of Central Avenue and parts of Fourth, Broadway, San Pedro and Bridge, where considerable public money has been spent on revitalization.

Allows cannabis storefronts on side streets from the identified main streets reversing the original proposal barring them for 660 feet off the main streets.

Cannabis dispensary licensing application proposed within 300 feet of a residential mixed-use zone would be required to get “conditional use” approval through a public hearing.

Mandates 1,000 feet between cannabis retail businesses.

Time of operation for all retail sales dispensaries would be limited to 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Off-premise, roadway signs would be prohibiting. State law allows signs of any size on the actual buildings.

All of the 47 current medical cannabis dispensaries in Albuquerque will be grandfathered in even if they become a recreational cannabis retail site regardless of what zoning is put in place.

The link source material is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2396266/mayor-loosens-cannabis-shop-zoning-proposal.html

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Mayor Tim Keller and his administration were short cited when they attempted to restrict a new industry from opening within 660 feet from any main street. Likewise, the industry overreacted to the initial proposal. The industry needs to recognize the city has the exclusive authority to decide locations.

NIMBY

It’s likely the recreational cannabis industry will be subjected to the NIMBY syndrome. NIMBY stands for “Not In My Back Yard” relating to proposed projects, businesses and zoning changes opposed by home owners, property owners, and business owners. Four of the biggest issues that generate public outcry by neighborhoods are the adult entertainment industry including pornography stores, homeless shelters, methadone clinics, and even establishments that sell liquor such as convenience stores and gas stations.

The city over the years has dealt with and been forced to close down violent bars that became magnets for crime and violent crime. It is conceivable that a retail cannabis store will be a target for criminals. At this point in time, no one knows for sure what direct impact recreational marijuana retail stores will have on any business or residential area and schools.

Both the city and the recreational cannabis industry are at a crossroads. They need to work together with zoning restrictions that will in fact ensure that the new industry can coexist with neighborhoods without creating nuisance businesses that create magnets for crime and contribute to loitering, public impairment and panhandling. The modified zoning changes take the similar approach the city uses as to liquor licensing and the industry should not object to that approach.

A few zoning requirements that need to be included for all recreational cannabis businesses and the issuance of a license to do business in the city that will prevent them from becoming magnets for crime would include:

1. Security cameras and uniform security personnel.
2. Mandatory background checks and periodic drug testing of all employees as a condition of employment.
3. Storage of all product in secured areas reducing access after hours of operation, such as used by jewelry stores to prevent thefts.
4. Mandatory nuisance abatement agreements before the city issues a license to do business where the business owner agrees to take remedial measures in the event the business reaches a level of calls for service as a result of criminal activity.

There is little doubt that New Mexico has the real potential to be “a production juggernaut” and a magnet for tourists and cannabis users from Arizona and Texas, both states that have yet to legalize.

Both the city and the industry need to think broadly about the future of New Mexico’s marijuana industry. The decisions made now as to zoning restrictions before state regulations are even adopted will have unintended consequences if not careful.

_________________________

POSCRTIPT

KRQE NEWS SURVEY ON PEOPLE FEEL ABOUT MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION

On May 16, KRQE News 13 posted on its web page a survey taken to gauge how people feel about marijuana legalization and marijuana-related expungement. The report was written by KRQE News reporter Curtis Segarra.

The report was very extensive and one of the most detailed seen in some time. More than 600 people responded to the survey including people that have consumed cannabis and those who have not. The report contains numerous supporting colored bar graphs for review. The link to the report with all the graphs and data is here:

https://www.krqe.com/news/new-mexico/krqe-survey-results-how-are-people-feeling-about-marijuana-and-expungement/

According to the report, a whopping 99.35% or respondents were aware of the new law while less than 1% or a mere 0.65% were not aware.

WRITTEN TEXT OF THE KRQE REPORT

Following is the full written text of the report:

“The survey asked users to rate the threat that marijuana, alcohol, prescription drugs, and methamphetamines pose to safety in New Mexico. Of the 607 people who answered the question, only about 17% thought marijuana posed an extreme threat. Nearly half of respondents, on the other hand, thought that alcohol posed an extreme threat, and roughly a quarter of people thought that prescription drugs were an extreme threat. Methamphetamines, unsurprisingly, were rated as an extreme threat by more than half of the survey-takers.

When it comes to safety, responses were split on whether or not survey-takers thought the legalization of cannabis will increase marijuana use among kids. A fifth of respondents indicated that they didn’t know if it would affect use among kids. Respondents seemed to have a better idea whether legalization would benefit the economy. Just over 70% of respondents said it would be an economic boost.”

