ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – It’s not often we get to tell you there’s less crime in Albuquerque, but that’s exactly what Albuquerque police leaders say their data is showing – at least when it comes to robberies.

Police leaders announced Thursday there was a 33% drop in all robbery crimes across Albuquerque from January to now, compared to the same time period from last year. 

APD Chief Harold Medina says there’s an even bigger drop when you look all the way back to 2018.

Let’s take a closer look at the numbers.

APD leaders say there was a 15% drop in individual robberies. There was also a 39% drop in attempted robberies, and a 51% drop in commercial robberies.

Medina also highlighted a 5% drop in carjackings, and he says that’s a big deal when you look at the rest of the country.

“If you talk to chiefs from across the nation, the number one thing they’re seeing is their robbery numbers are out of this world on carjackings. So we are doing a whole lot better than across the country in carjackings,” said Medina. 

Medina says these decreases are proof recent changes inside the department are working. He’s talking about the investments in new technology, a more robust detective academy, and relying on civilian employees to review more surveillance video and other digital assets.

“Just to give you an example of how helpful diverts been to us this year, they’ve gotten video for us from over 700 cases, 82 of those, which have been robbery cases. So it’s been instrumental in us solving these cases,” said APD Cmdr. Jeff Bernard. 

Medina also complemented the department’s ability to get suspects into custody faster, so repeat offenders can’t commit as many robberies.

But a significant decrease in robberies doesn’t mean things are necessarily getting better for local business owners, who are still paying the price for other crimes in Albuquerque.

“You never know when it’s going to happen. It could happen again next week, I have no idea,” said Fabby Espitia,” owner of El Roi Cafe. 

Espitia is no stranger to the problems in downtown Albuquerque. She opened the El Roi Cafe at Sixth and Lomas three years ago. Last Friday morning, someone broke in for the second time.

“When I drove up, I pulled in right here at the street, and I saw him inside,” said Espitia. 

She says he smashed through the front door around 4:45 in the morning, but it seems he wasn’t looking for money.

“He came in, and he rearranged all of the chairs, he took a couple of my chef knives and drank several drinks,” Espitia said. 

Espitia says it took an officer 45 minutes to arrive on scene. So when the intruder left, she followed him and took a video of him with the reportedly stolen drink.

“I put myself in danger, I did, but I was just sick of it. I was just like, ‘No, this is not OK.’ It happens a lot to a lot of small business owners, and I didn’t want to be, if I could help catch one, then that’s what I wanted to do,” said Espitia.

Police eventually did catch the alleged intruder. 46-year-old Daniel Franco is facing aggravated battery and larceny charges.

While he didn’t steal much, court documents say he caused at least $1,000 in damage.

“I don’t feel like a victim at all whatsoever. I think that these people need help. There’s a lot of them that need help, mental help, and so I’m hoping he gets help,” said Espitia. 

Despite the damage and frustration, Espitia says she’s going to move forward and hope it doesn’t happen again.

“We’ll just take care of the issue again, it’s all we can do. I’m not going to let it deter me from staying in business or keep going. We’re just gonna keep going and continue on. That’s all we can do,” said Espitia. 

But what is the difference between a robbery and burglary? Commercial robberies – the crime APD says is down 51% – happen when businesses are open.

The incident at Espitia’s business is technically a burglary, since it was closed at the time.

According to APD data, the number of burglaries are actually up 15% compared to last year