APD Officer who Killed Mary Hawkes was highest paid officer in 2013 (and 3 other crazy facts about the APD)

November 30, 2014 by Leave a Comment

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Ladies and Gentleman, something is truly screwed up in Albuquerque (and the rest of this country). After reviewing the City of Albuquerque’s top 250 salaries in 2013, I have come to the conclusion that crime really does pay off (if you can hide behind a badge while doing it).

I was stunned to discover that the police officer that murdered 19-year-old Mary Hawkes was the highest paid police officer in the city in 2013. Here are 4 crazy facts about the Albuquerque Police Department that may blow your mind:

 JEREMY DEAR

  1. Officer Jeremy Dear is the highest paid police officer on the force. He earned (stole) $118,641.17 in 2013. (UPDATE, Officer Jeremy Dear was fired from APD on 12/01/14)

This is THE Officer Dear who was on the scene when Officer Sean Wallace shot and killed an    unarmed, 22 year old Alan Gomez. He was caught giving conflicting details of the incident.

Oh yeah… Officer Dear is also the one who shot and killed 19-year-old Mary Hawkes. She was shot 3 times in a downward trajectory and had multiple blunt force injuries. (no lapel video available)

Officer Dear has also had several excessive force complaints in which no video is available because his lapel camera malfunctioned

RUSSELL PEREA

  1. Officer Russell S. Perea was the highest paid employee in the entire City of Albuquerque (I did not include him as the highest paid officer because he was not on the force in 2013). He pulled down a total of $154,169.16 in 2013. (Back pay for time missed)

Officer Perea was fired in 2011 because he was deemed to be “untruthful” about his activities and   conversations with Officer Levi Chavez on the night Officer Chavez’s wife was murdered. (A court recently ruled that Officer Perea should be reinstated)

 

  1. Sergeant Daniel Carr made $106,900.59 in 2013.

Sergeant Carr was involved in a case where he followed a stripper’s boyfriend and arrested him for DWI. (According to reports, Sergeant Carr was infatuated with the stripper and wanted to get rid of the boyfriend)

Sergeant Carr has also been reprimanded officially several times, missed court, and been involved in 3 accidents. He has been flagged by APD’s Early Warning System.

MONEY WASTED

  1. 17 members of the APD made more than $100,000 in 2013 (12 of them made more than Mayor Berry’s $103,854.40)

 

These are just a few of the strange facts about the $100,000 Club. One Officer on the list has a current civil rights case against him; 2 Officer’s have been involved in shootings; one Officer was in an accident that cost the City $75,000; and another Officer refused to consider creating stricter policies against officer’s who give false statements (after the Boyd shooting).

It is simply amazing that taxpayer money is wasted like this. How can these people earn 6 figures? Something needs to change!

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The Psychosis* of Black Friday: Why Pay More?

November 29, 2014 by Leave a Comment

*8 minute history of Black Friday*

Is history bound to repeat itself? Should we continue to fight against the powers-that-be? Is society really progressing? Who the hell knows? This Black Friday, millions of people stormed the doors of faceless corporations in hopes that they will save a few dollars on material items that the market convinced them are a “must-have” this holiday season.

They pack the aisles of Walmart, America’s largest corporation, fighting each other to save $10 on a video game or some other pointless item that will not make the world a better place. At the same time, the same corporation exploits their employees and pays them a wage that they cannot live off of.

The workers risked their jobs and walked out of Walmarts all across the country in a mass strike. They asked people to boycott the heartless corporation and refuse to spend money there. They were ignored by the masses. Ultimately, Walmart will make billions on Black Friday, Wall Street will skyrocket, the Wal-Mart worker’s plight will be ignored and low-income individuals will go further into debt.

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Why do we continue to do this to ourselves? This morning I was reading Clarence Darrow, Attorney for the Damned, by John A. Farrell. It was stunning how the people of the late 1890’s and early 1900’s fought against the same type of injustices as we do today. The Populist platform during that time (1894) stated (this is just a restatement of their platform and is not an endorsement of all of their ideals):

“We meet in the midst of a nation brought to the verge of moral, political, and material ruin. Corruption dominates the ballot-box, the legislatures, the Congress and touches every ermine of the bench.