CRIMINAL RECORD EXPUNGEMENT

The survey also asked about marijuana-related expungement. Almost 70% of those surveyed said they were in favor of removing marijuana-related charges and arrests from people’s records. Of those in support, over 80% think there should be no criminal punishment for using marijuana and about 66% think expungement helps people get jobs. Among those that do not support expungement, almost 70% think that once someone gets a criminal record, they shouldn’t be able to change it.

Regardless of the survey results, the New Mexico legislature has already spoken and the state is starting to implement the new laws. For expungement, the review and dismissal of sentences will be at no cost to incarcerated folks, implying that taxpayers will have to carry the estimated $500,000 cost to implement the new law.

From April 17 to June 19, 2021, publicly financed candidates for Mayor must gather both 3,000 signatures from registered voters within the City and 3,779 qualifying donations of $5.00 to secure $661,309.25 in public financing.

EDITORS NOTE: Privately financed candidates for Mayor must gather more than 3000 nominating petition signatures from registered voters within the City from June 8 – August 10, 2021.

PROCESSED PETITION SIGNATURES:

As of June 7, following are the updated City Clerk numbers for Processed Petition Signatures starting with the candidate with the most and ending with the least collected:

MAYOR TIM KELLER

Required Petition Signatures: 3,000
Verified Petition Signatures: 3,542
Rejected Petition Signatures: 503
Remaining Petition Signatures Needed: 0
Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met: 100%

SHERIFF MANNY GONZALES

Required Petition Signatures: 3,000
Verified Petition Signatures: 2,794
Rejected Petition Signatures: 442
Remaining Petition Signatures Needed: 206
Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met: 93%

PATRICK BEN SAIS

Required Petition Signatures: 3,000
Verified Petition Signatures: 728
Rejected Petition Signatures: 572
Remaining Petition Signatures Needed: 2, 272
Percentage of Verified Petition Signatures Met: 24%

NICHOLAS BEVINS

Nicholas Bevins has announced his withdrawal from the race and is no longer listed on the City Clerk’s tally.

https://www.facebook.com/Nicholas.D.Bevins

PROCESSED $5.00 QUALIFYING CONTRIBUTIONS

As of June 7, following are the City Clerk numbers for the $5.00 qualifying donations:

MAYOR TIM KELLER

Required $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 3,779
Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 3,703
Rejected $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 294
Remaining $5.00 Qualifying Contributions Needed: 76
Percentage of Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 98%
Remaining $5.00 Qualifying Contributions Needed: 129

SHERIFF MANNY GONZALES

Required $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 3,779
Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 2,542
Rejected $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 216
Remaining $5.00 Qualifying Contributions Needed: 1,237
Percentage of Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 67%

PATRICK BEN SAIS

Required $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 3,779
Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 3
Rejected $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 1
Remaining $5.00 Qualifying Contributions Needed: 3,776
Percentage of Verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions: 0%

https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2021-candidates/petition-qualifying-contribution-tally-1

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Mayor Keller

It is now official that Mayor Tim Keller has made the ballot having collected the 3,000 qualify nominating petition signatures. With 12 full days remaining to collect $5.00 qualifying donations, Mayor Tim Keller is in a very good position to collect the remaining $5.00 qualifying donations. The Keller campaign has collected 3,703 required or 98% with 76 qualifying $5 donations remaining to be collected. Collecting the remaining 76 donations is highly likely and will require collecting an average of 6 to 8 donations a day for the next 12 days to ensure a cushion for rejected donations.

MANNY GONZALES

With 12 full days remaining to collect both qualifying petitions signatures and the $5.00 qualifying donations, it is likely that Sheriff Manny Gonzales will make the ballot with his 93% of the qualifying petition signatures collected. However, Gonzales may not qualify for the public finance and time is running short.

Gonzales has collected 2,794 of the required 3,000 signatures, or 93%. Gonzales needs to collect another 206 verifiable signatures, which is highly likely over a 12 full day period.

A problem for Gonzales is that his campaign is doing better but still struggling to collect the verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions. The Gonzales campaign has collected 2,542 verified $5.00 Qualifying Contributions or 67%. Gonzales needs to collect another 1,237 donations or at least 106 plus 1 qualifying $5 donations a day for the next full 12 days which is a very daunting task.

If Gonzales does not qualify for public finance, he could declare he will seek private financing and stay in the race but it will be a major setback to his campaign. All the $5.00 qualifying donation Gonzalez has collected are donations made to the city, the Gonzales campaign can not keep them and the campaign will get no public financing. Gonzales will no doubt ramp up private donation efforts but donors will be reluctant to contribute to both him and a measured finance committee. Another impact of failure to qualify for public finance will be to dry up private contributions to the two measured finance committees set up to promote him.

Sources are also saying that Republican political operative and consultant Jay McClesky, known for his nasty slash and burn tactics, is managing the Gonzales campaign and for that reason may be trying to turn things around for the Sheriff by tapping into Republican support for Gonzales. Mc Clesky managed both former Republican Mayor Berry’s campaigns for Mayor as well as both campaigns for Republican Governor “She Who Shall Not Be Named”.

PATRICK BEN SAIS

With only 14 full days before the deadline to collect both nominating petition signatures and the $5.00 donations, Patrick Ben Sais will not likely make the ballot nor qulaify for public finance. Sais has collected only 24% of the required signatures, or 728 of the 3,000 signatures, and needs 2,272 more to secure a place on the ballot. Sais has collected a very pathetic 3 qualifying $5.00 donations when 3,779 are needed. The question at this point is when will PATRICK BEN SAIS announce that he is withdrawing from the race or will he try to stay in it and declare to be a private finance candidate and continue with gathering nominating petition signatures to get on the ballot?

THE CHALLENGES WE FACE

At this point in time it is obvious that there will be only 2 candidates for Mayor out of the 4 announced, who will make the November 2, ballot. Further, it is more likely than not that Mayor Time Keller will be the only candidate that will qualify for public finance, with Sheriff Manny Gonzales falling far short of collecting the 3,779 qualifying $5.00 donations. It’s a damn shame.

The city is facing any number of problems that are bringing it to its knees. Those problems include the coronavirus pandemic, business closures, high unemployment rates, exceptionally high violent crime and murder rates, continuing mismanagement of the Albuquerque Police Department, failed implementation of the Department of Justice reforms after a full six years and millions spent, declining revenues and gross receipts tax, increasing homeless numbers, lack of mental health programs and little to none economic development.

The city cannot afford another mayor who makes promises and offers only eternal hope for better times that result in broken campaign promises. What is needed is a mayor who actually knows what the hell they are doing, who will make the hard decisions without an eye on the next election, not make decisions only to placate their base and please only those who voted for them. What’s needed is a healthy debate on solutions and new ideas to solve our mutual problems, a debate that can happen only with a contested election.

The time frame for privately finance candidates to collect the 3,000 nominating petition signatures for Mayor begins June 8 to August 10. Gathering 3,000 nominating petition signatures is extremely easier than collecting the $5.00 qualifying donations.

Anyone one interested in running for Mayor and who has a real love for this city and is concerned about what is happening is encouraged to contact the City Clerk’s office.

The link to the city web site for candidates is here:

https://www.cabq.gov/vote/candidate-information/2021-candidates

https://campaignfinance.cabq.gov/PublicSite/SearchPages/CommitteeSearch.aspx

On April 27, 2021, it was widely reported by local news media that the Albuquerque Police Officers Association (APOA) launched a $70,000 political ad campaign to discredit the Department of Justice (DOJ) mandated reforms saying the police reforms are preventing police officers from doing their jobs and combating crime. The Police Union political ad campaign consisted of billboards around the city and testimonials on TV, radio and social media from former Albuquerque Police Department officers. The public relations campaign is urging the public to tell city leaders that crime matters more than the Police reforms mandated by the settlement.

JUNE 9 STATUS CONFERENCE

Federal District Court Judge James Browning scheduled a Status Conference for June 9 on the Court Appointed Monitor’s 13th IME report on the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) mandating APD reforms.

On May 28, the Department of Justice (DOJ) in accordance with its established practice in this case, filed “Notice Letters from the Court’s Amici And Stakeholders” established or recognized by the Court-Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) . The letters set forth the issues and concerns the parties wish to address with the Court during the June 9, 2021 Public Hearing.

