APS police officers commissions in question

APS police officers work for a publicly funded private police force. The APS "Police" Department reports directly to, and only to, the leadership of the APS. The APS PD is not accredited, certificated or certified by anyone except the leadership of the APS. As such, they have no more authority to arrest criminals than any other citizen.

Except that according to a 35 year old arrangement, the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department commissions APS officers under its umbrella, giving them the authority to arrest people.

The commissioning has been accompanied by very little oversight; County Sheriffs have routinely simply trusted the leadership of the APS to do the right thing in deploying officers they have commissioned. This despite that their blind trust has been routinely betrayed; witness the long history of corruption and incompetence in the leadership of the APSPD; most recently their use in helping to cover up felony criminal misconduct of APS senior administrators, link, and in enforcing Marty Esquivel's unlawful restraining order, link.

Bernalillo County Sheriff Dan Houston
says he is ready to pull the plug on
their commissions if the APS doesn't
sign an agreement that limits the
BCSO's liability if one of APS' police
officers does something stupid or
illegal, link.

Though Houston's concerns are
legitimate; he should be worried
about what APS police officers are
doing with the commissions he grants,
School Board Member Kathy Korte
would have interest holders believe the whole thing has to do with Houston's personal vendetta against APS over its intention to build a sports stadium in his neighborhood.

Korte's reaction is classic APS; attack the messenger. Houston comes to APS with legitimate concerns over liability issues that are far greater than he knows, and APS (Korte) comes back with a personal attack on Houston('s motivation).

The Sheriff's motivation for raising the issue is immaterial;
his concerns are either valid or they aren't.
It's about the message, it's not about the messenger.




photo Mark Bralley, Korte photo APS website