Albuquerque Police Department Open Space Collateral officers on patrol along the Rio Grande found signs of 10 encampments and one person inside a tent in the bosque over the weekend.
Gilbert Gallegos, an APD spokesman, said the officers were patrolling on foot, by boat and by horse and found the encampments south of Central.
He said they found one person and arrested him on a warrant for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, and a history of battery on a peace officer.
That man, 31-year-old Carlos Diaz, was also charged with misdemeanor unlawful camping but the case was dismissed because the state declined to prosecute.
According to a criminal complaint filed in Metropolitan Court, officers found Diaz, who only speaks Spanish, inside a tent next to a white sheet and a motorcycle just south of Bridge on the west side of the river. They asked him to come out of the tent and he did so with his hands up.
When asked if he had any warrants for his arrest, Diaz said he did and — after it was confirmed — he was arrested.
Gallegos said the officers also checked the area near La Vega and Arenal SW and possibly other locations as well. He said they found several encampments but did not come into contact with anyone else since “many of the people who stay at the camps leave during the day and return in the evening.”
Officers provided GPS coordinates to the Parks Department which will coordinate the additional response, Gallegos said.
“They want to ensure nothing is inadvertently damaged, like trees, during clean-up,” he said. “For this operation, they are delayed with the clean-up because there is so much water in the bosque and several camps are on dry patches of land near a lot of water.”
Gallegos didn’t answer questions about where the people who are staying in the camps will be directed to go or what will happen to their belongings.
