Bernalillo County Sheriff's Office Violated the Law; says NMAG

I have been copied a letter, from the NMAGO to the Bernalillo County Attorney, Jeffery S. Landers.

"...it appears that the BCSO violated the IPRA, as alleged in the complaint."

I had asked Darren White to forward my public records request to the BCSO Custodian of Public Records; instead

"...Sheriff White, who is not the custodian of public records at BCSO, responded..."

"...the proper procedure would have been to Sheriff White to forward the e-mail request to the custodian of records at BCSO for a response."

"Your response details all the problems you perceive with the May 3 inspection request. However, those problems, even if they do exist, do not excuse BCSO from complying with the IPRA's deadlines for responding to inspection requests."

The Sheriff ('s office) has been ordered to comply with the law. He has been given until October 15, to demonstrate to the NMAG that he has responded properly to my request.

By properly respond, it is meant; send me some BS excuse for why he won't surrender public records of felony criminal misuse of computers under his control by the leadership of the APS;


it is not meant, that he will actually surrender the truth to public knowledge which still seems quite unlikely.



The Request:

To: Custodian of Public Records, Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department
C/O Darren White, Sheriff

From: Charles MacQuigg, xxxxxxxxxxx

This constitutes a request under the New Mexico Inspection of Public Records Act; for all documents, papers, letters, books, maps, tapes, photographs, recordings and other materials, regardless of physical form or characteristics, that are used, created, received, maintained or held by or on behalf of the Bernalillo County Sheriff's Department, and relate to public business, whether or not the records are required by law to be created or maintained.

Specifically any record of the use of the Federal Interstate Identification Index Background check by APS Security-Police, an “agency” with no ORI number and no statutory empowerment for the governing body that employs them to create a police force.

Any record of the names of individuals who have suffered the coincidental and consequent battery on their privacy by those investigations; by someone who should not have even been allowed access to the information in the first place.

And any record of any investigation made by the BCSO internal affairs; or any other into this misuse of BCSO assets. Include any findings and resolutions of those investigations.

And any record of arrests, investigations, findings, and dispensations of any senior administrator or board member of the APS.

And any record of communication with the APS suggesting how you would handle their records.

I've taken a moment to offer a positive solution to the problem

eye on aps

Heroic Role Model on the School Board?

I suspect the if you walked up to Marty Esquivel and applauded him for modeling heroic behavior before students; his humility would cause him to blush.

Which is exactly what you would expect from a real hero.

Paula Maes; Hometown Hero

At least according to the editors at the Trib.

Lest I put words in their mouths;

One person can make a difference.

And in the case of Albuquerque Public Schools, on the issue of a fully certified and armed school police force, that person is school board President Paula Maes.

In perhaps the most controversial of many issues currently ensnaring the Albuquerque Board of Education, Maes on Wednesday stood above the rhetoric and the political correctness. She showed courage and leadership.

How did she vote any more squarely than did Marty Esquivel, or Mary Lee Martin, or Gordon Rowe?

How did she stand any higher above the rhetoric than did Mr. Esquivel, who was by far the most articulate and compelling advocate of the decision?

What courage and what leadership is shown by voting for arming police officers, on Wednesday night, and then disarming them the next morning?

The argument that the APS Police must be a stand-alone police force before they can carry their guns is crushed by the obvious fact that they are carrying guns already. They do not have to be part of a stand alone police force to carry guns during the day.

The issue is a red herring.

The editors at the Trib know that it is,
and are foisting the stinky piece of fish on their readers;

...who up to this point, might actually have trusted them to be telling the truth.

Public Awareness of the APS PD Scandal

When the public became aware of the scandal involving public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS (police department), a number of things happened in quick succession.

• Robert Lucero got himself on TV proclaiming the innocence of this buddy Gil Lovato; and decrying the "disgruntled former employee" who made the allegations.
  

• Tom Savage ordered APS employees to keep their mouths shut.

• And, two investigations began.

One was an internal investigation; subject to self evident questions regarding impartiality. The other was conducted by a private investigator and is presumably impartial and honest.

I suspect that it discloses evidence of criminal misconduct concerning the felony criminal misuse of BCSO computers to do illegal background checks on individuals including Tom Savage's fiancee.

No one but the investigator and APS/Modrall, knows what the report says.

• The report is a public record. Public money paid for the investigation of the public service of public servants.
  

• Public money is flowing into the board president's husband's law firm, in order to keep the public from reading the report.
  

• Public money is being paid to Modrall lawyers to litigate, for the leadership of the APS, exception to the Inspection of Public Records Act; in order to hide from the public, evidence of public corruption and criminal conspiracy.
  

• District Attorney Kari Brandenburg is a player. APS/Modrall supposedly turned over evidence to the District Attorney.
  
