In an interview with the New Mexico Sun, NMBC President Carla Sonntag spoke about a new Downtown “TEAM (Targeted Enforcement and Active Monitoring)” being pushed by Mayor Tim Keller.
The mayor wants businesses in the downtown ABQ area to ‘donate’ extra money to the city, on top of taxes that have already been paid, in order to get police protection. This brings into question the thought that if certain businesses don’t have the extra money to pay for the police protection, then will they just not have protection? This initiative is a great idea in theory, but almost privatizes the police for the businesses Downtown and with police officer shortages, businesses struggling to recover from the pandemic, and increased crime, this doesn’t seem like it will fix the problems with crime in that area of Albuquerque.
You can read more about the interview and the mayor’s plans HERE.