Albuquerque police launch operation to curb crime on Central

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — Albuquerque police have their eyes on Central. Officers from across the city are talking about a department-wide operation to tackle crime on one of the most important streets.

The operation focused on the whole stretch of Central from 98^th to Tramway. The department had field officers from five area commands along with their specialty units working together to patrol the area.

During the operation, they issued:

• 930 traffic citations
• Cleared 31 felony warrants and 26 new felony arrests.
• 16 encampment referrals
• 4 DWI arrests
• 19 criminal trespass
• 18 misdemeanor arrests and 10 misdemeanor warrants
• Recovered one stolen vehicle

Chief Harold Medina said it’s only been a week but there have been improvements when it comes to people walking in and out of the street and criminal activity along the ART bus route.

“For this being the first week of the operation, we left downtown and we drove up Central, and I looked around and couldn’t believe it was the same Central that was here about a week ago. It’s not perfect but it’s a lot cleaner,” he said.

These operations won’t stop anytime soon, they will go through Christmas. They are doing different operations on a weekly rotation alternating warrant operations, Central operations, and retail operations.

Chief Medina also pointed out the importance of including other organizations that can help the unhoused population.

“It is imperative that we work with other partners, we are asking some of our social service providers to be out here to provide services when necessary and we will continue through Christmas,” he said.

APD has also contacted business owners in the area to get their feedback on how the crime along Central has affected their business and what they would like to see cleaned up.