ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Mayor Tim Keller announced Monday that Harold Medina has been selected as the chief of the Albuquerque Police Department. Medina stepped in as APD’s interim chief after former Chief Mike Geier was fired in September 2020. Keller said Geier was fired for not getting the job done.
“It was simply unrealistic and a real disservice to the realities of crime and reform to think that one leader can solve all of our challenges,” said Mayor Keller. “It just simply takes two in this case.”
Monday, Keller also announced that Sylvester Stanley will serve as the superintendent of police reform. Stanley will ultimately be in charge of the police academy as well as internal affairs including discipline and use of force review. Stanley has nearly two decades of law enforcement experience, most recently serving as the police chief for Isleta Police.
“I want to empower officers and supervisors to do their job with integrity the entire department has to be accountable and we have to transparent about that accountability and the community needs to know that we are serious about it. That’s how we’ll achieve reform for the police department,” said Medina.
The city has seen a high number of homicides in 2021. There have been 20 murders since the first of the year through the end of February.
When asked what he’ll be doing differently to tackle crime, Chief Medina says his proactive approach includes community partnerships, working with the city’s youth, and more promotion of the police academy. Medina says he is working to hire 100 additional officers.
