Life, food, events, and community in Albuquerque, NM
That's Enough APD
How many of you out there can say you're proud of your local police department?
Can any of you trust an officer to professionally and competently handle your 911 call?
Do you worry about being pulled over by an APD officer?
Would you dare question an officer's motives face-to-face?
Given the endless stream of headlines of constant screw-ups and cover-ups by APD, I seriously think our community has failed to hold our city leaders accountable for this polluted department.
The inept and backwards culture at APD is not the Chief's fault or the Mayors fault. It's not the rookie cop's fault. It's all of our fault for not expecting more and demanding change from our elected officials.
The absurd, disgusting list is long and seems to grow weekly :
-Officer fired for releasing Daskalos out of DWI Van
-Officer a "person of interest" in Los Lunas Homicide
-9 Officers Sued for Contaminating a Crime Scene involving the dead wife of a fellow officer
-Officers arresting and incarcerating the elderly on petty charges on two different occasions
-Officer under probation for attacking a camera man
-Officer under investigation for fatally shooting his stepfather
-Officer's abusing the "refusing to obey" statute
That's not all...those are just the cases I can list off the top of my head.
Don't get me wrong....there are some good cops out there. It's unfair that bad cops are making the good cops look bad.
And police wonder why they get no respect. Have they earned respect as a whole?
It's hard for me to respect our APD officers (generally speaking) when they continue to make news. It's harder for me to respect our city leaders.
How can I expect, the next time I have an encounter with APD, that that officer will be properly trained and educated about his/her duties?
This is why I'm dumbfounded nobody in this community---not one city councilor, not one state lawmaker, has publicly demanded a purge of inept and unqualified officers within APD.
The Mayor seems more concerned with getting a Chinese Panda rather than our public safety.
I honestly think APD is looking out for itself rather than us.
How much longer Albuquerque will YOU tolerate this bad behavior among officers?
Do you believe APD spokesperson John Walsh (who makes more than 80k a year) when he constantly has to defend his department?
I don't.
Do you have faith in the Chief to oversee his department?
I don't.
Does the Mayor understand the serious image problem of our police department?
I certainly don't think he's taking it seriously.
If you care, I suggest you contact the following people:
Chief of Police: rshultz@cabq.gov
Mayor: mayor@cabq.gov
Police Public Liaison: jwalsh@cabq.gov
Here's City Council Contact Information
Or...you can just remain passive and complacent.....or maybe you believe everything is okay.
Can any of you trust an officer to professionally and competently handle your 911 call?
Do you worry about being pulled over by an APD officer?
Would you dare question an officer's motives face-to-face?
Given the endless stream of headlines of constant screw-ups and cover-ups by APD, I seriously think our community has failed to hold our city leaders accountable for this polluted department.
The inept and backwards culture at APD is not the Chief's fault or the Mayors fault. It's not the rookie cop's fault. It's all of our fault for not expecting more and demanding change from our elected officials.
The absurd, disgusting list is long and seems to grow weekly :
-Officer fired for releasing Daskalos out of DWI Van
-Officer a "person of interest" in Los Lunas Homicide
-9 Officers Sued for Contaminating a Crime Scene involving the dead wife of a fellow officer
-Officers arresting and incarcerating the elderly on petty charges on two different occasions
-Officer under probation for attacking a camera man
-Officer under investigation for fatally shooting his stepfather
-Officer's abusing the "refusing to obey" statute
That's not all...those are just the cases I can list off the top of my head.
Don't get me wrong....there are some good cops out there. It's unfair that bad cops are making the good cops look bad.
And police wonder why they get no respect. Have they earned respect as a whole?
It's hard for me to respect our APD officers (generally speaking) when they continue to make news. It's harder for me to respect our city leaders.
How can I expect, the next time I have an encounter with APD, that that officer will be properly trained and educated about his/her duties?
This is why I'm dumbfounded nobody in this community---not one city councilor, not one state lawmaker, has publicly demanded a purge of inept and unqualified officers within APD.
The Mayor seems more concerned with getting a Chinese Panda rather than our public safety.
I honestly think APD is looking out for itself rather than us.
How much longer Albuquerque will YOU tolerate this bad behavior among officers?
