Albuquerque police arrest dozens, clear encampments along Central corridor

The week before the annual Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta kicked off — welcoming thousands from across the globe — officers were busy clearing homeless encampments, making traffic stops and arresting dozens along the Central Avenue corridor.

Gilbert Gallegos, a spokesman for the Albuquerque Police Department, said the five-day operation was an effort to “proactively tackle crime.” He said it was one of several ongoing operations targeting “hot spots for crime and issues that occur most frequently in our city.”

Gallegos said officers from all five area commands worked together to patrol Central from Tramway on the eastern edge of the city to around 106th Street on the far West Side.

He said the operation led to the arrest of 26 people on felony charges, including clearing 31 felony warrants; 18 arrests on misdemeanor charges; charging 19 people with criminal trespass and four with DWI; and handing out 933 traffic tickets.

Gallegos did not detail what the felony and misdemeanor arrests were specifically for.

“During proactive patrols, officers identified an incident or reason for enforcement action 362 times,” he said. “This includes drug use, trespassing, or other illegal activity when an officer is present.”

Gallegos said APD also recovered one stolen vehicle during the operation and made 16 “encampment referrals.” He said the Albuquerque Community Safety and Solid Waste Management departments were involved in the operation “in an effort to provide resources to unsheltered individuals and clean up illegal encampments.”

Police Chief Harold Medina said in a statement, “Our officers are making arrests every single day and the department is focusing our resources on proactively addressing these issues, but we need the entire system to help us either keep dangerous criminals in jail or get folks the resources they need so they can get out of the cycle of crime.”

Gallegos shared two police lapel camera videos from the operation, both of which appeared to show officers confronting those living on the streets and struggling with substance abuse and behavioral health issues. The only person arrested in either video was handcuffed after police found a year-old warrant in their name for being caught with two fentanyl pills.

At no point in the videos, which begin and end in the middle of the interactions, is anyone offered any resources by officers or anyone else; they are just told to leave but not where to go.

In the first video, an officer asked a group of people along a sidewalk, “What do you guys want to hang out over here for?”

“I’m sorry, I fell asleep here,” one woman replied.

Some people gathered their belongings, while others — a few who appeared to be extremely intoxicated — didn’t respond. The officer continued, “You guys got to get up and go. Do not come back; do you understand me?”

The officer roused a man from under a blanket, saying, “They let you out of jail, huh?” and the man replied, “Am I in trouble?”

“You’re blocking the whole sidewalk, you and your friends,” the officer replied, telling the man not to leave while he checked to see if he had warrants out for his arrest.

In the other video, an officer approached a group of people near an encampment constructed from a vehicle and tarp. A few chickens meander about in the road.

“These your chickens,” the officer asked. One woman replied, “They’re the world’s,” and both chuckled. Then the officer’s tone changed.

“What do you think this is? Camp out wherever you are?” the female officer asked. One man replied, “You really stopping us for that?”

Minutes passed before anyone spoke again and officers arrested the man, Raul Hernandez, on a year-old drug warrant. “My bad,” Hernandez said as an officer handcuffed him.

Police take another man away to get fingerprinted after he gives them the wrong identification multiple times. Gallegos said that man, Fernando Landeros, was also arrested for a parole violation.

Court records show that in May 2022, Landeros was sentenced to four years in prison for stealing a pair of sunglasses out of a vehicle years earlier. It is unclear when Landeros was released from prison, but, according to court records, prosecutors offered him a plea deal in the case, dismissing several other felonies.