• 
  
• APS/Modrall will not answer the question; Did APS/Modrall turn over the evidence revealed by the impartial private investigation?
• 
  
• Brandenburg will not answers questions either. Like, Did APS/Modrall turn over the evidence of public corruption and criminal conspiracy revealed by the private investigation?

• Neither will she determine whether or not there was criminal conduct.

She has had the evidence for months. As far as I know, she doesn't need to do any investigation; all she has to do is look at the evidence.

She, like Monica Armenta, is too busy and too far behind in her work to tell the truth right now.

• The NMAG can not, or will not, require APS to surrender the results of the investigation to public knowledge. Although, he is yet to rule on the complaint filed against;

• Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, over his refusal to surrender the public record of the illegal use of computers under his supervision, to do illegal backgrounds checks like the one on Tom Savage's fiance. (update: since this post was written, I received notification that the NMAGO did determine that the BCSO violated the law)
  

• The New Mexico Public Education Department; and its Educator Ethics Bureau; are demonstrably worthless.
  

• APS/Modrall and their Juris Mustelidae have sucked the justice out of the legal system.

• They have their own publicly funded, private police force that is certified and accredited by no one but the leadership of the APS, to retaliate against anyone who stands in their path.

• Former Character Counts Advocate and critic of APS accountability, Mayor Marty Chavez is in hiding.
  

• Former Character Counts Advocate and critic of APS accountability, Chamber of Commerce President Terri Cole is hiding with him.

An honest and impartial (forensic) accountability audit of the leadership of the APS will expose all of this to public scrutiny.

An honest and impartial audit will be opposed by the leadership and apparently as well, by everyone in Albuquerque's privileged class.

Except Marty Esquivel; whose membership in the privileged class, is by his own courageous choice; forfeit.

Nothing can stand in their way except wide spread public outrage. Outrage such as would be created by the Journal or the Trib if either would report the truth about the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

Journal editor Charlie Moore says is waiting for
"the story to unfold".

Tribune Editor Bill Slakey is waiting for
the story "to show up on his radar".


The rest of us will be waiting for a few more heroes to stand up.

How Did BCSO Get Involved in the Atrisco Incident?

According to Jessica Garate's report, the BCSO became involved when a counselor at Atrisco called them directly. Why?

I have not spoken to the counselor; this represents my surmise.

APS employees do not trust the APS Police Department. Teachers often try to involve APD or BCSO instead of the APS PD for exactly this reason.

Which is not to say that they do not trust APS Police Officers individually; or that individually the officers of the APS PD are untrustworthy.

There is a feeling among employees that the leadership of the APS covers ups incidents which reflect poorly on the district, or bring attention to the district in unwanted ways. There is also a feeling among APS employees that district administrators cover each other's asses; even at the expense of deliberately misleading stakeholders.

The recent audit by the Council of the Great City Schools reported;

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.

The Praetorian Guard was formed in the first place; not to protect students, but to protect administrators and board members. It is a publicly funded private police force, accredited and certified by no one, except the leadership of the APS. By keeping investigations of ethical and criminal misconduct "in house" they are able to keep them off the front page.

Again, I make no allegation concerning any individual member of the rank and file of the APS PD.

The responsibility for this unethical and possibly criminal misuse of the APS Police Department falls upon the shoulders of the leadership of the APS.

It is they, who are stilling secreting from public knowledge, the results of the impartial investigation of the public corruption and criminal conspiracy in the leadership of the APS (police department).

File under "D",
for "dirty little secrets" that the district keep.

Questions Raised Over Atrisco Incident

In one of the first reports on the substitute teacher who apparently placed a video camera in a position to record views under little girls skirts; it was mentioned that a school counselor had previously complained that the same substitute had been observed in questionable circumstances with another little girl after school; and had been reported for same.

That article quoted Armenta as saying she had not seen that complaint and was unaware of it. That was several days ago.

This morning's Journal reports;

"Armenta said the substitute has worked in the district since August 2005. He went through all the routine background checks, and no problems involving students had been reported to APS."

How can Ms. Armenta still claim to be unaware of the previous complaint; the one whose existence she acknowledged when she said she hadn't seen it? There is an appearance that Armenta is not being candid and forthright with stakeholders.

Was there, or was there not a previous complaint about this sub?

Was that complaint handled appropriately? Should this gentleman have been allowed to continue to substitute teach around little girls? Did someone drop the ball? Who?

Will the inconsistency in Armenta's statements be investigated?

Apparently; No, No, Yes, ?, and No.

The Leadership of the APS Will Never Create a District Wide Discipline Philosophy

Philosophy is the foundation of policy. Policy that does not rest on a sound philosophical foundation is arbitrary and significantly harder to enforce.

A discipline philosophy cannot be created which does not have as a major tenet; you have to enforce the policies.

The administration is charged with enforcing discipline policies. There are those administrators who don't enforce discipline problems, because it causes turmoil.

