The Four Hills Studios complex is getting a reputation that runs counter to the public relations image its management promotes.
A slogan on the complex’s website refers to it as “the best-kept secret in Albuquerque,” but police have a different impression as they’re getting very familiar with the apartments.
“This has been a familiar property since I’ve been PRT lieutenant here,” Shawn Garrett, acting commander for the Foothills Area, said in a recent KRQE report.
Albuquerque Police have responded to about 400 calls at the Four Hills Studios to date this year, making the complex — on East Central, near the intersection with Tramway — well-known among law enforcement officers.
Many of the calls, about 90, have been for “disturbances,” police said. Such calls can range from complaints about loud music, to neighbors arguing, to fights. Another frequent category is calls reporting a “suspicious person."
In contrast to its write-up as being “the best apartment home community in Albuquerque,” the police have now defined it as a hotspot for drugs, including the sale of fentanyl pills.
“I would think a lot of that would be the additional foot traffic,” Garrett said of the problem. “The unsecuredness of the property brings that."
The police are trying to crack down on the crime, an objective that has been challenged by a change in management of the complex. The Albuquerque Police Department has reached out to the current managers, suggesting that they add better lighting, fencing and security.
If the owners or managers don’t take steps to curtail the problems, more drastic action could follow, up to shutting down the complex, police have suggested, according to the report.