The newspapers are largely subsidized or muzzled, public opinion silenced, business prostrated, homes cover with mortgages, labor impoverished and the land concentrating in the hands of the capitalists. The urban workmen are denied the right to organize for self-protection; imported pauperized labor beats down their wages, a hireling standing army, unrecognized by our laws, is established to shoot them down.

The fruits of the toil of millions are boldly stolen to build up the colossal fortunes of the few… and the possessors of these, in turn, despise the Republic and endanger liberty.”

Although some of the references may be a little outdated, don’t they sound familiar? Police brutality, the mortgage crisis, wage stagnation, debt, and the wealth gap still exist.

The mindless mob is spoon-fed capitalist ideals and blindly supports the system. The rich sit back and laugh, as they get richer. They do not need to participate in Black Friday. They are sheltered from police brutality and an unjust court system. They love the debt that destroys families across the country and bang the drum of “Right to Work” policies. They own the government and know that they will dictate whatever change occurs in the future.

The Populists of 1894 believed:

“The President and his Wall Street allies are a small band of schemers… who have not a drop of Democratic blood in their veins, whose sympathy are entirely with the great corporations which treat the American republic as a foraging ground.”

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 The players may have changed and certain issues have evolved, but the premise remains the same; Capitalism exploits and subjugates people. Can we ever change that? When will the People finally think for themselves and fight back? Will the revolution ever succeed? Who the hell knows! All that I know is that we cannot believe that it is pointless to fight back or they will definitely win! We Must Keep up the fight!  #WalmartStrikers #Ferguson

Visit www.blackfridayprotests.org to support striking Walmart Workers!

*The definition of psychosis is:”a serious mental disorder characterized by thinking and emotions that are so impaired, that they indicate that the person experiencing them has lost contact with reality.”

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Injustice is Inevitable

November 26, 2014 by Leave a Comment

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                          *New Mexico State Police wait in riot gear on Central & Girard

It is time for me to admit it; some things in life are just inevitable. This morning I woke and was mesmerized by the golden rays of the sun penetrating the New Mexico horizon. The colors of the New Mexico sky can be one of the most beautiful experiences in the world. It made me think about the natives and how they saw the same colors in the sky since time immemorial. The sun rising and setting has happened since the beginning of the earth and will continue to its end. It is inevitable.

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The fact that Officer Wilson will not be indicted was also inevitable. Really…how many people really believed that he would stand before his peers in a court of law? A grand jury is not a trial; it is a process that determines if there should be a trial. There is no way that the state (who is the prosecution and is the only side that gets to present a case in a grand jury proceeding) will give a 100% effort when presenting its case against a cop. The system is flawed.

I was even more disturbed when I read comments about the marches that occurred around the country in response to the announcement. I read comments like:

 

“Those who think that an injustice was done do not know the facts or evidence of the case”

 

“The liberals had their feel good moment, now they can go back home and sleep safely in their beds knowing that they are protected”

 

There were hundreds of comments similar to these. I could not believe the hatred and anger that these commenters directed at their fellow citizens who were exercising their 1st Amendment rights. I could not understand how they could be so blind as to believe that the system is not broken.

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The protests were not about the Ferguson case alone. They were a response to uncontrolled police brutality across the country, racist sentencing guidelines in our one-sided court system, the militarization of the police force, prison systems that are overcrowded with people of color, and a court system that sends innocent people to jail.

I will agree with the commenter who states that people do not know the facts or evidence in the Mike Brown case. That is why this should have gone to trial. That is where both sides will present the facts and evidence to a jury of Officer Wilson’s peers. Let them decide his guilt or innocence, not the commenters on Facebook who think that they know everything somehow.

No matter what an individual thinks about the Ferguson case, they have to admit that our system is broken and needs to be fixed. The decision not to indict a cop should not be the inevitable outcome every time.

****I would also like to apologize to my readers for the long delay between posts. It will not happen again****

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