They will not create a philosophy which requires them to do something they don't want to do.

Nor will they allow anyone else to create such a philosophy.


The lack of a discipline philosophy in a school system crippled by student discipline problems,
is philosophically indefensible.

Monica Armenta's Resignation Demanded

Ms. Armenta,

You are a public servant. You are being paid over a hundred thousand dollars a year to serve the public interest.

Communicate.

Tell us why we can never expect you to set up a town hall meeting where the leadership of the APS will listen to legitimate questions and provide candid, forthright, and honest answers.

Or resign as a public servant.

The Tribune Has Published the Deception As Well

The article in the tribune; conveys the same deliberate deception as the report in the Journal. The challenge has been forwarded to Bill Slakey and others at the Trib.

JOURNAListic Integrity Tested

The Albuquerque Journal has published a misleading story.

The average reader, after reading "APS Cops Face Delay for Guns" in the Journal this morning (sub req), will come to the same conclusion;

The leadership of the APS might not arm police officers for as long as 60 days due to reasons beyond their control.

That is misled belief. The truth is that they can arm the police in as little time as it takes to rewrite board policy. 24-48 hours.

If acting APS Chief "Lt. Steve Tellez ... wants to get better holsters that prevent guns from being removed from the police belt by others. (and) ... require simulation training before the officers are fully armed."; then his expertise must be respected. The concerns he expresses are legitimate.

Pretending a need for permission from the AG or the legislature;

and then reporting that pretense as "truth" are not.

As always, I will bow to controverting fact.

I will forward this challenge to Journal Editor,
Charlie Moore, and others at my discretion.

"APS Cops Face Delay for Guns"

reads the headline on the Journal article. (sub req)

Was Andrea Schoellkopf duped by APS; or are she and the Journal complicit in an effort by Paula Maes and Brad Winter to betray the interest of APS Police Officers, in their own safety and the safety of students?

"There's certain policies we need to look at that need to be changed," said facilities director Brad Winter, who is overseeing the police department.

Changing any policy in the APS requires two meetings; one policy committee meeting, and one regular board meeting. Each can be conducted after giving the public 24 hours of notice of the meeting. Even if the meetings cannot share one 24 hour notice period; the longest unavoidable delay is 48 hours. It takes 48 hours to change any policy in the district.

"The commission also recommended creation of a stand-alone, certified police department.
Winter said Thursday the board is waiting for an opinion from the state Attorney General's Office on whether the district can legally do that."

It may take 60 days to create a stand alone police force; it may take two years if it legislative approval is actually necessary.

But permission to form a stand alone police force, and permission to carry guns 24/7 are entirely separate and unrelated issues.

An effort is being made to deliberately deceive APS Police Officers and the community. Complicit so far, at least, Paula Maes, Brad Winter, and the Journal.

All it would take to arm APS Police Officers immediately (48hrs) is courage and integrity in the leadership of the APS;

...good luck on that one.

Just Kidding!

Cops don't get to carry their guns after all. Tribune

According to Susie Gran's report;

"Current policy prohibits officers from carrying their weapons during school hours." ...and nothing more.

But now Paula Maes says she will wait for unnecessary direction from the NMAG or the legislature before she will change board policy.

"But board President Paula Maes said it will likely be months before officers see any changes in the district's gun policy as they wait for advice from the Attorney General's Office - or word from the Legislature - sanctioning a full-fledged school police department."

Either Beth Everitt has the authority to allow police officers to carry guns or she doesn't. If she doesn't,
how can she allow them to carry guns in "emergencies"? No permission is necessary to arm officers 24/7.

The board could put guns in the holsters of police officers in 48 hours. 24 hours after announcing the time and date of a policy committee meeting; the policy committee could meet and rewrite policy as necessary. 24 hours after giving notice of a special school board meeting; they could vote to accept the rewritten policy.

It was decided to arm APS police officers because it was the safest thing to do.

Will danger take a holiday while Paula Maes, Robert Lucero, Berna Facio, and Delores Griego try to undo what was done?


This is why the Council of the Great City schools wrote;

The failure of the district's Board of Education and its executive leadership to act on recommendations contained in previous APS PD studies suggests that they lack the interest and the capacity to oversee the functions of the department.

...emphasis added.

Paula Maes Honors Bob Johnson

Paula Maes mentioned the passing of Bob Johnson,
and paid homage to his leadership in open government.

She will honor his memory by;

• continuing to hold board meetings at a time, and in a place inconvenient to the majority of stakeholders,
• continuing to deny stakeholders the opportunity to petition their government on the record; by denying a public forum that is on the public record of board meetings,
• refusing to answer questions about her public service, on the record; including
  
• refusing to disclose the truth about the relationship between the leadership of the APS, and her husband's law firm, Modrall.
  

Bob Johnson must be spinning in his grave.

