APS police to monitor campuses via city's real-time surveillance system

Albuquerque Public Schools Police will now have a full-time officer monitoring the district’s campuses via live camera feed, city and APS officials announced Monday.

The officer will work out of the city’s Real Time Crime Center and use its network of live cameras, drones and gunshot detection systems to scan each APS campus for security threats, according to APS Police Chief Steve Gallegos.

“It’s another layer of security at our schools to keep our kids and our staff safe,” Gallegos said.

Interim Albuquerque Police Department Chief Cecily Barker said the new position will allow for a faster response in the case of an emergency at a school.

Instead of waiting for an officer to arrive on the scene, an APS officer can use the camera system to “immediately see what is happening and dispel any rumors or concerns,” Barker said.

At least 70 guns have been discovered on APS campuses since 2021, according to district data. In three of those instances, students were shot and killed.

In February 2022, Marco Trejo, then 14, shot and killed his 16-year-old classmate Andrew Burson outside of West Mesa High School with a weapon one of the boys brought to school.

An altercation leading up to the shooting took place over the course of half an hour on the football field and a nearby street, rather than inside the halls, which were being monitored by APS cameras, Mayor Tim Keller said at Monday’s news conference.

Had APS officers been using drones to surveil outside the campus like they’ll be doing soon, Keller said he thinks it’s possible the shooting could have been prevented.

“If we had that drone up, we could have just followed the actual incident, and possibly we could have saved a life,” Keller said. The mayor said APD does not look at cameras operated by APS inside schools except during major incidents like a shooting.

When asked about potential student and parent privacy concerns, Barker said the footage will only be viewed by police officers. The city of Albuquerque is also barred from sharing any information with federal immigration officials under the newly signed House Bill 9, Keller said.

The cameras, which allow an aerial view of school campuses and the surrounding areas, much like the city’s traffic surveillance system, will only be used for security purposes and will not be used for disciplinary reasons, like catching a student outside of class, Superintendent Gabriella Blakey said.

“Keeping schools safe is not something that any one agency can do alone, and it requires close communication and trust,” she said.

Natalie Robbins covers education for the Journal. You can reach her at nrobbins@abqjournal.com.