New Mexico needs to tackle its crime problem

For those who think reports about crime being prevalent in New Mexico are overblown, that it is a media construct to garner audience share or a political construct to inflame law-and-order prone voters, think again.

The FBI’s 2015 Uniform Crime Report shows New Mexico had the third-highest violent crime rate and second-highest property crime rate in the nation.

That’s 656 violent crimes per 100,000 New Mexico residents when the national average was 373 violent crimes per 100,000 people. And that’s 3,697 property crimes per 100,000 people when the national average was 2,487 per 100,000 inhabitants.

So while violent crime is up slightly nationally, and property crime is down, both are up considerably in New Mexico and in Albuquerque.

Only Alaska and Nevada have more violent crime than New Mexico; only Hawaii has more property crime. Albuquerque, at 966 violent crimes per 100,000 residents, has more violent crime than cities with comparable populations, including Tucson, Louisville, Ky., Las Vegas, Nev., and Oklahoma City.

Albuquerque’s property crime rate was also higher than in Las Vegas, Oklahoma City and Louisville.

Gov. Susana Martinez used the rising crime rate report last week to call for harsher penalties on repeat offenders, saying through a spokesman that it “is yet another reason legislators need to find the courage to get tough on crime and strengthen penalties against violent offenders.”

The FBI report is hard data that shows law enforcement needs the tools to stop the flow of drugs from Mexico, the community needs an accountable system to adequately deal with substance abuse, police departments need sufficient staffing, and lawmakers and the courts need to stop the revolving door that puts offenders back on the street to steal more stuff and, when confronted, turn a property crime into a violent one. (And for those who say we lock up too many people, know that New Mexico sends fewer people to prison on a per capita basis than its neighbors Texas, Arizona, Colorado and Oklahoma.)

Yes, it all takes money, and not just for jails. Drug treatment and other effective interventions should be in the mix. But the FBI estimates that property crimes alone cost the nation $14.3 billion in 2015. Factor in the immeasurable cost of many violent crimes, as well as the affect both have on quality of life, and it should be clear to city, county, state and national leaders that addressing the crime problem would be money well spent.