If you've dealt with public issues on the West Side in the past few decades, you probably know Louis Tafoya. 

 Heck, if you've lived on the West Side in the past few decades, you probably know Louis Tafoya.

Tafoya, president of the West Mesa Neighborhood Association and a founding father of the community-policing strategy known as Weed and Seed, received the Albuquerque Citizen Police Academy Alumni Association's annual award last night.

Commander Conrad Candelaria of APD's Southwest Area Command writes of Tafoya in his nomination letter:

"With immeasurable enthusiasm and without reservation, I submit this nomination knowing full well that Mr. Louis Tafoya is deserving of this prestigious award. It is said that the foundation of success is due to the efforts of others. I can say without reservation that the efforts that are so willingly and selflessly given by Mr. Tafoya has emboldened the true meaning of Community Based Policing."

Tafoya received the award last night at the APD Academy. 

 Love him or hate him -- and there are folks who feel both ways about Tafoya and his straighforward, sometimes brusque approach -- there's no denying his contributions to the efforts of police on the West Side.

As Candelaria points out in his nomination letter, Tafoya has been instrumental in securing federal dollars for Weed and Seed operations.

Moreover, for the past 11 years, Tafoya has organized the annual Albuquerque Police Department Appreciation Day during the Christmas season. That event features a free breakfast, lunch or dinner to any officer who attends one of several briefings put on to honor their service to the community.