Seven ‘Notice Letters’ were filed with the court by the DOJ from:

1. CASA Stakeholder Mental Health Response Advisory Committee, (MHRAC),
2. Amicus McClendon Sub-Class
3. CASA Stakeholder Northwest Community Policing Council
4. NE Community Policing Council, Northeast Area Command
5. APD Forward Coalition
6. Civilian Police Oversight Agency (CPOA)
7. Amicus Community Coalition

AMICUS MCCLENDON SUB-CLASS

The case of McClendon v. City of Albuquerque is a class-action lawsuit filed on January 10, 1995 in the United States District Court for the District of New Mexico by detainees at the Bernalillo County Detention Center (BCDC) in Albuquerque. The city at the time operated the jail which has recently been torn down. The 1995 class-action lawsuit alleged that gross overcrowding and racial discrimination at the jail violated the constitutional rights of inmates. The class action sought injunctive and declaratory relief enjoining the operation of the jail in its present condition. On September 7, 1995, the parties entered into a settlement agreement, which the district court approved. The case remained pending for decades for purposes of enforcing the settlement.

https://www.clearinghouse.net/detail.php?id=196

The latin term “amicus curiae” or “amicus” is generally defined as an adviser, often voluntary, to a court of law in a particular case who are given permission by a court to file legal pleadings. The plaintiffs in the McClendon case were granted “Amicus” status to participate in the Department of Justice case brought against the City and APD for excessive use of force and deadly force and reforms.

On June 3, 2021, the Amicus Mcclendon Sub-class submitted to the Federal Court a second letter for consideration during the June 9 hearing. Permission was granted by the letters author to publish on this blog. The June 3, letter published here deletes addresses, references to court documents, case citations and adds caption edits in brackets [ ]. The editing was done to assist and clarify the letter for all none lawyers who read this blog. Following is the letter:

June 3, 2021

Counsel for McClendon Amici

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

There is no getting around it. The APOA police union and its President Shaun Willoughby as well as their attorneys have a lot of explaining to do, not only to the Court but to the friends of the court and the general public.

No doubt the police union believes that their $70,000 ad campaign is within their First Amendment right of free speech. That would be the case if the union were not a party to the federal lawsuit. Once the Police Union became a party to the Federal lawsuit, it agreed to subject itself to the jurisdiction of the Federal Court and all the rules of the Federal Court. To a limited degree, all parties to any Federal Court action lose rights of free speech in order to protect the proceedings and the courts obligation to be fair and impartial and not be subject to political pressures.

With the $70,000 ad campaign, the sanctions being sought by the McClendon Amici for sabotaging implementation of the consent decree are totally appropriate and needed. As is a “Motion For An Order To Show Cause” to be filed against the police union for it to show cause why it should not be held in contempt of court for intentional interference with the Court Approved Settlement Agreement (CASA) and its attempts to sabotage it.

APD police union officials need to be placed under oath so that full disclosure can be made to the public on any number of issues involving the ad campaign including:

Who reviewed and approved the $70,000 ad campaign as to content?
Were the police union attorneys notified of the ad campaign in advance or did they approve it?
Was the ad campaign approved by the police union membership?
What was the source of revenue of the $70,000 and did it come from union membership, union dues or private donors?
Did the Union leadership or members solicit private donations from the public on city time or use city resources to do so?
Did the $70,000 come from a national police organization or political party or those business who utilize Chief’s Overtime?
Disclose to the Court and public the full list of donors for the ad campaign.
Disclose the full list of those contacted directly by the union to solicit letters of support.
Listing of all expenditures made for the ad campaign, including production time, advertisement air time on the TV News stations and paid for by the union.

The City of Albuquerque and the Department of Justice need to file a Motion for Contempt of Court, either individually or jointly, and seek sanctions against the APOA Union for intentional interference with the Court Approved Settlement Order with its political ad campaign and disparaging the CASA reforms.

If not, the Federal Court should act on its own during the June 9 status conference hearing and fully demand an explanation from the police union.

Two sanctions that are in order are:

Remove APD Sergeants and Lieutenants from the bargaining unit.
Dismiss the APOA Union as a Third Party to the federal lawsuit.

Otherwise, the disruptive nonsense of the union will continue in defiance of the Federal Court Approved Settlement Agreement.

Links to related blog articles are here:

APD Forward Wants Federal Court To Hold Police Union In Civil Or Criminal Contempt Of Court Over Police Union $70,000 AD Campaign Undercutting CASA Reforms; Others Express Concern Over Ad Campaign; Order To Show Cause Hearing Needed

APD Police Union Spends $70,000 To Discredit Federal Court Order After Impeding And Resisting APD Reforms For 6 Years; Tactic Likely Grounds For Contempt Of Court By A Party For Interfering With Court Order

On Friday, May 28, Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina held a press conference along with others to give an update on the Violence Intervention Program (VIP). The VIP program is an initiative with the goal of reducing violent crime as the city is deals with a record number of homicides for the third year in a row.

The May 28 press conference occurred on the same day the city suffered its 49th homicide of the year, 24 more homicides than by the same time last year. In 2019, there were 29 homicides by the end of May.

