Mayor reacts to police-union survey

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) -
Mayor Richard J. Berry says his management of the Albuquerque Police Department is just fine despite a union survey that says morale is low and management faulty.

Berry made his comments after delivering his State of the City speech Wednesday, a day after the Albuquerque Police Officers Association released the results of it internal survey.

Officers responding to the survey were overwhelmingly critical of Berry and APD Chief Ray Schultz.

Berry says crime has been dropping in Albuquerque for the last three years with APD administration doing a good job.

The survey found 99 percent of responding officers think morale at the department is low, and 95 percent said Berry is not doing enough to fix the problems at the department.

The mayor and the chief say they should have been contacted and briefed before APOA released the survey.

APOA Vice President Officer Shaun Willoughby says the chain of command is through the Schultz, and they did call him and brief him for an hour before releasing the survey.

Schultz, however, says he learned of it 90 minutes before the release, wasn't briefed and only got a copy of the survey Wednesday morning.

APOA wants the city to take the survey seriously and work together to resolve problems. Berry says his door is open, and he's ready to talk.