APD cracking down on Nob Hill retail crime

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Albuquerque police just finished a retail crime operation at Coronado Center and Cottonwood Mall. 

Now, they’re making their way to Nob Hill to tackle the problem. Business owners say relief can’t come soon enough.

“He was coming in, stealing, getting on ART right across the street from us, selling the merchandise, coming back and repetitively doing it where he was doing it in a lot of the stores that are around this bus stop,” said Kenny Chavez, manager of Masks Y Mas. 

People are coming into shops in Nob Hill, stealing items and turning a profit.

“I have a telephone community going on with the owners at Astro Zombies and the folks at Off Broadway, they are the two stores on either side of us. So, if something does happen we call each other, and we support each other that way,” said Chavez. 

Masks Y Mas is a gift shop in Nob Hill that’s had their doors open for 24 years, and Chavez says he wants to see some changes. 

“I would personally like to see more cop presence, like walking,” said Chavez. 

And APD is on it, at a crime press conference last week, the department announced a wide effort to target retail crime.

“This isn’t going to stop, we are going to continue picking different areas and districts, and enact a zero-tolerance enforcement during those times of operations,” said APD Interim Commander Kyle Hartsock. 

A retail crime operation recently resulted in 31 arrests. Now, they’re heading to downtown and Nob Hill.

“Nob Hill is the next step, we are fortunate that our federal delegation has been really good at getting us funding at the federal level for cameras,” said APD Chief Harold Medina. 

But the increased focus from APD comes after the owners of “The Bike Coop” decided to shut down their Nob Hill shop.

KOB 4 told you about their repeated struggles with crime. In a Facebook post, the store’s owners say they’re closing for good after 46 years in business.

APD says they plan these operations based on how many calls for retail crime they get in an area.