On Saturday, May 29 it was reported that the city suffered a second homicide in less than 12 hours and the 50th in the city this year. There were 25 killings by the same time last year.

https://www.abqjournal.com/2395290/overnight-shooting-leaves-1-dead-2-others-wounded.html

THE VIP PROGRAM UPDATE

According to APD, the Violence Intervention Program is designed to “interrupt the process” where victims of other violent crimes become involved in perpetuating the violence that happened to them. In its first year of existence, the city has staffed VIP with a police commander, a program manager, a social services coordinator, and special projects manager.

The VIP program was announced by Keller on November 22, 2019 and then launched operational in April, 2020. The VIP program is based om “Operation Ceasefire” in Oakland, California, and offers resources, in lieu of punishment, to those identified as drivers of violent crime. According to the city’s VIP Manager Gerri Bachicha, less than 0.1% of the city’s population, 600 to 700 people, drive the majority of violent crime, including homicides and aggravated assaults with deadly weapons.

VIP case managers hold weekly shooting reviews with multiple agencies to review shooting incidents. The group meetings identify those involved with violent crimes as well as those at risk of becoming the next victim or suspect. Assigned VIP meet with people at their homes to offer resources. The resources offered include shelter services, rental assistance, job training and counseling. VIP personnel tell the individuals they are trying to assist that APD is watching them and if they continue any kind of violence, there will be consequences and they will be arrested and prosecuted.

According to one news source, since April 2020, the Violence Intervention Program made 133 in-person meetings, or what they call custom notifications. They people they make contact with need various resources, including housing support, job support or therapy. City officials report that 97% of the people who have received help have not been arrested. The other 3% were “predominately arrested for drug-related offenses.”

During the press conference, it was reported that thus far VIP personnel case managers have met with 149 people. The ages of those met with range from teenagers to those in their 30s. According to Chief Medina, the number of interventions has more than doubled since December, 2020 when it was 74, and the program has increased the number of interventions by more than 10% since last year. Medina also reported only 3% of the 149 people have gotten in trouble since those “custom notifications.” VIP Manager Bachicha said 3 people have been arrested, mostly for drug-related offenses, and 1 person was shot and injured in a domestic violence incident.

Angel Garcia, a social service coordinator with the program had this to say:

“I’m talking to people who are literally in shoes that I have walked through before. I’ve experience gun violence. I’ve been a victim of gun violence. In my younger years, I’ve perpetrated violence, so I could understand where the people in our community are coming from, and I’ve felt the pain,“

Links to quoted news source material are here:

https://www.krqe.com/news/crime/apd-touts-progress-in-preventing-gun-crime-through-intervention-program/

https://www.kob.com/new-mexico-news/albuquerque-officials-claim-violence-intervention-program-is-working/6125175/?cat=500

https://www.abqjournal.com/2395183/apd-gives-update-on-violence-intervention-program.html

VIP PROGRAM EXPLAINED

On Tuesday, August 18, 2020 Mayor Tim Keller held a press conference that discussed a wide range of topics related to crime in Albuquerque. Mayor Keller insisted that his administration was “chipping away” at Albuquerque’s high crime rates and he discussed the VIP program . According to Mayor Keller:

“This isn’t about Power Point slides or interesting analysis. … This is about trying to get these people not to shoot each other. …This is about understanding who they are and why they are engaged in violent crime. … And so, this actually in some ways, in that respect, this is the opposite of data. This is action. This is actually doing something with people. This is not just running reports and I think that’s a marked difference with what the city has done in the past.”

Keller said other cities with the same initiative have seen violent crime reduce by 10%-30%. Keller said he expects to see results in 9-18 months.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/keller-introduces-t

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/keller-introduces-team-that-will-help-address-violent-crime-in-albuquerque/5831952/?cat=500

It was on November 22, 2019 Mayor Tim Keller announced what he called a “new initiative” to target violent offenders called “Violence Intervention Plan” (VIP). The VIP initiative was in response to the city’s murders resulting in the city tying the all-time record of homicides at 72 in one year. Mayor Keller proclaimed the VIP is a “partnership system” that includes law enforcement, prosecutors and social service and community provides to reduce violent crime.

During the November 22 press conference, Keller outlined 4 major components of the VIP program:

1. LAW ENFORCEMENT

APD “restructured” to create a “Violence Intervention Division” with its own Commander. The division is designed to make cross-functional partnership as productive as possible. The goal is to remove the barriers between investigative units, increase coordination among field officers, violent crime, undercover detectives, the intelligence unit, forensic techs, crime analysts and victim advocates to fight violent crime. Law enforcement partners on the program include the State Police, Probation and Parole, ATF, DEA, FBI, US Marshal and Homeland Security.

