The final report of the Council of Great City Schools review of the APS PD

There are a number issues; beginning with the Acknowledgements.

First, we thank Dr. Elizabeth Everitt, ...who requested ...this assessment. Her request demonstrates a serious and substantial commitment to improving the school district's operations and the public's confidence in the Albuquerque schools.

I object to this statement on at least two grounds. First, the leadership of the APS has long since forfeited the trust of the community. Beth Everitt had no choice but to have an outside assessment done. It is disingenuous to imply that she voluntarily commissioned the review.

Further, if Beth Everitt had any real interest in improving the public's confidence in the APS, she would not be hiding the results of the Robert Caswell Investigations investigation of the corruption in the APSPD. And the full text of the CoGCS review would be available on the APS website.

Finally, the scope of the review of the APSPD by the CoGCS was deliberately narrowed, by Everitt, to avoid investigation or reporting on the "series of allegations of improprieties" in the administration of the APS PD.

I don't know of another name to assign to this part of the report, except baloney. In my opinion, it does not bode well for integrity of the whole report.

One of the recommendations of the report was to;

Re-assign the Chief of Police to report directly to the Deputy of District Resources to ensure appropriate administrative oversight...

This means, put Tom Savage back in charge of the APSPD. Considering how well this worked before; (he was removed from oversight by Everitt, ostensibly because he wasn't up to the task), one has to wonder what in the world the CoGCS thinks will be accomplished by putting things back the way they were.

Under findings;

The District has not determined, at the policy and operational levels, whether it wants a police department, a security service or, in fact, if it wants to be in the safety business at all.

For example-
Officers are required to lock their firearms in the trunks of their cars... (Every time this comes up, I can't help but think of Barney, on the Andy Griffith Show. He was allowed to carry a gun, but had to keep his bullet in his pocket.)

The district has not developed a safety plan based on analyses of its security needs.

The failure of the (board and administration) to act on recommendations contained in previous APSPD studies suggests that they lack the interest and the capacity to oversee the functions of the department.

...poor morale in the APSPD.

Training of officers and staff is generally considered to be inadequate...

APSPD equipment is either out of date or inadequate.

The district's safety and security policies and procedures have numerous shortcomings...

• Vague and out-of-date safety and security policies...
• Inconsistent protocols for handling bomb threats...

The lack of standard codes for notifying staff and students about emergency situations at schools...

There are no central inventory records of equipment...

There is no uniform district policy on the distribution of keys ...leading to an estimated 3,000 alarm calls per weekend.

APSPD has a history of over spending its budget allocations.

Last, but not least;

The annual statistical crime report ...may be inaccurate and possibly misleading. The team was advised that there is a prevailing culture of under-reporting incidents to improve the image of the district and individual schools.

I hope readers pay particular attention to the last point;
about a "prevailing culture" in the leadership of the APS, of deliberately misleading the community to improve the image of the district.


It speaks to the need for an immediate (forensic) audit of the leadership of the APS;


...loudly.