Email to city council from activist

By Silvio Dell'Angela

Councilors

You received the referenced NY Times report about APD below and read today in the Journal an example of just how broken the DA and Grand Jury judicial system is here when a killer cop is not criminally charged.  Who are these Grand Jury people-former cops?  APD cops are truly untouchable-above the law.

The question by most scared of APD citizens here and likely most others in the US who have been following APD’s routinely exonerated “death squad” officers is just why Schultz is still the police chief?

Stopping cop $500 bounty payments and having new union leadership won’t solve the APD record killing problem but making police accountable and stopping the cover-ups condoned absence of recordings as directed by Schultz will.  As long as the corrupt Schultz is still Chief here, nothing will change!

Do you nine represent us or Schultz and his enabler Mayor Berry?  Time to step up!

Silvio

Stop Police Atrocities NOW!

Mayor's office blocks Burque Blotter from ambassador's visit

The Burque Blotter was recently blocked from covering a story on the Japanese ambassador's, Ichiro Fujisaki, visit to Albuquerque. A press release from Mayor Berry's office was received on Wed., Feb. 22, announcing the ambassador's arrival. The following day the Mayor took Fujisaki on a walking tour of the Albuquerque Bio Park while discussing smart grid technology. A private reception at the Albuquerque Aquarium was to follow. Japan has invested over $30 million in research for such projects in New Mexico which the Mayor feels will benefit Albuquerque.

On Wed., the Blotter asked Deputy Information Officer, Breanna Anderson, via email, what time the event would take place in the hopes of having an opportunity to speak with the Mayor or the ambassador.

"This is simply an announcement, not a public event - given the Ambassador's instructions",  responded Anderson.

However, Albuquerque's news station KOB, ran a story about the "private" event with video footage of the Mayor and First Lady and members of the KOB newsroom, strolling through the Bio Park.  A second email asking Anderson why only certain members of the media were invited to the "private" event with the ambassador was sent this morning. As of press time no response has been received.

The Mayor's recent action to discriminate against certain members of the media prohibiting them form attending events in public places may be considered a violation of the First Amendment, which states, that government shall not abridge the freedom of speech or the press. The Mayor originally ran on a "transparency ticket" before his election in 2009. 

Letter to the Editor

Will the Real Director of Municipal Development Please Stand Up?

Jeff Proctor’s page C-1 article on 2/9 about the top paid employees in the City says the highest is Ed Adams who Jeff and the City’s posted transparency press release identifies as the Director of Municipal Development (DMD).   Leslie Linthicum’s front page 2/9 article says that Mike Riordan is the Director-something that the cabq.gov website also states.  Mike testifies before the City Council as the Director.   Ed is just an overpaid $145K/year special projects guy in DMD under Riordan who was last identified as the one heading up Mayor Berry’s wasteful “ABQ-The Plan” initiative. 

Citizens should recall that a former Mayor Chavez CAO-UNM Academic-Bruce Pearlman signed a secret memo before leaving his post.   It promised his successor Ed Adams-then DMD Director, his $145K CAO salary for life-even if Mayor Berry decided to name a new CAO and put Adams in a flunky  job.   The City’s HR later claimed it had no knowledge of the Perlman memo and none of the City attorneys ever admitted preparing it-although DMD’s attorney Greg Smith-a close friend of Ed’s received a huge pay raise from CAO Adams right before Mayor Chavez left office.   Coincidental? 

When Mayor Berry had the opportunity to correct this blatant rip-off of taxpayers and challenge the legality of the Pearlman memo in court, the attorney or attorneys who prepared the memo for Pearlman asserted it was legally binding and to give in to Adams’s threat rather than risk a lawsuit.  So our Mayor backed down-as seems to be his common practice whenever he has the opportunity to save our tax dollars.   Recall him folding after APD’s Union leaders opposed White and Schultz eliminating take home cars for 150 APD officers who lived out of town and were not on call 24/7. 

