Letter from Valley Area Command Citizen Policing Council
UPDATE: There are changes to the meeting schedule due to the holidays. The next Valley Area CPC meeting will be on November 17th and the December meeting will be December 15th. Meetings will return to the regular schedule in the new year – the fourth Thursday of each month at 6:00 pm.
Because of TV reports and newspaper articles, most residents are aware APD is under the supervision of the U.S. Department of Justice. Many people are not aware there is a one hundred six-page Settlement Agreement with the DOJ requiring APD to review, update, create, and implement various requirements in 344 sections of the agreement over a four-year period. We’re currently at about month fourteen into the process. There are requirements to create better communications and relations between APD and the citizens/communities of ABQ. Several sections in the agreement specifically deal with this issue. One is creating six Citizen Policing Councils - “CPCs” to represent the citizens in their respective APD Command areas. Ours happens to be the Valley Area Command Council - VACCPC. Our Council has scheduled meetings on the fourth Thursday, 6:00 PM each month, at the Albuquerque Police Academy behind the APD Valley Sub-Station at 5408 2nd Street NW. All citizens are invited to attend as many of the CPC meetings they can, to be updated on the progress APD is making on the Settlement Agreement. Also, citizens are encouraged to voice their ideas for improving Police/community relations, ideas to improve the department itself, and concerns about policing or crime in their communities.
There are approximately eight citizens and three APD officer Councilors in each CPC. I feel privileged to have been elected to our CPC to represent the Downtown Neighborhoods for a one-year term beginning January 2016. Some of the requirements of the Councilors is to attend APD’s twelve week Citizens Academy, a number of patrol ride-alongs, and attend other area command CPC meetings. I will also write update articles for my assigned Neighborhood websites, including agendas and minutes, plus give update reports at monthly meetings. All update information related to the D.O.J. Settlement Agreement progress, including the CPC meeting dates, times and locations, is posted on the ABQ/APD website. You are also encouraged to contact your Councilors with your ideas, praise, or concerns, if you are unable to attend the meetings. My contact information is as follows:
Richard (Dick) Deichsel
505-796-5436
View the list of Councilors for the Valley Area Command Citizen Policing Council.