Comment by laffsalot on July 3, 2009 at 11:11am

Our neighborhood has been experiencing consistent break-ins especially in the last 5-10 years. It's an otherwise decent neighborhood. One frustrating fact for me is that Albuquerque won't allow citizens to get their dogs protection-trained. They'd rather we all buy/keep guns for protection. We should be allowed our options of legal protection from criminals!

Comment by Richard Romero for Mayor on July 3, 2009 at 1:42pm

Thanks for this input. (Gary Johnson must have deleted his previous two comments) The most important point to remember, and you will here this from me throughout my campaign, is that crime is the number one measure of how well a City is doing, and right now crime is out of control. When you can ask anyone in the City if they have been a victim of property crime, or know somebody that has been a victim of property crime, and the answer is almost always YES ... then that is a problem.

There are several measures we can take to improve public safety. We must get back to the mission of community policing. We hear a lot of high-sounding rhetoric and false promises about response times being down and more officers on the street, but when crime is out of control, what we need as a community are results, not half-baked statistics.

The APD budget receives half of the City's total operating budget. This is a lot of money and resources and it is a sign of failed policy and failed leadership when our seniors don't feel safe in their homes, parents are afraid to let their kids play in the streets alone, woman feel vulnerable when jogging alone in broad daylight and property crime is rampant throughout all quadrants of the City.

Please visit my website to review our comprehensive plan to genuinely reduce crime rates. We need to reverse this trend and that will be my number one priority.

Very importantly, I don't think our increasing crime rate is a measure of the level of quality police work being done by APD. These folks are trying to do their jobs the best they can in a very tough environment. What they want and deserve is professional management. They want a Mayor who will take the politics out of police work. That's what I'm going to do.

-Richard Romero

Comment by Ben Moffett on July 3, 2009 at 8:46pm

Adelante! Richard. Your views on community policing are right on target.

Comment by ched macquigg on July 4, 2009 at 7:33am

I clicked on a string of links from your post, in an effort to get a handle on "community policing" and ended up with;

"Abstract: Community Policing Defined provides a detailed description of the elements and subelements that fall under the community policing philosophy. The document describes the range of collaborative partnerships that exist between policing agencies and the individuals and organizations they serve; it outlines the process of how they go about engaging in the proactive and systematic examination of identified problems to develop effective responses; and it illustrates how they align their organizational management, structure, personnel, and information systems to support community partnerships and proactive problem-solving."

May I suggest that you develop a definition in common parlance.

Further, I would suggest that any police force focus on crimes that have clear victims. Though "victimless" crimes are still crimes, those who try to enforce the laws against them won't have community support, and may even encourage antipathy. We tell children that if they witness a "crime" that they should report it to an adult. Yet when they do, they are castigated as squealers and rats. We need to change the image of those who step up to defend their communities from law breakers. They are not squealers and rats, they are good citizens.

Community policing is a great idea for a number of reasons. It does not, and cannot, make up for an "inadequate" professional police force. An "adequate" police force (personnel and resources) should be the number one priority of any administration.

Finally, I would suggest expanding the opportunities and rewards for reporting crime. Crimestoppers is a great idea which is yet to be fully realized.

Comment by Chris on July 4, 2009 at 7:52am

The smug arrogance of some police make me fearful, hesitant that one day they may turn on me. I am afraid to complain about the incessant overuse of the ghetto bird-- that awful police helicopter that whirls around my part of town more than any other, I would suspect. How am I supposed to enjoy my backyard if the air above it resembles Afghanistan on a bad day? How would they take my comment/ complaint/ concern? Probably buzz my house specifically, and I coudl even see some deputlzed thug waiting near my house to trap me-- moving violation, improper use of seatbelt, improper display of respect for an officer, or some such bogus charge. Thanks for listening Richard!

Comment by Gary Johnson on July 8, 2009 at 11:38am

The police and the communities all need to know their enemy.
The Drug War is responsible for the unrest here and across the border. Fighting it the way we have been is very expensive and has basically back fired on us. Lets do whats right and not clump all drugs together as equals...Lets listen to the very sound research done on this subject that is non-biased and independent from either side.
Continue fighting hard drugs that are known to kill...I also think we need to seriously learn from Colorado how to control liquor sales....This business of every freaking convenience store selling everything from 40's to mini's is ridiculous!

Finally...we need to always make education here in Abq our NUMBER 1 PRIORITY!
There is the smoking gun as to why we havent solved many of our biggest problems.
Make school a breath of fresh air from the streets...start young, start now.

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