National Guard to help Albuquerque fight crime, but some wonder if it's necessary

NBC News

13-04-2025

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Will Stephens slouched back in his steel folding chair and watched in disgust as individuals he suspected were drug users loitered on different sides of his home in broad daylight.
A few of the men may live in a van a block away, he said, but occasionally someone sneaks into his backyard to sleep or change clothes.
'Every day, I have to deal with it,' said Stephens, 67, a retired chef whose block along Central Avenue has deteriorated over the last few years due to drug abuse, crime and prostitution. 'I ignore them. That's the best way to deal with it. It's not worth getting caught up in stupidness.'
Stephens said he welcomes the news that dozens of National Guard members will be deployed to Albuquerque next month to help police crack down on juvenile crime and stem the flow of fentanyl, opioids and other illegal drugs.
The transit-oriented route runs east-west through downtown, passing shops, restaurants, historic neighborhoods and the University of New Mexico. However, a 2-mile stretch between San Mateo and Wyoming boulevards is marked by large homeless populations and visible drug abuse.
During a three-week operation on East Central in January and February, police made 116 felony arrests and 38 misdemeanor arrests and cleared 106 felony warrants, authorities said.
Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an emergency declaration last week authorizing the National Guard to assist the effort.
Guard members will not be questioning or arresting suspects but will instead take on more mundane duties, such as securing crime scenes and accident sites, freeing up the 890-officer police force to focus on fighting crime, city leaders said.
Although overall crime has decreased in the Sun Belt city of more than half a million people, the move is intended as a proactive measure to keep the numbers down, they said.
Albuquerque recorded 96 homicides in 2025, compared to 99 in 2023 and 121 in 2022, according to the police department.
'We're finally seeing a sustained positive shift in most crime trends for the first time in decades, and now is the time to build on that momentum,' Mayor Tim Keller said in a statement last week.
Betty Holland, an employee at Central Trailer Supply on Central Avenue, said two people were arrested outside the store last week and another person was killed in the parking lot six weeks ago.
'The troops will help,' Holland said.
Resident Bill Steward, 50, called the plan 'a good thing.'
'They don't have enough cops around Albuquerque, and they're investigating crime scenes for 12 hours at a time,' Steward said.
Another resident, Patrick Denetdale, 38, said he looked forward to seeing the troops on the streets.
'Half the time people call the police and they don't show up,' he said.
But Jay Ballantyne, 41, who lives on Central Avenue, said all the talk about crime in the city is overblown.
'I feel safe,' he said.
The police department also aims to reduce juvenile crime, such as armed teens stealing cars or breaking into homes, before thesedisturbances escalate into homicides, said spokesperson Gilbert Gallegos Jr.
Ten teenagers were arrested on suspicion of homicide last year, compared to 14 the previous year and nine in 2022, police records show.
New Mexico had the sixth-highest drug overdose rate in the country, with an estimated 1,029 overdose deaths in 2021, an increase of 68% from 2019, according to a 2023 report from the New Mexico Legislative Finance Committee.
Lujan Grisham could not be reached for comment, but she reiterated in a statement last week that the point of the program is to allow police officers to 'focus on what they do best — keeping our communities safe.'
The unarmed Guard members will wear polo shirts instead of fatigues and camouflage, Keller said at a news conference last week. They will have limited interaction with community members and will not be driving military vehicles, officials said.
Nevertheless, some people believe even plainclothes troops could pose a safety risk to the community, said Daniel Williams, policy advocate for the American Civil Liberties Union of New Mexico.
'Increased policing always raises concerns for us about increased excessive force or increased civil right violations or racial profiling,' Williams said. 'We're going to be be watching closely to see if those concerns come to fruition.'
Law enforcement officers maintained a heavy presence along Central Avenue last week as large police vehicles patrolled the corridor.
Bernalillo County sheriff's deputies stopped and questioned three people they said were jaywalking Thursday afternoon, asked for identification and briefly handcuffed one of them.
Deputy Joe Barreto said he was trying to keep them from being struck by vehicles because they were walking in the middle of the street.
Nourdine Sideye, manager of Adam Food Market on Central Avenue, said the plan does not make sense to him after he learned troops will mainly be performing tasks like passing out bottled water to homeless people and directing traffic.
'If something happens, you still have to call the police,' he said.