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Voter registration for the Oct. 8 Albuquerque mayor election ends tomorrow, but incumbent Richard Berry has just fired the starting gun for his campaign.
Berry officially kicked off his campaign for his “second and final term as mayor” Saturday morning in his campaign headquarters in the Northeast Heights.
In a speech he delivered at the event, Berry said he applauds the Albuquerque Police Department for being a “world-class” police force.
“The men and women of the Albuquerque Police Department have gone out (and done their jobs),” he said. “And as a city, we now enjoy the lowest FBI crime rates in the last 23 years. We have world-class people go out every day and make Albuquerque a better place.”
Berry said Albuquerque’s crime rate has been going down since he got into office. And he said he aims to continue his work.
“(APD) has doubled the number of property crime arrests,” he said. “While the violent crime rate went up in the United States, it went down in the city of Albuquerque. And for the first six months this year, it went down again.”
Berry said he has also addressed the issue of homelessness in the city. He said he has started Albuquerque Heading Home, a program that aims to end homelessness in Albuquerque. He said the program has provided homes for 250 homeless people since its creation.
“It’s an initiative for us to go out as a community — not just as a mayor, not just as a city — to address a problem communities in the nation face,” he said. “We have individuals in the city, some of whom have been on the streets of Albuquerque for 20 years.”
But mayoral challenger Paul Heh said in an interview Saturday afternoon that Berry has been talking about the city’s crime statistics falsely.
Heh said according to statistics from the Uniform Crime Report, which APD has submitted to the FBI, Albuquerque’s crime rate has gone up, contrary to what Berry said.
“He’s a liar,” he said. “The crime rate across the nation has gone down. However, it is on the rise in every category, especially property crime, which he said he was going to fix at the speed of business. He’s a total failure at business, so it’s no surprise to me that he’s a total failure at property crime. Everything that he said here today is bullshit. I will say it to his face.”
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Heh said the city has been suffering because of an understaffed police department.
“You have approximately 800 police officers when you should have 1,200,” he said. “He has done nothing to fill those ranks.”
Heh, who retired from APD at the rank of sergeant before running for mayor, said he would not cut the police’s funding, although Berry did so during his term. He said he also aims to conduct an internal review of every police officer in the department and hire a new chief from Albuquerque.
“I’ve been here 25 years, and I know who the knuckleheads are,” he said. “If they’ve been part of the problem, they have to retire. If they’ve been part of a solution we’ll think about them staying.”
And in addition to more rigorous recruiting processes, Heh said he would create intensive training for officers to prevent unnecessary shooting incidents from happening again.
“I went 33 years, 25 of them here, and I never shot anyone,” he said. “I came very close, but thank God somebody intervened.
Police officers are going to die, and police officers are going to have to take a life. But everything is second nature in your head, and it was to me, because we used to have that kind of training here.”
In February, the United Stated Department of Justice launched an investigation of APD following a number of shootings by APD officers during the past two years. The investigation will explore the use of unreasonable force by police.
Mayoral candidate Pete Dinelli said in an email sent to the Daily Lobo on Sunday that he agrees that Berry has not done a good job managing APD during his first term. He said Albuquerque residents are “less safe today because Mayor Berry has carelessly mismanaged our public safety departments.”
Dinelli, who served as public safety director of the city in 2009, said the police force has lost about 300 officers since he held the position. He said that if elected, he will not cut police funding and will hire a new police chief and commanders.
“I believe that we must fully fund our public safety needs including the police department, fire department, 911 emergency response center and EMS,” he said. “The first step toward restoring public confidence in APD is replacing all the top brass. I will also restore the incentives and bonuses removed by the mayor to attract and keep good officers while revisiting some of the requirements including college and military service.”
A safer environment will determine whether Albuquerque will become more attractive to businesses in the future, Dinelli said.
“Public safety is a top priority and goes hand in hand with recovering our economy,” he said. “No business is going to want to move here while Albuquerque has a reputation for being a violent city. Under Mayor Berry, we’ve seen a massive spike in officer-involved shootings that have made headlines across the nation.”
Still, Berry said he aims to continue the work that he has been doing with APD if elected.
“We have had a tremendous first term,” he said. “We’re going to take what we’ve done in the first term and we’re going to move that forward.”
Voters can register to vote for the mayoral elections until tomorrow. All New Mexico residents who are U.S. citizens and 18 or older are eligible to vote. Registrants need to provide a valid photo I.D. and a proof of residence in the state.
