APS Bill Reed responds on the record.

APS top cop, Bill Reed has responded to my allegations in my post entitled; Winston Brooks' Castle Keep. link

Good Morning Mr. MacQuigg:

I take the following issues with your blog, on the record.

1.  All of our sworn personnel including myself, are State Certified Police Officers, Certified by the New Law Enforcement Academy, subject to all laws governing police officers.  This includes adherence to a code of ethics, subject to revocation of their certification for misconduct and violations of the law.

2.  My Department works directly under, and I answer to the Chief Operating Officer, Dr. Brad Winter, not Winston Brooks.

3.  No sworn police officers were taken out of the schools to provide security here at City Centre, our priority remains the students.

4.  People attending Board Meetings will not be required to sign in or out during those meetings, they will be free to come and go.  If you were required to sign in for a Board meeting that was a mistake.  As with any new procedure, there are kinks that need to be worked out.

Finally, I hope that you will set the record straight on your blog  regarding the status of our police officers.

Sincerely,

Bill

Bill Reed
Albuquerque Public Schools
Director of School Police

And my response;

1. I did not state that individuals on the APS Police Department were uncertified, unaccredited, or in any other way unqualified to protect students and staff in the APS.

I argued, and still do, that the department itself can claim no accreditation or certification. My argument is based on a letter to me in response to my question;

Is the APS Police Department accredited, certificated, or certified by anyone?

to which then APS Chief of Police, Lovato replied;

"no".

Bill Reed would be hard pressed I think, to point to anything that I have ever written that impugned the honor any individual member of the Department. I think that I have also been extremely careful not to associate the motives of the leadership of the APS with Bill Reed's personal motives.

2. I stand corrected. The APS Police Department reports to Brad Winter.

Brad Winter is the guy who refuses to tell us how much money he spent building a fancy new board room, with money he saved by eliminating fire safety inspections in schools.

I would suppose that Brad Winter also had something to do with promoting two people who did not blow the whistle in the irregularities pointed out by the Meyners Audit, to positions, Chief Financial Officer, and Director of Internal Audits, where they might be instrumental in covering up administrative incompetence and corruption, and their failure to report it years ago.

Never the less, I still hold Winston Brooks absolutely accountable for his use of the APS Police Department.

3. To me, this seems like a distinction without a difference,
but anything I write from now on will reflect that the guards are not sworn officers.

4. I accept that a mistake was made and that, I will not have to surrender my id again.

The Journal also reported link that the new procedures applied to those going to board meetings. So my confusion is legitimate. The Journal wrote;

"That means anyone wanting access to the public offices, including the Student Service Center, the fingerprint area for volunteers or even school board meetings will have to first present a photo ID when entering the lobby of 6400 Uptown NE."

Sounds like a job for communications guru, Monica Armenta.

And finally,

"Finally, I hope that you will set the record straight on your blog regarding the status of our police officers."

Frankly, I take umbrage. I have never, ever, not set the record straight.

I think it is fair to point out that this is my 2,593rd post.
I have never been substantially contradicted on anything that I have ever written.

The truth is that no one in the entire leadership of the APS will do anything about my allegations except to stonewall them. Bill Reed remains the only senior administrator in the entire APS with the character and the courage to defend his character on the record. He is the only senior administrator in the entire APS unwilling to sit back and be painted with the brush that reads; "the leadership of the APS" and their corruption and incompetence.

The rest of the "leadership of the APS" is stonewalling me
because I am telling the truth,
not because I am telling lies.

My several credible allegations of an ethics and accountability
scandal in the leadership of the APS are not being ignored
because false;

they are being ignored because they are absolutely true.