2. PROSECUTION PARTNERS

Prosecutors from all systems including the Attorney General, District Attorney, US Attorney and Office of Superintendent of Insurance will collaborate to share information and make sure cases are going to the appropriate teams and courts.

3. SOCIAL SERVICES

The City has always funded social services aimed at violence reduction. The Family and Community Services is working with the community to identify the most effective evidence-based violence reduction strategies, and requiring providers to work together in the Violence Intervention Program. The administration created a Deputy Director of Health position held by a clinical social worker.

4. COMMUNITY PARTNERS

The City reaches out to community partners, including the Bernalillo County Community Health Council, that are dealing with the causes and effects of violent crime to work together on this program. A technical advisor leads partnership-based violence reduction efforts to improve police-community trust and sustain the strategy over time.”
https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/mayor-keller-touts-new-plan-to-tackle-violent-crime/5561150/?cat=500

MEDINA’S PITTY ME LETTER TO THE ABQ JOURNAL

On June 2, the Albuquerque Journal published a guest column written by APD Chief Harold Medina entitled “APD Fighting Causes Of Violent Crime.” In the guest column, Medina boldly proclaims:

“Cities are battling a surge in violent crime that stems from illegal drugs, domestic violence and guns – trends we are seeing in Albuquerque, as well. Despite the challenges during the past year, our police agencies have to be resilient and do all that we can to keep our communities safe.”

Medina goes on to say:

“The increase in homicides coincides with the onset of the pandemic. We didn’t see the same increase in homicides in Albuquerque in 2020, but that changed in 2021, producing more homicides during the first three months.”

Medina describes all that he and APD have done in the last year to reduce crime and says:

‘We tripled the size of our homicide unit, and we are starting the first-ever detective academy next month to ensure more effective investigations. We hired hundreds of new officers, which allowed us to create Proactive Response Teams and a Gun Violence Reduction Unit. We also created the Metro 15 focusing on individuals who are drivers of crime and a Violence Intervention Program to help young people avoid being offenders and victims of violent crime. … I shifted the focus of the department to ensure we always have proactive operations being planned and executed. We have completed 36 weekly operations resulting in more than 1,700 arrests.”

The link to the entire Medina ABQ Journal guest is here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/2395969/apd-fighting-causes-of-violent-crime.html

DEVIL IN THE STATISTICS

With respect Albuquerque’s homicide rates, spikes in violent crime and property crime were occurring the 3 years before the pandemic, yet Medina falsely proclaims:

“The increase in homicides coincides with the onset of the pandemic.”

That is simply false. Violent crime spiked the 3 years before the pandemic.

Albuquerque’s record-breaking number of murders has been going on for the last 3 years and now continuing in 2021 with 50 homicides as of May 29. The body count is only a small part of the city’s overall violent crime problem. The crime statistics that gage the success or failure of the city’s programs must include not just actual murders but the arrest rates and high violent crime rates. For that reason, those statistics merit review.

HOMICIDE SPIKE DURING THE LAST 3 YEARS AND STILL SPIKING

In 2018, during Mayor Tim Keller’s first full year in office, there were 69 homicides. In 2019, during Mayor Keller’s second full year in office, there were 82 homicides. Albuquerque had more homicides in 2019 than in any other year in the city’s history. The previous high was in 2017 when 72 homicides were reported in Mayor Berry’s last year in office. The previous high mark was in 1996, when the city had 70 homicides. The year 2020 ended with 76 homicides, the second-highest count since 1996. The decline dropped the homicide rate from 14.64 per 100,000 people in 2019 to about 13.5 in 2020.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1534762/homicide-numbers-high-despite-pandemic.html?amp=1

USE OF FORCE REPORT

On Friday October 23, 2020 the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) released its “Use of Force” report covering a four-year time period from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2019. The link to the entire use of force report is here:

http://www.cabq.gov/police/documents/2016-19-albuquerque-police-department-annual-use-of-force-report.pdf

The Use of Force report has upwards of 56 bar graphs and charts and 8 maps in the 73-page report. Below are the combined totals in the top 8 “consolidated” categories for the years 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. The calculations for the 8 categories are based on the raw numbers gleaned from the various bar graphs in the report.

