On June 17, the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce hosted Mayor Tim Keller as he spoke about “Breaking Through in Tough Times” to a crowd of more than 300 at the Chamber’s annual luncheon at the Embassy Suites.
During his keynote address to business leaders, Keller reflected on Albuquerque’s progress over the past decade and highlighted efforts to address crime, homelessness and infrastructure. Key achievements he cited include:
- Rebuilding the Albuquerque Police Department and increasing officer numbers by 20%.
- Implementing crime-fighting technologies like ShotSpotter and license plate readers, which has led to a 99% arrest rate for shootings.
- Creating the Gateway System, modeled after San Antonio’s approach, which now serves 1,000 people daily to address homelessness effectively.
- Transforming the city with infrastructure projects like the Rail Trail and housing initiatives.
Keller emphasized the need for continued support and investment to sustain these improvements.
During his speech, he credited the GACC for keeping the city accountable on many fronts.
He recalled that GACC President and CEO Terri Cole pointed out in 2017 that the city was in difficult times, and that things got worse with national increases in crime and homelessness and the challenges coming out of the pandemic.
Keller said the Chamber brought up that there needed to be changes — to APD, as well as Downtown and the city’s anti-housing zoning code that has limited the city’s growth for so long. He said that the city needed to own the issues around homelessness.
“You have this layered issue in Albuquerque that these are tough times,” Keller said. “They were tough times in the first place for our city, and then you throw in all these national problems, and they just got harder. That is where we’re at today. Now I made a decision, which may have been the wrong or right decision, that we should actually try and work on some of these generational issues, some of these issues that I think had been avoided for several years beforehand and essentially been holding our city back.”
Keller said the first step was getting APD in compliance with the U.S. Department of Justice settlement agreement because when it was instituted more than a decade ago, the department was falling apart.
“We were under the consent decree for the right reasons, because we were doing terrible things for our population that we weren’t supposed to do,” Keller said. “Officers were demoralized. They were leaving in droves. There was no steady leadership at APD. We said we have got to actually rebuild a department that can function and have a fighting chance to keep us safe in Albuquerque.”
Keller said when the pandemic and COVID-19 rolled around, the city began to do things differently. It began running four APD academies at the same time, which helped the officer numbers to grow again.
“We’re up 20% in terms of our number of officers,” Keller said. “We actually have high morale again in our police department, and now we’re attracting folks from outside of the state to work for APD because we’re a role model. It’s hard to believe where we’ve come in 10 years on that front. (But) we have a long way to go, and that’s never lost on me.”
Keller said property crimes — auto theft, burglaries and shoplifting — have fallen 33% in 2025 from the previous year. He said this is a direct correlation of APD having the right technology.
Violent crimes have also dropped 20% in 2025 from the previous year.
“If there’s a shooting, we know where it happens because we have ShotSpotter,” he said. “Then we have the shell casings, which we analyze, and we can find out who owns the gun. Within minutes we can have license plate readers ready, and we’re looking for the criminals in real time. If you shoot someone, there is a 99% chance you will be found.”
Keller also credited the increase in police service aides (PSAs) in the city. PSAs assist with traffic control, property crime report writing and other non-sworn law enforcement duties.
“We need officers to be able to do that investigative work, use that technology, and so part of that is making sure that they’re not doing things that a civilian can do,” Keller said. “That’s why at traffic scenes, you don’t see cops anymore. You see public service aids. We’ve quadrupled the number of public service aids so that they can do things like monitor traffic and collect evidence at crime scenes and also ride our buses and also help us keep everyone safe at public demonstrations and community events, so that officers are freed up to actually fight crime.”
Keller then highlighted the work of the Community Safety Department.
“Our Community Safety Department now runs 24/7, and that department has taken 100,000 calls that APD did not have to take, freeing up officers to fight violent crime,” he said.
Keller also pointed out the early success that the Gateway system has had since opening. The center now provides medical, behavioral and social services including overnight beds, first responder intake, medical sobering and respite care. The city-run program includes the Gateway Center, Gateway West, Gateway Family, Gateway Young Adult and Gateway Recovery.
“The Gateway system is up and running, and now tonight, it will take care of 1,000 people,” Keller said. “We went from zero to 1,000, and just like crime, we have a long way to go. We built a system that has a fighting chance to actually help those people going forward. That’s the difference in today’s Albuquerque. That’s how it’s set up for the next generation.”
Within Downtown, Keller said the city is close to a deal with University of New Mexico to move parts of its campus to Downtown — an idea taken from Arizona State University and how it helped reinvigorate downtown Phoenix.
He said the Central New Mexico Community College Film Program will open at the Albuquerque Rail Yard — which will bring more students to the area and increase foot traffic.
“So I believe that in the end, when you think about the challenges that you gave me, the challenges that our city has had for decades, we have stayed focused on big issues. We’ve done the real work. We’ve tried to fix and build systems that will last well beyond myself or folks who are in leadership positions in this room,” Keller said. “We’ve also weathered pandemics, protests, two governors, two presidents, but through it all, what you see now is we’re tested. We are trusted to hold this together, and Albuquerque is making a comeback.”
Prior to Keller speaking, the Chamber recognized new investors Chevron USA, New Mexico Pro Hockey Club and Apache Nugget Casino.
And Del Esparza, GACC chairman of the board and Esparza Digital + Advertising, introduced the newest members of the GACC Board of Directors. They are:
- Michelle Dearholt, president and CEO, Nusenda Credit Union
- Michael Kueker, CEO of Lovelace Medical Group
- Lance Sigmon, Principal at Allen Sigmon Real Estate Group
- Monique Fragua, President and CEO of the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center (IPCC) and Indian Pueblos Marketing Inc. (IPMI)
- Justine Deshayes, executive director and senior lead commercial relationship manager at Wells Fargo
- Melanie Velasquez, president and CEO of New Mexico Bank and Trust
- Dr. Salomon Amar, president and CEO of Lovelace Biomedical Research Institute.
