CITY of ALBUQUERQUE
TWENTY SECOND COUNCIL
COUNCIL BILL NO. F/S R-16-125 ENACTMENT NO. ________________________
SPONSORED BY: Brad Winter and Ken Sanchez
RESOLUTION
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F/S Establishing A Property Crime Reduction Pilot Program By Increasing The Number Of PSA Positions And Providing An Appropriation To The Albuquerque Police Department (Winter, Sanchez)
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WHEREAS, the Albuquerque Police Department (APD) is tasked to protect and serve a Metropolitan population base of close to one million people; and
WHEREAS recruitment and retention of officers is an increasing challenge for police agencies in the State and across the Nation; and
WHEREAS, for the past several years, APD has similarly experienced a decrease in the number of officers on its force; and
WHEREAS, while APD is aggressively marketing and recruiting new officers, selecting, vetting, and training new applicants is a lengthy process, making it difficult to quickly fill officer positions; and
WHEREAS, the current APD staffing shortage has hampered APD's community policing efforts and has resulted in increased response times to Priority Three property crimes (home burglary, auto theft, home larceny crimes, and vandalism/property damage) calls for service where no suspect is reported on scene; and
WHEREAS, the citizens of the City of Albuquerque deserve a timely and high quality response to reports of crime; and
WHEREAS, a solution to address the response times is for the City to establish PSA Positions whose duties would include responding to Priority Three property crime calls through collection of forensic evidence, including latent print evidence, photographing of crime scenes, interviewing witnesses, taking reports, and testifying in court; and
WHEREAS, in Fiscal Year 2014 APD implemented the Police Service Aide (PSA) program to boost officer recruiting and provide general assistance and report taking for certain non-critical calls, including auto and residential bur...
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