(Journal)

The ABQ murder victim whose death apparently set a new all time annual high was not a low level drug dealer in the crime-ravaged SE Heights. He was a 13 year old teenager shot dead by another 13 year old on the grounds of Washington Middle School. 

Another homicide--one that apparently tied the record--was not a homeless transient. He was a 30 year old man shot to death at a bar in one of the most affluent shopping areas in the state. 

(The murder meter stats are from the newspaper. Other media have different counts. As of Monday morning the homicide count was at 83.)

Mayor Keller and APD Chief Harold Medina warned the city before the new record was reached that it was "to be expected" but these killings were anything but and again shook ABQ to its core, shattering illusions that the city was turning the corner on a now historic violent crime epidemic. 

The killings, senseless as they are, informed us further about the challenges we face and the likelihood that in the short term the epidemic may be irreversible. 

First, the cold-blooded murder of 13 year old Bennie Hargrove by fellow student Juan Saucedo, Jr. revealed the generational drug and thug culture that has been on a steady rise here since the 2010's.

Saucedo's father, Juan Saucedo, Sr., whose gun Saucedo Jr. took to school and used to kill Hargrove, was himself involved in a high profile shooting in 2018. He shot and wounded another parent during a fight while in the pick-up lane at Highland High School. District Attorney Raul Torrez's office did not prosecute, saying both parties had "valid defense claims."

If that's not enough our Legal Beagles report there may be more in the background of Juan Saucedo Sr., 41, that could reveal how the sins of the father were passed to the son. More here. 

The failure to charge Saucedo Sr. in the school shooting points to the ongoing dysfunction in the criminal justice system. Why wasn't he charged and his gun privileges taken away? Classmates of Saucedo Jr. accuse him of bullying and also said he even bragged of going shooting with his father. Pretty outrageous.

Too often crime here pays.  

Following the two Friday murders we checked the population levels at the Metropolitan Correctional Center Saturday and found that in a city beset by crime only 1,109 were being held at a jail designed to hold 2,190.

It's true that the jail had a severe overcrowding problem over five years ago, but now the pendulum has swung in the opposite direction. 

In a 90 minute sit-down with APD Chief Medina and as ABQ teetered on the cusp of setting the new homicide record, we discussed the entire range of the city's crime crisis, including the failure to put obviously bad guys and gals behind bars. He said:

Medina readily admitted that's not happening and blamed it on finger-pointing and failure of the actors in the criminal justice system to collaborate. But bookings have also crashed at the jail, from 38,349 in 2010 to 17,734 in 2020. Some of that has to be on Medina and APD. 

The hole in the progressive politics that has come to dominate the city is the apparent belief that there are no bad people, only too many guns and a deep-seated poverty that is the ultimate cause of the violence. But turning the tide is going to make more than helping those in need. That's why we have a jail and prisons in the first place. 

APD Chief Medina

Chief Medina is well-informed and affable but his answer to multiple questions we put to him cited the "lack of resources" especially the shortage of police officers. 

We asked about ramping up effort to diminish the amount of drugs coming in to the city from the Mexican drug cartels. Medina replied that "we need a stronger partnership with the feds. We don't have enough resources."

How about a plan to plan to fight crime with a smaller number of officers since we seem destined to not reach the magic number of 1,200? Medina responded that more civilians will be tasked with handling minor matters that consume too much officer time but still he insists 1,200 cops are essential to crack the crime crisis.

Unfortunately, ABQ will be waiting a long time to make a significant dent in the drug and thug culture. Some progress has been made reducing auto and property theft, but those were at such high levels they had nowhere to go but down. They still remain at historic highs and well above the national average.

We let the city go and have a long road to travel to interrupt the upward trend, never mind getting it down. Beacons of light are New York where crime was dramatically curtailed in the 90's and changing demographics everywhere that sent crime into retreat. 

Interrupting the violence would take a lower level of tolerance for the mayhem than New Mexico and its poltical leadership has exhibited. For now there is no reason for optimism. 

In the long term, there is hope. The expected adoption of a state constitutional amendment by voters next year that would flood early childhood education with funds ($150 million or more annually) is highly anticipated. But the money will need to go to more than pre-kindergarten for four year olds. 

It should also go to an extensive home visiting program to get caseworkers into the dysfunctional families of kids aged 0-5 years. The funds should also be a source for childcare assistance, the lack of which holds back the poverty stricken. 

The conny amendment, making Biden's child tax credit permanent and the state government acquiescing to the education needs noted in the landmark Yazzie lawsuit could see the next generation slowly emerge from this shadow of the dangerous drug and thug culture. Meanwhile, with little political will to attack with gusto the current crime crisis, what you see is what you get. It isn't pretty but it is who we are. 

A Senior Alligator comments on the so far forlorn mayoral effort of BernCo Sheriff Manny Gonzales:

Maybe a tad rough there on Gonzales as well as APD. 

That outside committee supporting Gonzales--Save Our City--is putting up a fight. Their new video says: 

The spot will be on digital media but all important TV buys have yet to come. The PAC has also "launched a new tool for the public to track the exploding murder rate." That tool is here.