Do you believe APD spokesperson John Walsh (who makes more than 80k a year) when he constantly has to defend his department?
I don't.
Do you have faith in the Chief to oversee his department?
I don't.
Does the Mayor understand the serious image problem of our police department?
I certainly don't think he's taking it seriously.
If you care, I suggest you contact the following people:
Chief of Police: rshultz@cabq.gov
Mayor: mayor@cabq.gov
Police Public Liaison: jwalsh@cabq.gov
Here's City Council Contact Information
Or...you can just remain passive and complacent.....or maybe you believe everything is okay.
Tags: albuquerque, police
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by magoo on -
"I personally think this ounce great country is beyond repair"-------that's the spirit, Randy!!!! with outlooks and attitudes such as yours, we can easily move forward and work to make this a better community!!!!
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Permalink Reply by Amarante Cordova on -
Thanks for continuing this discussion. I hope you guys contact your local leaders.
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Permalink Reply by Master of Disaster on -
Hey, I'm with you. There is a small light at the end of this tunnel. You won't read about it on cabq.gov. I'm sure it's because Marty doesn't want the bad press. There was a story in the news, about a week or so ago, talking about a new task force the city council has set up. They are now monitoring the progress of every complaint against APD. Hopefully this will be a good start at bringing this problem under control. There are also two sets of civil rights cases being brought against Chavez, APD, and the city. One of them is coming from inside APD. A group of good cops standing up, is what it looks like. I'll go back and try to find the links and post them.
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Permalink Reply by Master of Disaster on
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Permalink Reply by Master of Disaster on
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Permalink Reply by Doug R on -
Amarante, it sounds as if you're positioning yourself to run for mayor. Thank you for the complaints. Now what would you do as mayor - that would make sense?
And when I was reading your post I was substituting some of the departments out where I currently live such as Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose....... But I guess you're right, Albuquerque really stands out...I guess. You should recommend that we put the Hells Angels...I mean Blue Angels....wait a minute....oh yeah........the Guardian Angels on the streets like they've done in Oakland recently.
(I hope this news circulates out to the rest of the world before I move to ABQ in four months - I would like to keep the migration in down a bit.....Yes, just being selfish)
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Permalink Reply by Amarante Cordova on
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Officers need more training when it comes to "customer service" as was mentioned in the Albuquerque Journal on Sunday.
I would rather spend more money on more educated officers (with college degrees) than on wrongful arrest lawsuit settlements.
It seems to me when you put an officer with little training and little education about the law on the streets, you're setting up the city for a greater financial liability.
We as taxpayers spend THOUSANDS AND THOUSANDS of dollars on APD lawsuit settlements.
Why not reduce the risk and tax payer expense by only hiring officers with college degrees? Make the salaries high enough so the educated would be attracted to the job.
That would be a better investment.....I'd rather have my tax dollars go to highly paid, educated cops, rather than lawsuit settlements prompted by inept and uneducated officers.
Give good pay to officers who deserve it.
Give good pay to officers who are trusted and educated.
Even if the expense of paying officers with college degrees exceeds the cost of APD lawsuits in the long run, it's worth it. There would be less violations of civil rights.
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Permalink Reply by Rodney on -
You may have seen the story in this last Sunday Journal, headlines on page one. I consider myself close friends of the couple mentioned in the story - even referring to them as my "adoptive" parents so to speak. I can tell you first hand that the story given by the police officer involved is pure BS. These people are nothing at all like they were described. The claim that an 80 year old man had assaulted the officer is just stupid. The very notion that a 69 year old woman with one leg was trying to make an escape from police custody pushing her husband in a wheelchair is ludicrus.
There are some really bad cops in APD, and they're given the whole department a really bad image.
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Permalink Reply by A. on -
I highly recommend--before passing too much judgement--going on a ride-along with an Albuquerque Police officer. That will give you a good perspective on which to base your judgement.
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Permalink Reply by Lynn on -
A-It won't really matter. The people who choose to comment on this site, are decidedly anti-cop. I've learned that there really is no use in trying to convince this group that the majority of police officers are good, ethical, people.
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Permalink Reply by Master of Disaster on
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That's a tough case to make with so much evidence to the contrary.
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