As the race for Albuquerque City Council District 6 heads into a runoff election, the field has narrowed from four to two. Voters who came out for one of the two candidates who didn鈥檛 make the cut for the runoff, Kristen Raven Greene and Abel Otero, must now assess whether the platforms of Democrats Nichole Rogers or Jeff Hoehn better align with their values and expectations. The two differ greatly on their approaches to policing and public safety.
Crime is a top-of-mind issue for many voters in Albuquerque, which has seen record homicides and in recent years.
While Hoehn identified crime as one of his top priorities to , Rogers said hers was poverty, of which crime is a symptom.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the root cause,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 keep putting bandaids on crime without focusing on those upstream issues.鈥�
As part of her approach to lift residents out of poverty, she proposes implementing a Guaranteed Income pilot program using cannabis taxes, rental assistance, and financial literacy support.
Hoehn said, while there鈥檚 some overlap in the issues, he doesn鈥檛 believe crime in Albuquerque is only poverty-driven.
鈥淲e know we have a criminal element in our city that is doing things like grand theft auto, that鈥檚 selling drugs,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd these are the folks who are preying on our citizens and they need to be stopped.鈥�
He said tackling poverty isn鈥檛 the targeted solution to crime that the city needs.
鈥淎ddressing poverty is a long-term, multifaceted, wicked problem that we have to address. Here鈥檚 the challenge: Right now crime is out of control,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd I believe we can walk and chew gum. We can help our most vulnerable citizens in Albuquerque while getting our criminals off the street.鈥�
He proposes ramping up police presence in the district through mobile command units near 鈥減roblem properties鈥� as part of the solution.
鈥淭hese are the large, kind of RV units where police would be there 24/7, prepared to respond when things are reported,鈥� he said of the units. 鈥淭his is also a trust-building model where you would actually get to know your police, know that they care, and work alongside them 鈥� versus being afraid of them or concerned about calling them.鈥�
The Albuquerque Police Department was the second most deadly police force in the nation over the last decade, according to the And the International District, one of the city鈥檚 poorest and most racially diverse neighborhoods, has been the target of federal, county and city special operations over the years. Some residents there say they feel over-policed.
When asked what he鈥檇 say to those residents who don鈥檛 feel safer with more cops around, Hoehn said 鈥淟et鈥檚 give each other a chance.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e all human beings, we all have a story to tell,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd when we know each other鈥檚 stories, when we hear each other's truths, that changes things.鈥�
As a Black and Hispanic resident of the area, Rogers said she feels the over-policing. She agrees that trust building is needed, and wants to see APD put more resources toward actively engaging the community.
鈥淵ou budget for what you care about,鈥� she said.
She also said she wants to see more accountability measures, like tracking race and ethnicity data for traffic stops and patterns of biased policing among specific officers.
However, Rogers, like Hoehn, believes the city needs more officers.
She said she would like to build on her past work at the city鈥檚 Office of Equity and Inclusion to improve recruitment and retention at the department to alleviate its persistent staffing shortage.
Unlike Hoehn, however, she doesn鈥檛 think the community needs to see more cops in more places.
鈥淲e don鈥檛 need APD going to social service calls. We don鈥檛 need APD going to homeless calls,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e need to minimize the community鈥檚 exposure in that way.鈥�
Both Rogers and Hoehn support increasing the capacity of the Albuquerque Community Safety Department to free up the police to focus more on violent crime.
Rogers said she will also serve residents who do feel safer with greater police presence and community surveillance.
鈥淎gain, that鈥檚 why community engagement is so important. We need to know: Where do people want to see that? And where are they OK with that?鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut, bridging that, we want to minimize harm. And it鈥檚 not always by putting more police in an area.鈥�
The District 6 City Council runoff election is Dec. 12, 2023. Early voting begins Tuesday, Nov. 21. It will pause on Thursday for the Thanksgiving holiday before picking back up on Monday, Nov. 27.