Somebody Needs To Do Something

We need to assure the safety of students, teachers, and others at public school sites.

It will cost money.

The money will come out of APS' budget; or somewhere else.

If it comes out of APS' budget, it will still hurt students, but in a different way.

No one has a budget that will accommodate this cost.

Unless they are cuts to be made; taxes will have to be raised.

That will be a whole lot easier to do if voters aren't worry about a bunch of bureaucrats pissing away their hard earned money.

Establish a tax ear marked for kids. Put our money where our mouth is.

Administer the proceeds in a manner that is absolutely transparent. Require that administrators hold themselves honestly and transparently accountable to meaningful standards of conduct and competence, and directly accountable to the public.

I would vote for it.

(Please participate in the Reader Poll on this issue. Top right side bar. Thanks)

Open Letter to the City Council

I have sent the following proposal to every member of the city council. I will publish their response.

If you support the proposal please contact your councilor and let them know.

I propose a "quarter cent tax for our kids".

The proceeds will fund

• after and out of school programs,
• mental health programs,
• the protection of students in schools,
  
• and basically, all of the interventions that we should be providing, but are not.

The administration of the proceeds must be a model of transparent accountability for every cent that is raised and spent, perhaps by means of internet access
to "the books".

8 Apply for APS Police Chief

according to the Journal (sub req).

There is an immediate problem with four of the candidates.

As APS administrators they are either totally clueless about the ethics and accountability issues
in the leadership of the APS;

or they have guilty knowledge of them.

In either case; they would not seem well suited for the job of restoring integrity to the office of Chief of the APS Police Department.

Guilty knowledge means, knowing about a problem,
having some responsibility or obligation to address it,
and instead, doing nothing.

I will bow to controverting fact in the form of any public record of their having stood to be counted on the issue of the lack of accountability to any meaningful standard of conduct, in the leadership of the APS

Possible Retaliation

There is a function on the Journal website by which, a blogger who links to a Journal article is then linked for having done so. It shows up as "Who's Blogging".

It is important to bloggers because people who link,
and like the blog, become followers. The blog becomes more influential.

It was told by the Journal, that the list is generated by software and cannot be manipulated by individuals for political reasons.

Yet, I have been quite critical of the Journal, and editor Charlie Moore, for refusing to investigate and report upon the ethics and accountability scandal in the leadership of the APS.

and Diogenes'six doesn't seemed to get cited appropriately.

Robert Lucero, and State Senator Shannon Robinson Are Right

Robert Lucero is correct about one thing; APS should not have to pay the bill for protecting citizens. It is absolutely the responsibility of the APD, the BCSO, and the NMSP; just for starters.

"The job of the school districts is to educate students," Lucero said. "The job of law enforcement is to keep our neighborhoods, businesses and, yes, schools safe."

According to the Journal (sub req);

Sen. Shannon Robinson, D-Albuquerque, argued that the state does not fund district police because it's the city's job to protect the schools.
"You are not a city within a city," Robinson said.

If I remember correctly; it was also Robinson who complained that APS was paying $2M to have its garbage picked up when that also, is the city's responsibility. His point was the the legislature was not going to underwrite APS' assumption of debts that are not reasonably their own.

If they are both right; then it is up to the city council and the mayor to come up with money to foot the bill; for the police force, for garbage pick-up, and for any other expense that APS incurs and for which the city should pay.


I propose an earmarked tax. The proceeds to fund;

• protection for students while they are in school,
• after and out of school programs for children,
• and the mental health programs and other inventions that will enable a hundred thousand of our sons and daughter to grow into adults that will contribute to the community in positive ways.

...a quarter percent for our kids.

There is an old joke

Two men are standing against the wall waiting to be shot by a firing squad.

One of them demands a last cigarette.

The other tells him; shut up you fool,
you're just going to piss them off.

Delores Griego says; if the community brings guns onto west side campuses; it is just going to piss off the gangsters.

Her exact words, according to the Journal; were;

"The West Side does not want armed police officers," Griego said. "This is the area where we have the greatest number of identified gang members, and our principals understand placing this element (gun-carrying police) in our schools will simply cause greater turmoil."

Students in general, and gangsters in particular,
are "in charge" in public schools.

At any campus were prohibited behavior is permitted;
children are in charge; it is their will, which will be done.

"Sagging" is prohibited behavior. It is permitted behavior
on nearly every school campus in the APS.

The "expert opinion" is that it is a mistake to let gangsters display their "colors" openly and routinely;
in particular if it is specifically prohibited.

The permission of prohibited behavior cannot be permitted. It teaches children to ignore authority. The loss of authority of adults over children is fundamental to most educational obstacles.

The leadership of the APS has decided to let gangsters dress according to their own will; simply to avoid "greater turmoil";

at the expense of adult authority over students;
and over the plan for their education.




This is not about "sagging".