Regarding Schultz’s officers who are making big bucks, Mayor Berry would again bless this saying that he “didn’t see any red flags.”  Really Mr. Mayor-no red flags?  With over 1000 officers in APD, it would appear that overtime for court appearances would seem unnecessary with proper planning-as businesses do when giving their employees compensatory time off when they have to work beyond their normal hours.  Of the 1000, one would think there would be some officers who could fill in for those given such compensatory time off.   We already see an excessive number- 10 or more officers in their cars reporting to most calls for service merely to justify their unreasonably high manning levels.  

As for the Chief’s overtime pool of money paid for by businesses and for sporting events, it would appear that both officers Simon Drobik and Sergeant Troy Luna (and likely others) had arranged a sweetheart deal with the Chief to be the preferred ones selected.  Are we to assume the other 900+ didn’t volunteer for this extra Chief’s overtime work? The whole situation with the high pay in APD and in other Departments stinks and it’s us taxpayers who are the ones being ripped off because this self-proclaimed tax saving Mayor simply doesn’t care. 

Regards,

Silvio Dell’Angela

Stop Police Atrocities Now (S.P.A.N.)

Mayor and police chief request public opinion on new car style

APD is considering retiring it's red, white, and blue fleet of Crown Victoria's for a sportier new black and white Dodge Charger and wants public input. People are encouraged to visit cabq.gov and vote on the two designs. The new prototype was revealed at a press conference hosted by Mayor Berry and APD today, Nov. 30, 2011 at 2:00 p.m. in Albuquerque's Civic Plaza. According to Chief Ray Schultz, Ford will cease production of the Crown Victoria Police Cruiser at the end of 2011. This prompted APD to look at new style and a new color scheme. The City has been using the current model, color scheme, and graphics since 1994.
"The black and white design would allow for more consistency (in style) with BCSD and State Trooper cars," stated Schultz. The chief also claims that the new "look" would make it easier for people to identify law enforcement vehicles when officers pull up behind them. APD has also considered the Ford Taurus to replace fleet vehicles. However, design issues were found with the interior of the car.
The Charger has a full sized spare tire in the trunk area of the car which enables officers to change a flat tire and continue using the car throughout their shift instead of having to leave it at the garage. Chief Schultz also heralded to ease of cleaning out the back of the cars when people (who are detained) have "accidents".
"The rear containment module is completely self contained. Police officers can easily hose out the back of the car,".
According to Schultz, the Dodge Chargers are also cheaper than the traditional Crown Victoria's. Prices of the new cars were not discussed at the press conference. The City expects to purchase approximately 60 new cars with Capital Improvements Plan funding to replace existing fleet cars in 2012. The majority of the cars will be marked vehicles.
Additional Comment:
When asked by The Burque Blotter if a GPS tracking system would be installed in the new vehicles Schultz replied, "No, but with our ongoing efforts to keep up with technology eventually they will be,". In my humble opinion  all government vehicles should have GPS tracking installed to keep track of employee use. Recent discoveries of misuse of city vehicles have been documented in the media. Therefore, it is imperative that APD utilize GPS tracking devices in all of it's vehicles as part of it's "Smart Policing Policy".

How transparent is the City?

A little over a month ago I introduced myself to Albuquerque's City Council at a city council meeting, informing city councilors that I would be conducting an information audit on the City of Albuquerque and other government entities. One might ask what the heck is an information audit? An information audit is an audit that can be conducted by a private citizen or a large media outlet on a government entity in order to test the accessibly of information. The first step taken in this process was to ask to be placed on the city's press release list. Initially the Director of Information had hesitations on whether or not to place me on the list since I am currently a freelance journalist and blogger. After pleading my case for three weeks I was placed on the list. In the interim I succeeded on being placed on press release lists from The City of Santa Fe to U.S. Senator Jeff Bingaman. The average wait time to be placed on these lists ranged from five to ten minutes. I also found difficulty accessing information form the city's official website. Most city websites have a link to the city council agenda's on the home page. The City of Santa Fe emails the agenda after you sign up to be on their media release list. In order to access the City of Albuquerque's council meeting agenda I had to run several queries to access the link. Ironically the website received a transparency award. The Mayor's office will be hosting a "Chat with the  Mayor" event at the Cesar Chavez Community Center at 7505 Katheryn SE, tomorrow Oct. 27 from 2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. For more information call 505-768-3000.