You know the news. The monumental Albuquerque Police Department DWI scandal has again rocked the city with the first guilty plea and the US attorney promising that this is "just the beginning." (Full Federal plea document here.)

Now is the time for the tough questions and possible solutions that Albuquerque hungers for as it wrestles with a crime-ridden atmosphere, an anemic economy in part explained by that crime and a general sense of profound apathy taking the city to lower depths. 

A Senior Alligator (one of our longtime, informed sources) sums up this latest depressing chapter in the scandal that authorities now say dates back over 15 years:

What’s amazing is the zero fallout for any political leader. Not for Mayor Tim Keller or any former mayor and not any current or former APD chief. Nobody. That’s how apathetic (or pathetic) ABQ has become when it comes to crime--even when its own cops are the criminals. Just a collective shoulder shrug as the city waits to ignore whatever the next outrage is. To borrow a line from Chinatown, “Forget about it, Jake. It’s ’Burque.” 

A difficult path lies ahead if the city is going to pull out of this historic morass that has taken decades to form and is now cresting under Mayor Keller as he seeks a third consecutive term with so far an astounding lack of interest.

Gov. Lujan Grisham even appeared to throw in the towel on our city's current conditions, declaring that ABQ is "going to take years to fix." 

HISTORY, CAUSES AND CONSEQUENCES

Let's go to the history, the causes, consequences and solutions to this epic fail in public policy and management with former APD Sergeant and longtime department watchdog Dan Klein and others.

--Who has APD been hiring for the past 20 years (or more)? The hiring process is supposed to catch individuals with shaky ethics. Yet, a large number of officers made it through the process and now are being implicated in the DWI corruption scandal.

--Where is the APD Serpico? Frank Serpico was a NYPD detective who risked his life in the 1970’s to expose NYPD corruption. Why didn’t APD have an officer of this morality? Officers outside of the DWI unit must have heard whispers or wondered how these guys were affording expensive trips, homes, cars, etc. This corruption appears to have permeated APD at every rank. An officer who wanted to expose this had (and still has) nowhere within APD to go, but they could walk into the FBI office. Why didn’t they? Those officers and command staff who knew and said nothing are as guilty of corruption as those who took the bribes. 

--Several supervisors of the DWI unit are still on duty, how can this be? These sergeants, lieutenants, commanders either knew about the corruption and turned a blind eye or are incompetent. Either way, why hasn’t Chief Medina removed them? 

APD'S SORROWFUL PAST

--Corruption within APD is nothing new. In 2005 the APD evidence room scandal rocked this city and forced APD Chief Gallegos to resign. Nothing more happened. 

--Around 2014 the Tasergate pay-to-play scandal (worth millions in contracts) rocked the city with explicit evidence that the APD chief of police was “greasing” the contract for Taser in exchange for a lucrative side job with Taser. Chief Ray Schultz subsequently resigned. Nothing more happened.

--In 2020 the APD public information officer was caught by a city and state audit claiming pay for being in two places at one time (among other allegations) referred to as the Robocop Scandal. The State Auditor went so far as to refer the case to then-Attorney General Hector Balderas for criminal investigation and nothing happened. The APD PIO resigned when confronted, but again, nothing happened. 

--In 2016 members of APD Chief Gordon Eden’s staff were caught fabricating an entire police interview of child murder victim Victoria Martens “putting lies in a dead girls mouth to hide their own incompetence." A couple low-level members of the chiefs staff were slightly disciplined but once again, even though you had police employees lying, nothing more happened. 

--In 2023 APD Chief Medina says he heard rumors and opened a secret investigation into the APD DWI unit, but nothing was found. Medina didn’t ask the FBI at that time for assistance. Flash forward two years and based on what we now know, either the APD investigators were hiding the scandal or they were all incompetent. How hard was it to review missed court dates by officers to determine that something was wrong?

--All of that that doesn't even include the multiple audits conducted by several state auditors (including former Auditor and now Mayor Tim Keller) into the scandalous and ongoing overtime pay received by APD officers. Among the highest recipients are officers of the now disgraced and scandalized DWI Unit. 

--In the last twenty years there have been no fewer than seven state, city and inspector general investigations into APD, DWI and overtime. Yet every chief and every mayor has ignored their findings. 

--The United States Attorney, Bernalillo County District Attorney and Attorney General didn’t pursue charges in the evidence room scandal, Tasergate or the Robocop scandal. They either pointed to each other and said that person should investigate or did nothing.

Had any criminal investigations of police officers occurred during these scandals, it might have emboldened honest officers to step forward. Instead, the common theme was “what’s the point? Why should I put my life on the line to expose corruption when the US Attorney (at that time), the Attorney General and the District Attorney won't do anything?” 

KELLER QUESTIONS

And this from Klein on Mayor Keller:

In 2024 the Inspector General released reports alleging misuse of federal pandemic funds (over $287,000) by well-connected members of Keller’s staff. Keller slammed the IG and so far the US Attorney has not opened an investigation. 

Keller’s past chief administrative officer was given tens of thousands of dollars in sick and vacation time that she did not earn. Keller’s response was to slam the IG, again, for being biased. But where are Attorney General Raul Torrez and DA Sam Bregman on these allegations of corruption in the mayor’s office. Why hasn’t either prosecutor at least opened up an investigation? 

In both of these cases it was employees within the city who reported to the Inspector General. That’s how it is supposed to work. But those good employees are going to stop reporting public corruption when  those in power to do something ignore them.  

It’s time the US Attorney, Attorney General and District Attorney assign members of their agencies to investigate only allegations of public corruption. Every State Auditor and City Auditor report should be mandated to be forwarded to all three prosecutors for review and possible investigation. Every Inspector General report should be mandated to be sent to each prosecutor for review and possible investigation. We must force the gardeners to tend to our garden and report publicly, or the corruption will grow and only get worse. 

Most citizens of Albuquerque no longer trust, nor have faith, in our government officials to protect us from corruption. It is time for the New Mexico congressional delegation to demand public hearings on police and public corruption in Albuquerque. 

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