Sen. Cervantes

State Senator Joseph Cervantes hasn't changed his tune. Once again he is pushing his view that ABQ's crime crisis is primarily a local problem that demands local solutions and won't be resolved by statewide legislation.

The powerful chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee says his views are made only stronger by the staggering APD DWI scandal where numerous officers are accused of taking hefty bribes in exchange for getting DWI offenders off the hook. 

The blog last week reported the decades-long history of corruption at the department, a report that drew wide reaction including this from Chairman Cervantes:

Great coverage of APD corruption. I've said for years, with lots of opposition, that Albuquerque crime is attributable to an utter lack of accountability and leadership, and outright corruption, which the public and media tolerate. No new laws can solve this.

"No new laws can solve this?" That's an ominous declaration. 

Not all crime bills go before Cervantes' committee but there is enough power there for the Governor and her legislative backers to hold tight to their four leaf clovers and hope that after years of Cervantes and company prevailing that somehow this year is different. 

MLG continues to insist that repeat offenders are a major cause of the violent crime. She did so again at a new conference as the votes have yet to appear for her crime package and as she plays Batman to BernCo Distrcit Attorney Sam Bregman's Robin.

The repeat offender contention has more political appeal than absolute truth because we keep creating new offenders but it has legs. 

His detractors say Cervantes is ignoring the statewide problem because he is a trial lawyer with an inherent bias. 

Still, as Cervantes contends, the rate of ABQ violent crime does far surpass that of the state's other major cities. 

ABQ police report 1,319 such crimes per 100,000 population in 2023. That compares to Las Cruces (Cervantes' district) with 579 per 100,000; Rio Rancho with only 112 and the city of Santa Fe at a worrisome 854. Some much smaller rural cities like Gallup and Roswell have had notable spikes while there has been a slight improvement in ABQ's overall crime rate which peaked at historic levels. (Stats are here.)

Cervantes' central point--that ABQ has not stepped up--has not been shot down. 

OUR HOT MESS

Mayor Keller (KRQE)

APD has been a hot mess for decades with the Federal DOJ coming in as a response to the record number of fatal police shootings but ignoring the rotten culture dominating the agency. 

APD's budget has skyrocketed yet the return on that money is scandal, humiliation for the good cops, disdain for the city by economic planners and a continued population stagnation as people vote with their feet. 

Not all of that falls on the current mayor as evidenced by the years-long DWI scandal and the advent of the sinister fentanyl epidemic that has occurred on the incumbent's watch.

Cervantes is getting nowhere not just with MLG but also Keller as the mayor's tune, like the Senator's, has not changed:

(Keller) said he has faith in the current leadership of the police department to fix the culture and restore public trust. The allegations against APD officers had many people calling on Chief Medina to step down. Mayor Keller backed the chief. . . Mayor Keller credits the chief with helping the FBI root out any suspected players in the scheme.“It takes a lot to be the team that cleans it up and owns it. And that’s what we’ve done. So I do feel optimistic going forward that this department is in a vastly different place on a number of fronts. And I have to believe that this would be caught much, much sooner if it were to happen again,” Keller said. 

Maybe. Or is he whistling past the graveyard? 

The crime debate is always messy, complicated, often misleading and ultimately frustrating. We end with the long view from US Rep. Gabe Vasquez from his speech last week to state legislators:

New Mexicans understand that the path to safer communities begins with addressing the root causes of crime and public safety. That includes poverty, domestic violence, addiction, gun safety, homelessness and the lack of economic opportunity.

Anyone have a magic wand they're not using?

(Rep. Melanie Stansbury also addressed the Legislature. Here is her speech.)

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