Does APS' top cop carry?

I am supposing that police officers, while on duty, are required to carry a gun.  I further suppose that APS Police Chief Steve Gallegos is bound by that requirement even though he is APS' Chief of a publicly funded private police force and not a real police "department".

I'm told that he doesn't like to carry his gun, even when he's on duty.

There is evidence to suggest that maybe that makes sense.  He has a record of failure to "qualify" with the gun, link.

It places him in a awkward position; insisting that his subordinates do something he himself will not or cannot do.

So it was a legitimate question that I asked of Chief Gallegos.  He was in plain clothes by not undercover by any stretch.  Apparently he doesn't want to wear the uniform any more than he wants to carry the gun. 

Perhaps, since the gun is part of the uniform, he can't wear the uniform because he can't carry the gun, because he can't qualify, again.

So stopped on the way and I asked Gallegos;

Are you carrying a gun?

to which he replied;

I'm not going to answer that question.

So, as was my right, I asked another question;

Have you qualified with it?

to which he replied;

I'm not going to answer that question.

So, as was my right, I asked another question;

Are you on duty right now?

Gallegos said;

Yes, I am on duty.

And, as was my right, a final question;

Aren't police officers required to carry their gun if they're on duty?

His repeated response made no sense;

Yes I am on duty.

All the time he was shooing me out of the room, though there was no need.  I had broken no rule, regulation or police; I was not blocking the doorway.  The words are to the best of my recollection.  Gallegos should have been recording the interaction.  Whatever device he used will enable a precise transcription.  It all took place in one of the most security camera rich spaces in the entire APS and under APS police surveillance.

So, does it make any difference whether APS Police Chief Steve Gallegos carries a gun?  Does it make any difference if he has a record of failure to qualify with it?

Does is make any difference, if as the senior most role model in the the entire APS police force, he cannot or will not follow the same rules and meet the same expectations as his those he "leads"?

It depends on who you ask.

If you ask Kent Walz and the Journal, or any of the owners and or news directors at KRQE, KOAT, and KOB TV, if it makes any difference that no one in the leadership of the APS Police force, or for that matter, anyone in the entire leadership of the APS is actually, honestly accountable to any of the standards that apply to everyone beneath them, their answer is no, it doesn't make any difference.

That, or they really are complicit in the cover up of an
ethics, standards and accountability scandal
in the leadership of the APS.




photo ched macquigg