Berry honored despite public concern over crime
Chamber: Mayor deserves public service award for crime-fighting initiatives
Well, the timing seems a bit ironic.
Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry is scheduled to receive the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce’s “award for Excellence in Public Safety” tonight for several initiatives he launched to help fight crime.
The award will be presented at a time when violent crime in Albuquerque is escalating and efforts to address it are at the forefront of many public policy discussions, including the mayor’s race. Many of the candidates have blasted Berry, who is not seeking re-election, saying he is not doing enough to address the issue.
Chamber CEO Terri Cole said the award — the first of its kind — was created because business leaders have identified education, public safety and Downtown transformation as the three greatest challenges facing the city, and the chamber wants
to recognize individuals who have tried to address those issues.
She said Berry was chosen because of his efforts to fight crime, citing the city’s new ALeRT program, which aims to help keep repeat offenders off the streets by increasing communication among Albuquerque police, the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, the FBI and the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office, and a grant Berry secured that created “ABQ i-team,” which researches issues facing the community.
She added that Berry is one of many who will be recognized during the 2017 Chamber Awards and Legislative Reception.
Rhiannon Samuel, a spokeswoman for the mayor, said that in January the “i-team” started looking specifically into crime in the city.
“Crime is a serious issue in Albuquerque. There are many people, including the mayor and our district attorney and our chamber, who are working on the problem,” Cole said. “We believe Mayor Berry has done some very good work to make some progress for the long term with these two programs. Regardless of the timing of the issue, we believe they should be recognized.”
FBI statistics show that violent and property crime in Albuquerque have increased in recent years. Just last week, Lavu, a local business, met with city officials to talk about crime in the Downtown area. The business said it may relocate if the city can’t address the problem.
District Attorney Raúl Torrez, citing a recent increase in crime, is trying to get the state Supreme Court to change rules in Bernalillo County criminal courts so his office can more efficiently prosecute cases.
Crime is also front and center in the mayor’s race, which has a crowded field of eight candidates. One issued a statement Wednesday that called Berry’s award “laughable.”
“The chamber doesn’t give awards by first putting the idea through some political horizon. We try to recognize good work, especially by elected officials, whenever and wherever it occurs and that is what we have done here,” Cole said.“We don’t do a political horizon scanning, scan to see what’s popular or not. We give it on the merits. And these two programs for the mayor, we believe, will have needed and long-lasting results.”
Samuel said the mayor is pleased to accept the award and thanked the chamber for being a voice on local criminal justice issues.
“There is always work to do to keep our (communities) safe, and the mayor is thankful for all of the multi-jurisdictional partners,” she said.