Bernalillo County sheriff faults court system in poor operation results

Editor's note: This story has been updated to show that the District Attorney's Office provided statistics which stated Operation Triple Beam has yielded 394 arrests to date, including 306 suspects who were facing charges in prior cases at the time of their arrest.

Lackluster results of a monthslong Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office crime-fighting operation have led Sheriff John Allen to enter into a new law-enforcement partnership with federal authorities, the sheriff announced in an early November news conference.

Although Allen did not provide detailed statistics about who was arrested and what they were charged with, he said the results of Operation Route 66, which targeted crime along East Central, paint a picture of a failing criminal justice system that struggles to hold suspects accountable.

“Operation Route 66 is aimed at auto theft, drugs and repeat offenders along one of the most crime-ridden corridors in our county,” he said. “Yet in far too many cases, these defendants are still being released, and we are seeing them again and again in warrant status.”

Other local law enforcement and judicial entities disagreed with Allen’s assessment, stating that the results of Operation Route 66 show a fragmented approach to a complex issue.

“By putting them in jail, it stresses out the entire criminal justice system and oftentimes, our jail can’t handle having an influx of maybe 30% of individuals being held for substance abuse issues,” said Dennica Torres, 2nd Judicial District Defender for the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender. “We have asked law enforcement in Albuquerque to utilize diversion programs … and unfortunately, the response is usually ‘We don’t have time for that, we’re just going to arrest them.’”

Allen said Operation Route 66 has since been replaced by Operation Triple Beam, a crime-fighting partnership with federal law enforcement agencies that aims to charge suspects with federal crimes for which they will receive harsher sentences.

Operation Triple Beam, which began in early November, has yielded 394 arrests to date, including 306 suspects who were facing charges in prior cases at their time of arrest, according to statistics sent from DA’s Office spokesperson Nancy Laflin.

Operation Route 66

On Nov. 19, BSCO released limited data from Operation Route 66, which started in February as a collaboration between New Mexico State Police, the 2nd Judicial District Attorney’s Office and the state Corrections Department’s Probation and Parole Division.

Although Allen said he would not release details about specific individual cases when questioned, he said the operation’s results are evidence of a “revolving door in New Mexico’s criminal justice system.”

“What we found should disturb every New Mexican,” he said in the release. “Our deputies are doing the work, our partners are filing the cases and yet the same people are being released, missing court and cycling through this system with very few, real consequences.”

The state Law Offices of the Public Defender and the Administrative Office of the Courts said the statistics failed to show an accurate representation of the court system. They accused Allen of cherry-picking examples without providing the details of those cases.

“The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has not shared its internal data from Operation Route 66 for review despite a request for that by the Second Judicial District Court,” Karl Reifsteck, director of the Administrative Office of the Courts, said. “The selective data in the BCSO press release prevents us from assessing the matters presented in it.”

Reifsteck added that courts are handling more cases, with 10% more cases opened in district courts across the state.

“Criminal cases were resolved 12% faster in district courts statewide in the most recent fiscal year (FY25) than in the previous year,” Reifsteck said.

“As a result, courts are handling more cases and arriving at the accountability stage more quickly,” he said. “A person charged with a criminal offense is held accountable under the law when their case is resolved. If found guilty, a person is sentenced by a court.”

In total, 1,587 arrests were made during Operation Route 66, and BCSO assisted in 640 of those cases. In response to questions, BCSO would not break down the arrests in further detail or say how many were misdemeanors versus felonies.

“We will not be fulfilling the request of a breakdown of all 640 cases today as our Accountability Officer is working on multiple projects of priority,” BCSO spokesperson Jayme Gonzales said. “This request might be better suited through a formal IPRA (Inspection of Public Records Act).”

Out of the 640 cases, the BCSO release cited eight examples of people arrested during the operation who were deemed repeat offenders, their charges ranging from reckless driving and drug possession to aggravated battery with a deadly weapon and kidnapping.

Allen cited 15 instances where pretrial motions were denied for suspects that he said were charged with first-degree murder, kidnapping, child abuse and shooting at or from a vehicle. BCSO would not provide the names of the defendants in those 15 cases.

Instead, Allen advised contacting District Attorney Sam Bregman, who partnered with BSCO on the operation. Laflin said it would take “several days” to obtain the individuals’ names.

The release said there are 59 pending Operation Route 66 cases in Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court and 90 in District Court. It stated that judges in both courts released defendants pending trial in 50 Metro Court cases and 76 District Court cases, but the release did not say what the defendants were charged with or why they were released.

“The state has to make their argument to hold somebody in custody and that argument largely depends on — are they a danger to themselves, are they a danger to the community or are they a flight risk,” Torres said. “It depends on whether the judge agrees that those three criteria are met, and if they’re not met, then they’re not right to be held in detention.”

The BCSO release stated people with “double-digit arrest histories” continue to be released from jail, miss court and get new charges. Torres said that, for many, a failure to appear in court can be for a variety of reasons and does not necessarily mean a person willingly did not appear in court.

“The area in which they’re completing the sweeps for (Operation) Route 66 is an area where there’s a lot of homelessness and drug activity,” she said. “If they don’t show up to court, it’s often because they don’t have a phone or an address.”

Allen said the move to collaborate with federal authorities at an increased level came after the disappointing results of Operation Route 66. Operation Triple Beam first came to light earlier this month after BCSO deputies shot a man while assisting the FBI in the operation along East Central.

“We are not going to keep feeding a broken system and expect different results,” said Allen. “If the state process will not consistently protect the public from repeat offenders, then we will work with our federal partners to find a system that will.”