Local attorney and former Albuquerque City Councilor Pete Dinelli minced no words when describing Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller’s recent downtown crime initiative, calling it a “shakedown.”
According to the City of Albuquerque website, Keller announced a new public-private crime initiative, which asks business owners to contribute to a fund that would be used to pay for additional officers stationed downtown.
"The TEAM program requiring private funding for police protection is as messed up as any mayor can get with a police department. There is absolutely no excuse for Mayor Keller and Chief (Harold) Medina to ‘shake down’ downtown business owners to pay for police protection," Dinelli told the New Mexico Sun. "APD (Albuquerque police department) has the largest city budget with a $255.4 million budget and with a 14.7% increase. The city is projected to have over $100 million more in gross receipts this coming fiscal year, yet Keller and Medina want downtown business owners to pay and donate for more police protection they have a right to demand and expect. Keller and Medina proclaimed they are working in a resource-constrained environment, when what really exists is gross incompetence by Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Harold Medina to manage APD resources."
Representatives from some of Albuquerque’s downtown businesses are skeptical of Keller’s pitch to have them pay more for more police manpower. KOAT 7 News reported that Stuart Dunlap, CEO of The Man’s Hat Shop, said he thinks it is “out of line.”
"I think it's very silly," Dunlap told KOAT 7 News. "We already pay taxes for police protection. We pay property taxes. We pay business tax. We buy a business license. Having additional money come in from business owners downtown is completely out of line, I think.”
In a recent op-ed published in the New Mexico Sun, Dinelli contends that APD has the resources it needs but lacks the personnel. “APD is awash with unused funding. Yet Keller and Medina seek private funding, telling downtown business owners they need to take ‘control of their own future’ by paying for police protection.”
Earlier this year, the AP News reported on Albuquerque’s rise in crime, as the city recorded 117 killings in 2021, “shattering” its previous record by 46% and amassing enough violent crimes per 10,000 people to place Albuquerque in the top-ten most violent cities with a population over 100,000.