Chief Medina breaks out in the call game in the town hall of ABQ, while scandals explode

The tensions that were cooked on Thursday evening as the city council of Albuquerque, Louie Sanchez, collided publicly during a heated budget meeting with Mary Tim Keller's police chief Harold Medina and put on what many view as a deep dysfunction and scandal-related management of the police department of Albuquerque (APD).

The city council, who meets as a committee of the whole to exclude the city's budget for the financial year from July 1, quickly relegated to chaos when Medina apparently seemed to defend the latest financing request from APD in the amount of $ 271.5 million – an increase of 5.2% compared to the previous year. The Flashpoint came out as Sanchez, a former police officer and the current candidate for mayor, Medina's casual appearance and lack of respect. “Nice of you to see in a polo shirt today, boss,” said Sanchez and added: “Thank you for not respected us today.”

The exchange escalated when Sanchez Medina pressed why the Council in the dark by his request to bring in the National Guard troops in New Mexico to support APD by taking on the tasks at a lower level and freeing civil servants for other tasks. Medina, visibly folded, fueled, Sanchez explained as “unprofessional” and defensively: “I will not sit here and be abused” and added: “I hope the whole city of Albuquerque” saw “the actions of Sanchez. Both men called one another until the committee chair restored the order.

But the fireworks over budget numbers and personnel levels are only the tip of the iceberg. The meeting staged the much deeper putrefaction under Medina's leadership, which has caught up with the department in scandal, corruption and declining public trust.

Most Damning is the Federal Investigation Into A Massive Bribery Scheme in which Dwi Cases Were Thrown Out in Exchange for Cash – A Scandal Medina's Department is Directly Implicated in. Dubbed the “DWI Enterprise,” The Operation Involved Apd Officers, Deputies From The Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office, and New Mexico State Police, Who Conspired with Attorney Thomas Clear III and Investigator Ricardo Mendez to get DWI fees were released for paying customers. This brazen scheme has triggered a wave of shots and resignations within the APD and underlined the corruption that has not been oriented by Medina.

In addition, the leadership of medina was recorded by demands of nepotism and retaliation within the APD academy. Seven instructors submitted a lawsuit by the Whistleblower in which they were claimed that they were punished for the fact that a cadet – the son of a police commander – was restored after he was released.

A car accident in February 2024, in which the boss led a red light, collided with another vehicle and seriously injured his driver, is a car accident. In an obvious violation of the Department Directive, Medina did not activate his body camera during the incident and later referred to his right to change in the right of Fifth in order to avoid self-crime. This ruthless behavior made further concerns about the accountability at the highest level of the APD leadership.

Against this background of scandal and mismanagement, council member Sanchez Medina gave a bloated upper management and the continued lack of “boots on site”. Sanchez demanded answers: “How will you do something to change your overflowed top level to put boots on the floor?” Medina, predictably defensive, justified the first-class structure of the department by quoting the US declaration of declaration of the US Justice Ministry, citing reforms. “Perhaps we had a lack of supervision with these low employees in 2011. We had a lack of people who were held accountable because we had too wide control numbers,” he argued – despite the current scandal, which indicated in other ways.

The council member Dan Champins also weighed and examined the 6.5 million dollars intended for the salaries of the command personnel and further increases the concerns that APD's budget continues to prioritize the bureaucracy in front of the real police.

The council member Dan Lewis added fuel to the fire and unveiled what he described as a backdoor reduction of 5.4 million US dollars for the APD budget, and criticized the division of funds that were intended for vacant positions of the officers. “We lower your budget by 5.4 million US dollars, and it goes to other things. That is the explanation. That is exactly what is going on,” said Lewis bluntly.

While Medina claimed that APD had projected around 900 officers by the end of 2024 and 1,000 by the end of 2025, reality remains dark. Medina admitted that the 5.4 million US dollars for the salaries of civil servants would be restored, which would probably be due elsewhere – a meaningful sign of laid priorities.

The CFO Kevin Sourisseau, who tried to downplay the controversy, insisted that the total financing of the APD would increase, and claimed that it was routine not to finance any positions that would not be filled. In view of the success of the department under Medina, however, the calming of city officials heralded hollow.

Despite all of this, the council advanced the budget proposal with a final vote on May 20.

Since Medina's term of office, which was affected by corruption scandals, illegated investigations and the bale bureaucracy, was affected, the explosive meeting on Thursday made one thing clear: the leadership of APD is under fire – and the pressure on a real reform is only louder.

Regard: