Dear Mayor Berry,
Now that the inevitable has occurred and Albuquerque Police Chief Schultz has stepped down, you must not make the mistake of promoting a new Chief from within the department. Start a national search for a highly qualified crime fighter and administrator to run this incestuous department. Bring in a guy or gal who will make meaningful changes in training of officers. Bring in a someone who can stick to a budget so the cop shop doesn't drain away resources from all other city departments. Set up a search committee immediately to make a bipartisan effort to get this done efficiently and ask them to suggest at least three finalists. Don't be afraid to spend a little extra money for a really qualified candidate. It will pay off in the future.
I would also like to thank Chief Schultz for his service to out city.
Sincerely,
Jim Baca
Former Mayor
Now that the inevitable has occurred and Albuquerque Police Chief Schultz has stepped down, you must not make the mistake of promoting a new Chief from within the department. Start a national search for a highly qualified crime fighter and administrator to run this incestuous department. Bring in a guy or gal who will make meaningful changes in training of officers. Bring in a someone who can stick to a budget so the cop shop doesn't drain away resources from all other city departments. Set up a search committee immediately to make a bipartisan effort to get this done efficiently and ask them to suggest at least three finalists. Don't be afraid to spend a little extra money for a really qualified candidate. It will pay off in the future.
I would also like to thank Chief Schultz for his service to out city.
Sincerely,
Jim Baca
Former Mayor
8 comments:
My hopes (and that of many others with whom I have spoken) are as follows:
1. Deputy Chief Banks is not promoted to Chief because he was at Ms. Han's home;
2. The national attention from the Associated Press story about how APD treated Ms. Han helped convince Chief Schultz to leave now;
3. Councilman Lewis should get some credit but many, many people have been pushing for this for years;
4. Mayor Berry acknowledges the Ellis family and wishes them well.
Maybe the mayor will choose a Jesuit.
Seriously, in the Journal Mayor Berry lauds the drop in crime during Chief Schultz' rein, except for the killing of unarmed citizens by police which he forgot to mention.
But there are plenty of people who are fine with that. When you read the comments under the stories about these police shootings at some of the TV stations web sites it sounds pretty goulish. Commenter after commenter justifies the cops, some even make light of what happened. In the anonymity of our little houses, in the secrets we tell ourselves, we are a violent people and the main thing that keeps that in check is probably fear. We'd all be breaking bad if we didn't think we'd get our ass kicked, or get in trouble or have to pay money. Our aggression comes out however, in rudeness and in our lack of empathy.
We then become the next police officers, and leaders. The mayor, the city council and other people in positions of influence could do a lot to start turning that around and they could start with the selection of the new police chief, and with what they expect of her or him.
It would be grear if the mayor apologized to Ms Han's family.
Ray Schultz brought the department to where it is now: it's knees. He does not deserve to be thanked. He should be indicted. He has effectuated more civil rights violations and covered up more controversies than the public would believe.
And to quote Mary, "Schultz is the fox guarding the hen house."
I agree with the above posters, but we all know they won't because they all know a crime was covered up and were part of that crime.
This is all spin from the Schultz / Berry / Perry re-election team.
Since when is a retirement letter not a retirement letter? When you read Ray Schultz's letter. He basically says hmmmmmmm I think I will retire, maybe in September or how about November? Certainly this timing would not conincide with the upcoming election?
The citizens have had enough of election spin. The city and the police department have been run into the ground by a mayor who cannot make a decision nor hold his appointees accountable for our money. The only think Berry could do to save some face is thank Schultz and tell him he is gone April 1, 2013.
By the way, the $10,000,000 lawsuit is just a continuation of the $44,000,000 (as reported by KOAT) that the city has lost in lawsuits since Berry has been mayor. I look for a large tax increase or a large reduction in city services to cover the lawsuits costs. And still Berry holds NO ONE at APD responsible. You just can't make this stuff up.
St Paddy's Abq J edition shows the editors are sorry losers. They list all incidents against the dept but they left out any mention of Mary Han. Why? Probably because an Associated Press reporter out-reported them on their home turf. Good-bye journalism and hello censorship.
Fear is making some of us crazy. In American cities, the comfortable in the 'burbs fear the "rabble", the young, the poor, the immigrants, brown people, mentally ill,etc. Anybody not like me. These are the nice, middle class people people who write in support of harsh, violent, police behavior. They actually believe real life is like a bad movie, and if we just kill all the "bad guys", it will be OK.
I actually believe if we didn't live in separate worlds there might be some empathy.
But yeah, the level of fear is amazing.
Excellent advice. But, Jim,when does Berry listen to you?
Post a Comment