Mayor-elect, staff think public safety

ALBUQUERQUE - It may still be a couple of weeks before Albuquerque Mayor-elect Richard “RJ" Berry takes office, but he's already putting in some long hours, however.

Tuesday he headed out to meet with city workers before the sun came up stopping by the Albuquerque Police Department Northeast Area substation as officers got their morning briefing.

Berry is trying to get an inside look at what is happening in every city department.

“Try to find out the resources that they need, the overlaps they may have,” Berry said. “Basically just talking about ways that I can serve each department as mayor so we can then serve the city as a whole.”

Current estimates say Berry will be welcomed onto the job on Dec. 1 by a $13 million budget deficit. For city workers worried about job cuts or salary cuts, there may be some tough times ahead, the mayor-elect said.

“I'll tell you, we're in tough fiscal times, there's no doubt about it,” Berry said. “You read it in the newspapers, see it in the news; the state has some fiscal difficulties.

"I believe we're going to have some of those at the city.”

Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White, who takes over Dec. 1 as Berry's appointed chief public safety officer, said he already has areas he wants to zero in on to make the city safer.

“If you look at property crimes, it's connected to most of the violent crime, most of the drug crime,” White told News 13. “It makes sense that if you're attacking the property crime problem, you're attacking crime as a whole.”

White said he and Berry also wants to tackle gangs.

“Violent street gangs, they terrorize our neighborhoods," White continued. "It's not just about cracking down from the law enforcement standpoint, but [Berry] also wants us to make sure we're doing the right things from the preventive standpoint."

Berry and White still are not saying if Albuquerque Police Chief Ray Schultz will be replaced or not.

“That is absolutely possible," White said. "He's made no decisions yet, so anything is possible."

Berry said expects to name more people who will work in his administration this week.