Over the next two weeks, the National Guard will arrive in Albuquerque to work alongside police service aides, freeing up sworn Albuquerque Police Department officers to respond to, address, and investigate the City’s most serious crime incidents.
Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham used her executive authority to declare an emergency relating to crime in Albuquerque, allowing and directing the National Guard to help. Her executive order came after APD Chief Harold Medina requested additional help with a range of law enforcement tasks that currently take significant time from sworn officers. Read the executive order here and Medina’s letter here.
In his letter to Gov. Lujan Grisham, Medina wrote, “We envision the NMNG as a visible, trusted presence supporting non-law enforcement duties, akin to the Guard’s role in responding to critical incidents nationwide.”
For years, in New Mexico, the NMNG has played myriad roles in support of state and federal officials during the response to wildfires, including the facilitation of evacuations, traffic enforcement, transports, etc.
There will be two National Guard members assigned to work within each of our city’s districts alongside police service aides (PSAs). They will be unarmed, dressed in khaki pants and black shirts, and will assist with traffic control, property crime report writing and other non-sworn PSA duties.
Chief Medina believes the “assistance from the National Guard will have an immediate impact and allow our officers to do more proactive policing.”
“We are always looking for creative solutions to ensure officers are fighting crime, rather than sitting in their cars and blocking traffic or doing administrative work that is necessary to book suspects into jail,” Medina said.
“The Chamber has been relentless in our advocacy for changes which will make our city and state safer,” said Terri Cole, Greater Albuquerque Chamber of Commerce president and CEO. “We believe this effort could prove to be very helpful, but time will tell whether it’s effective – at an appreciable scale – in freeing up more officers for assistance to businesses and residents, especially in high-crime areas. The results should be monitored closely.”
“We certainly appreciate law enforcement efforts and unique collaborations designed to clamp down on the continued, pervasive crime we face in our community,” said Del Esparza, GACC Board Chairman and CEO of Esparza Advertising. “Long-term, hiring additional police service aides and officers will likely need to be the permanent solution; in the meantime, we’ll take all the help we can get.”