Last week, at the Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors’ August meeting, Kyle Hartsock, commander of APD’s Homicide Unit, gave a presentation on how the department is combatting public safety issues.
The 21-year veteran of APD told board members about the unit as well as the impact of large-scale fentanyl distribution and its impact on violent crime in Albuquerque and New Mexico.
Harstock said the number of shootings and murders are down — which is on par with nationwide numbers.
He also showcased a department dashboard that helps track the number of murder cases, as well as the number of victims with each case — as of Aug. 22, his team has been called to 50 crime scenes with 53 murder victims this year.
And while the number of killings is down, the solve rate is up. “Three years ago, APD was solving 42% of murder cases, and (that) has risen to 76%,” he said.
Harstock said there are three tracking motivations of criminals – drug related, domestic violence and road rage.
He said APD has six Investigative Tech programs to combat crime, which are:
- Digital Intel Team, which monitors social media.
- NIBIN, which helps compare bullet casings found at crime scenes.
- ShotSpotter, which records gunshot activity and dispatches an officer after gunshots are heard and recorded.
- LPR, or license plate readers, which records license plates in certain areas. The police keep the information for seven days.
- Detective Academy, which trains detectives for three weeks and sees about 20% of interest coming from smaller agencies across the state.
- Shot program, which places signs up around neighborhoods to help APD stop shootings. The signs are placed in yards and asks the community to report shootings.
The GACC Board members also had an opportunity to ask specific questions regarding public safety and the rise in fentanyl cases.
Many thanks to Commander Harstock for the vital information.