By the way, the website that "Joe" posted here is known for it's overt racism (especially from the mods) and flame wars. One of the worst forums on the internet. There is no one reason for the out of control crime in Abq. It's a veritable tsunami of a shortage of police, a violent police department that contributes to this problem (that protects the cartels and has been under Federal judicial watch for many years due to it's illegal and violent methods), an entrenched drug cartel that has controlled the city for decades, judges that release even violent offenders w/ long criminal histories out on bail at the drop of a hat, a county sheriff's department that is incompetent and violates people's rights at every opportunity (along w/ shooting them and refusing to use body cams), a large population of ex cons and people coming from other states to commit crimes in the wild west atmosphere of Abq (California's three strikes and you're out law has come to mean three strikes and you move to New Mexico), a high population of people that are on the streets who are abusers of hard drugs, alcohol, and/or in need of mental health care, stretched city services that cannot cope w/ all the addiction problems, a shortage of mental health workers due to the high burnout caused by such high demand, and worst of all, a culture that doesn't DO anything about any of this. People honestly just don't see what the problem is, or are in denial there even is a problem. When I told someone at the Saturday's Farmer's Market that I was leaving due to the high crime she said "Just don't watch the news". Like that would magically make it go away. I ended up in Tucson after a short and unsatisfactory stay in Las Cruces. Here, the crime is largely limited to one particular part of town, unlike Abq where it could and did happen anywhere at anytime. I feel much, much safer here than in Abq.
steve |
Albuquerque, NM |
Report Abuse