Number APD arrests: 58,251
APD “use of force” incidents (Empty hand, TAZER, gun discharge): 2,395
APD “show of force” incidents (Handgun, rifle, TAZER): 1,087
APD firearm discharges: 65
Number of times APD officers displayed a hand gun: 524
Number of times APD officers displayed a rifle: 212
Times APD used “electronic control weapon” (TAZER): 365
Estimated total “calls for service” generating “case numbers” 312,000 to 375,000
(Combined number of cases generated by all 6 area commands)

FOUR YEAR TOTAL OF ARREST MADE BY APD REPORTED IN USE OF FORCE REPORT: 58,226.

2022 ADOPTED APD BUDGET CONTAINS TOTAL ARRESTS FOR 2019 AND 2020

The City’s 2022 adopted budget for APD on page 151 contains APD’s arrests statistics for 2019 and 2020. APD’s budget is a peformance based budget and the department is required to submit a number of statistics to justify its budget. Arrest numbers for felonies, misdemeanors as well as DWI are revealed in the budget. APD’s budget also outlines full time personnel and breaks it down between sworn and civilian employees.

The link to the budget is here:

https://documents.cabq.gov/budget/fy-22-proposed-budget.pdf

Following is the breakdown of arrest for the years 2019 and 2020:

NUMBER OF FELONY ARRESTS:

2019: 10,945
2020: 6,621

NUMBER OF MISDEMEANOR ARRESTS

2019: 19,440
2020: 16,520

NUMBER OF DWI ARRESTS

2019: 1,788
2020: 1,230
(2022 APD Budget, page 151)

TOTAL NUMBER OF ARRESTS FOR 2019: 32,173
TOTAL NUMBER OF ARREST FOR 2020: 24,371

APD SWORN PERSONNEL FOR 2019 AND 2020

According to APD’s approved 2021-2022 budget, in 2019 APD had 924 full time police. In 2020 APD had 1,004 sworn police or 80 more sworn in 2020 than in 2019, yet arrests went down during the first year of the pandemic.

VIOLENT CRIME

In 2018 during Mayor Keller’ first full year in office, there were 6,789 violent crimes, 3,885 Aggravated Assaults and 491 Non-Fatal Shootings. In 2019, the category of “Violent Crimes” was replaced with the category of “Crimes Against Persons” and the category includes homicide, human trafficking, kidnapping and assault. In 2019 during Keller’s second full year in office, Crimes Against Persons increased from 14,845 to 14,971, or a 1% increase. The Crimes Against Person category had the biggest rises in Aggravated Assaults increasing from 5,179 to 5,397.

COMMENTARY AND ANALYSIS

Chief Medina’s statements “The increase in homicides coincides with the onset of the pandemic. We didn’t see the same increase in homicides in Albuquerque in 2020, but that changed in 2021 … “ are simply false. Medina’s June 2 letter to the Albuquerque Journal was nothing more than a pathetic attempt to embellish his and APD’s very poor work performance over the last 4 years, especially in 2020 the first year of the pandemic.

Medina has been part of APD’s upper command staff, including being the Deputy Chief of Field Service dealing with personnel assigned to the field since the day Keller was sworn in as Mayor on December 1, 2017.

In 2020, in the first full year of the pandemic, APD’s felony arrest numbers dropped by 4,324 and APD’s misdemeanor arrest dopped by 2,920 and DWI Arrests dropped by 558 from 2019 for a combined total of 7,802 arrests.

According to APD’s approved 2021-2022 budget, in 2019 APD had 924 full time police and in 2020 APD had 1,004 sworn police or 80 more sworn in 2020 than in 2019. In 2020 there were fewer arrest made by more police.

Page 149 of APD approved budget: https://documents.cabq.gov/budget/fy-22-proposed-budget.pdf

APD Chief Medina seems to forget or does not want the public to know that it is well known that there is a correlation between the number of police, arrests and crime rates.

According to a 2018 study entitled “More COPS, Less Crime” by Steven Mello with Princeton University there is a causal effect in police numbers and the reduction on crime rates. The study dealt with the federal grant programs known as COPs for police to finance police officers for communities. The study found that there is a direct correlation between an increase in the number of police and the decline in victimization.

According to the study, large and statistically significant effects of police numbers occur on robbery, larceny, and auto theft, with suggestive evidence that police reduce murders as well. Crime reductions associated with additional police were more pronounced in areas most affected by the Great Recession. The results highlight that fiscal support to local governments for crime prevention may offer large returns, especially during bad macroeconomic times.

The link to the entire study is here:

https://www.princeton.edu/~smello/papers/cops.pdf

PROMISES MADE, PROMISES BROKEN

In 2017, Candidate Tim Keller campaigned to get elected Mayor on the platform of implementing the Department of Justice (DOJ) mandated reforms, increasing the size of APD, returning to community-based policing and promising to bring down skyrocketing crime rates. Mayor Tim Keller has tried repeatedly to take credit for crime rates being on the decline in all categories other than violent crime offenses.

It was ironic that the May 28 press conference occurred on the same day that the city suffered its 49th homicide of the year, 24 more homicides than by the same time last year. The day after the press conference, the city had its 50th homicide. In 2019, there were 29 homicides by the end of May, and in 2021 the city had 50 by the end of May.

Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina touting the success of the VIP program is totally understandable and it’s easily explained. Mayor Tim Keller is seeking a second 4-year term and the election is 5 months away. Both Keller and Medina have little to show for as to reducing violent crime, hence the May 28 press conference to embellish the limited success of the VIP program.

Mayor Tim Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina are pushing the “peddle to the metal” and are going full throttle with their public relations campaign to convince the general public and the media that what they have done is having a major effect on reducing crime. Keller ostensibly felt that it was so important that he even found a razor to look clean shaven and put on a tie for the cameras as he talked with a smile on his face and a grin in his voice.

Mayor Tim Keller and his appointed APD Chief Harold Medina are speaking way too soon on the success of the VIP program to reduce violent crime. Keep in mind that Keller said when the VIP program was announced 2 years ago that other cities with the same initiative had seen violent crime reduce by 10%-30%. Keller said he expected to see results in 9-18 months. Based on the 50 homicides thus far, that simply has not happened,

The blunt truth is that the VIP personnel case managers meeting with 149 people since inception of the program, though commendable and idealistic, are nothing more than a drop in the city’s blood-filled crime bucket, especially in view of the fact that the city is once again experiencing another spike in homicides.

_________________________

POSTSCRIPT

FOUR OTHER PROGRAMS

In 2019, in response to the continuing increase in violent crime rates, Mayor Keller , in addition to the VIP program, scrambled to implement 3 major crime fighting program to reduce violent crime. On May 5, 2021, APD announced its Ambassador Program to improve relations with the community. The 4 programs are as follows:

1. The Shield Unit

In February 2018 the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) created the “Shield Unit”. The Shield Unit assists APD Police Officers to prepare cases for trial and prosecution by the Bernalillo County District Attorney’s office. The unit originally consisted of 3 para legals. It was announced that it is was expanded to 12 under the 2019-2020 city budget that took effect July 1, 2019.

https://www.abqjournal.com/1325167/apd-expands-unit-that-preps-cases-for-prosecution.html

2. Declaring Violent Crime “Public Health” Issue

On April 8, 2019, Mayor Keller and APD announced efforts that will deal with “violent crime” in the context of it being a “public health issue” and dealing with crimes involving guns in an effort to bring down violent crime in Albuquerque. Mayor Keller and APD argue that gun violence is a “public health issue” because gun violence incidents have lasting adverse effects on children and others in the community that leads to further problems.

3. The Metro 15 Operation program.

On Tuesday, November 26, Mayor Tim Keller held a press conference to announce a 4th program within 9 months to deal with the city’s violent crime and murder rates. At the time of the press conference, the city’s homicide count was at 72, matching the city’s record in 2017. Before 2017, the last time the City had the highest number of homicides in one year was in 1996 with 70 murders that year. Keller dubbed the new program “Metro 15 Operation” and is part of the Violence Intervention Program (VIP) program. According to Keller and then APD Chief Michael Geier the new program would target the top 15 most violent offenders in Albuquerque. It’s the city’s version of the FBI’s 10 most wanted list.
Links to news coverage are here:

https://www.abqjournal.com/1394576/city-launches-violence-intervention-program.html

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/mayor-keller-touts-new-plan-to-tackle-violent-crime/5561150/?cat=500

4. AMBASSADOR PROGRAM

On May 5, 2021 the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) announced the creation of an new “Ambassador Program”. The Ambassador Program has assigned to it upwards of 18 police officers and city employs. The goal of the Ambassador Program is to bridge the gap between police and communities that may not completely trust officers.

https://www.kob.com/albuquerque-news/apd-launches-ambassador-program-to-build-trust-with-various-communities/6097864/?cat=500

APD spokeswoman Rebecca Atkins said the APD officers assigned to the Ambassador Program will receive advanced training in community relations and will take concerns to APD Police Chief Harold Medina once a month. According to Atkins, the Ambassador Program will start with five groups: the Asian, Hispanic, Black and Native American communities, and the LGBTQ community.

She said the initiative is aimed at establishing <em>“clear, consistent lines of communication” with those that have not had formal relationships with law enforcement in the past. Officers will also work on recruiting to diversify the department.