Are we making NM a safe haven for crime?

We can all agree, crime seems to be everywhere and seems to be getting worse. (Recently) the Albuquerque Police Department announced it would be directing officers to issue citations rather than make arrests on low-level crimes to comply with a settlement agreement on a class-action lawsuit. Many people are asking now why would a city do this in a time where crime seems to be rising?

Over the past few years, Albuquerque has become a case study for those calling for more lenient policies toward criminals. Unfortunately, as pretrial services and leniency for criminals in courts has increased and more people are being released from jail, crime has continued to rise. As it is, many of these services are a virtual get-out-of-jail-free card. The same people are being caught and released over and over. In other cities where this is happening, criminals are using calculators to make sure they do not steal over the limit to go to jail. Albuquerque has one of the highest burglary, shoplifting and auto theft rates in the country, and we are not seeing signs of improvement any time soon.

New Mexico was also recently ranked as being one of the worst places to be a police officer by Wallet-Hub. Rather than giving our police officers more resources and tools do their job better and be happy overall, we continue to take tools away from them and release criminals within hours of them being arrested. We as citizens of Albuquerque want APD to keep the city safe and not allow small crimes to escalate into bigger crimes .... We are going down a slippery slope as we take away discretion from police officers . ... We certainly hope police officers can use their discretion for their safety and the safety of others.

APD is working diligently to keep our streets safe, and the courts are turning around and allowing defendants back on the street, even when they are a risk to the community. We should care why these individuals are committing these crimes and continue to re-offend. If we do not know why, then how will we prevent it? We need to understand the cause and not just focus on the symptom, and then have concrete solutions. We appreciate and thank APD for all (it does) to keep us safe. APD (officers put) their lives on the line every day, and we worry they are working with fewer tools to do their job right.

With this new order, there are no parameters nor amount of citations they can issue on one person. If a criminal continues to commit crimes and only receives citations, what is to stop them from committing crimes? Is this what criminal justice reform has become? Letting people commit havoc on communities and let them go with no punishment?

We continue to speak about the poor defendants but never about the victims and all they must go through after the crime has taken place. Who is being reformed in this process? There are no treatment centers, rehabs, or anything readily available to help the criminals who really need the help, and the victims are being punished and getting no justice.

Finally, we understand that all persons in this country have basic rights (they) are all entitled to. The most basic of those rights would be the “presumption of innocence” and when to apply it. This presumption comes into play at the beginning of the court proceedings and not at the time of the arrest. However, victims, taxpayers and the community at large have rights as well that must be protected.

This op-ed is on behalf the Bail Bond Association of New Mexico.