4 Investigates: New APD response policy raises concerns about safety

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — People and businesses are spending big bucks to protect themselves from crime in our state.

We’re talking security systems and alarms, and an expectation that police will respond.

But a new Albuquerque Police Department policy could mean there’s a good chance officers won’t show up when an alarm is triggered.

The Albuquerque Police Department implemented response changes in August after they were first announced last year. If a home or a business isn’t properly permitted with the City of Albuquerque’s False Alarm Reduction Unit, or they don’t provide that permit number during dispatch, officers will not respond.

“They’re counting on us to dispatch, to send someone there,” said Nicole Bordlemay, Operations Manager with local security company Advanced Security Integrated. 

Bordlemay noticed what she thought was a kink in the information flow in August. That was when dispatch refused to send officers first to a panic alarm and then to a burglary alarm.

“It’s still my reaction, what are you talking about? It’s ludicrous to me,” she said.

All of this is part of a shift in Albuquerque police response. The reason was listed in her own reports. The business was not properly permitted.

“If there’s no permit for the alarm we don’t respond,” said J.J. Griego, the deputy chief of police with APD.

Deputy Chief Griego said city ordinance requires all alarms be permitted through the city’s False Alarm Reduction Unit. 

Our review of city records for this year showed:

• Less than 20% of businesses and homes with systems are permitted
• Almost 70% of commercial properties with alarm systems would not get a police response

“When we started analyzing data that showed how much time we were spending on false alarms, and as the number of officers were reducing during that time frame, we had to look at better allocating our services,” Deputy Chief Griego said.

APD data shows 99% of alarms last year didn’t generate a report. That means it may have been a false alarm.

Scott Cloninger, the owner of Motopia, said the data doesn’t tell the whole story. 

“They dinged me for a false alarm call even though it was a real alarm call,” he said.

It was last November when someone broke into his Motopia shop for a third time. They broke through his wall and cleaned him out. It triggered his alarm, but crooks still had time to make off with $70,000 worth of merchandise.

Cloninger said police never showed up.

“It made me quite angry. In fact, it made me angry enough to decline to renew my alarm registration. I’m not going to send this city a nickel if I don’t have to anymore,” he said.

To Cloninger, the policy means property crime continues to take a back seat.

“What’s the difference? You’re not responding anyway,” he said. “They might have caught this gentleman in the act. They may have stopped the second robbery here and countless other robberies at facilities in the city.”

But Cloninger and other business owners do agree false alarms are a major issue.

Imesh Vaidya, the CEO of Premier Hospitality, has alarmed his hotel in Albuquerque, his business office and his home.

“Last thing I want is the criminal activity in Albuquerque or the state to know that police are not responding to alarms anymore,” he said.

Records we obtained from the False Alarm Reduction unit show his home is “unpermitted.” However, he sent us proof that he’s paid in full.

Bordlemay worries about that same kind of mix up. She is now reminding her own customers to double check their accounts.

“The customers want an answer. Are you coming to their alarm?” Bordlemay asked.

The answer is no. Not if the system is unpermitted, at least. And not if someone has more than ten false alarms in the last year.

“There’s always a risk,” Deputy Chief Griego said. “But the ordinance does require the alarm be permitted. There is a risk that the eleventh alarm might be an actual alarm. But the risk we also run is there is another, more-serious call that’s happening in Albuquerque that I’m diverting resources to go to this false alarm.”