After announcing a multi-agency proposal earlier this month that is dedicated to tackling the warrant backlog that exists in the metro area, Albuquerque Mayor Tim Keller and Chief Harold Medina provided an in-depth look at the number of outstanding felony warrants.
APD command staff examined nearly 5,000 outstanding felony warrants and will prioritize making arrests for these individuals.
According to law enforcement officials, these are violent, recent and perpetual offenders.
There are 800 felonies that meet these qualifications, which includes individuals wanted for homicide, armed robbery, kidnapping or aggravated assault.
Keller said they can’t prevent every violent crime that occurs in Albuquerque, tackling the warrant backlog will help take more violent criminals off the streets.
“Getting violent criminals off our streets is something that we control, we can actually do something about that. Rather it's the city or the county or the criminal justice system. It’s very difficult to prevent a homicide from happening, if only we had an officer everywhere, everytime we needed them, right before crime happened. That’s the dream that will never happen. But what we can control is getting these folks off the street and making sure they are a part of an effective criminal justice system, which is what we don’t have right now, but this will help force that issue.”
If the funding for law enforcement overtime to address the warrant backlog is approved by the legislature, there will be 16 investigative teams within APD who will assess warrants on a bi-weekly basis, with the goal of clearing 16 warrants a week.