The Albuquerque Police Department’s Night Detective Unit wasted no time hitting the streets after they got a pep talk from Mayor Richard J. Berry Wednesday.
The Albuquerque Police Department’s Night Detective Unit wasted no time hitting the streets after they got a pep talk from Mayor Richard J. Berry Wednesday.
The newly formed unit tracked one of the city’s top property crime offenders, Reyanna Atencio, to Raton and gave information to the U.S. Marshal’s Office and the Department of Corrections, who took her into custody.
Atencio, 24, who was wanted on five felony burglary warrants, was featured in February’s Albuquerque Journal Most Wanted Property Crime Offenders advertisement.
“Our plan is working,” Mayor Berry said. “Everyone is helping make Albuquerque a bad place to be a criminal. Ms. Atencio just learned that.”
In January, Mayor Berry unveiled a 15-point initiative cracking down on thieves. As part of his plan, APD started taking out ads in the Albuquerque Journal featuring the city’s most wanted property criminals and they developed a night detective unit that focuses on catching thieves.
The new unit officially hit the streets this week and Wednesday Mayor Berry conducted one of their first briefings.
Moments after the briefing, the night detectives started looking for Atencio. They received information she was hiding with her boyfriend in Raton. They passed the information to the Marshals and probation and parole officers. She was arrested about noon Thursday. She was in custody Thursday at the Colfax County Jail, where she is awaiting extradition. Atencio’s boyfriend was arrested by New Mexico State Police
Also on Wednesday, investigators from the Albuquerque Police Department’s Repeat Offender Project arrested Michael Walsh, 25, who was featured in the February Journal advertisement. Walsh was wanted on a felony burglary warrant. He was taken into custody in the 7300 block of Montgomery NE.
Walsh and Atencio are the 36 and 37th offenders arrested who have been featured in the Journal advertisements. So far three ads have been published and more than 80 offenders have been profiled.
