'I'm not going to let you abuse me': APD chief and councilor clash in heated budget dispute

Tensions flared Thursday night as an Albuquerque city councilor and the chief of police got into a shouting match amid discussion of the city’s proposed budget.

The City Council was meeting as a Committee of the Whole about the budget for the fiscal year starting July 1. After Albuquerque Police Department Chief Harold Medina took to the podium to answer questions about his department’s request, Councilor Louie Sanchez and Medina clashed. The two accused each other of disrespect, with Sanchez commenting on Medina’s attire, something Medina didn’t appreciate.

“Nice of you to show up in a polo shirt today, chief,” Sanchez said, adding, “Thanks for disrespecting us today.”

Sanchez then asked Medina why he didn’t tell the council about the deployment of New Mexico National Guard troops to assist Albuquerque police in carrying out lesser roles in order to free-up officers — a request for manpower made by Medina. Before saying that he felt it wasn’t in the council’s purview, Medina called Sanchez unprofessional and said he hoped “the whole city of Albuquerque saw” what Sanchez did.

“I’m not going to sit here and let you abuse me,” Medina said.

The two men shouted over each other and demanded to be allowed to finish speaking until the committee chair restored order.

It was the most dramatic dispute between the council and city administrators during the seven-hour meeting, but not the only one over police spending.

APD accounts for more public dollars than any other department in the city. This year’s proposal seeks $271.5 million, a 5.2% increase of $13.4 million compared with last year’s budget. The increase is driven mainly by personnel costs, something Medina and Sanchez sparred over.

“How are you going to do something to change your over-bloated upper echelon in reference to putting boots on the ground?” Sanchez said.

Medina defended those jobs. He said that those leadership positions were needed to bring APD in line with the U.S. Department of Justice consent decree mandating reforms due to excessive use of force, increase the rate of solved homicides, and move away from a department that he said lost control in 2011 and 2014.

“Maybe in 2011, with those low numbers of executives, we had a lack of supervision over people. We had a lack of holding people accountable because we had spans of control that were too wide,” Medina said.

Sanchez, who recently announced his candidacy for mayor, is a former police officer and has long been a vocal critic of Medina, who assumed the position of chief in 2020. Sanchez called for a vote of no confidence in Medina in 2024, but backed away from the effort.

Councilor Dan Champine, also a former police officer, raised questions about the number of command staff. He asked questions to clarify his understanding of the structure, noting that APD requested $6.5 million for the salaries of command staff.

Thursday’s meeting also saw a testy back-and-forth between Councilor Dan Lewis and Kevin Sourisseau, the city’s chief finance officer.

Lewis noted that APD’s budget request doesn’t seek funding for dozens of vacant police officer positions, and instead uses that money in other places. Lewis characterized the move as a $5.4 million budget cut to the police department.

“We’re cutting your budget by $5.4 million, and it’s going to other things. That’s the explanation. That’s exactly what’s going on,” Lewis said.

APD can have up to 1,100 officers, according to the proposed budget. But the money for those additional positions was not requested by the department.

Medina said that APD had about 900 police officers by the end of 2024, with around 400 officers directly responding to 911 calls. He added that he expects the department to reach 1,000 by the end of calendar year 2025. He also said that if the $5.4 million were allocated for personnel costs for vacant positions, he would spend the money on other things anyway.

Sourisseau noted that, despite Lewis’ claim of a budget cut, APD’s budget overall would increase under this plan. He added that the council has had a long-standing expectation that the administration not fund positions that can’t be filled.

“He thinks he can get to 1,000 officers, and I would rather not fund him for 1,100 officers right now, if he can only get to 1,000 because that money, as we’ve talked about, can be put to work somewhere else in our budget,” Sourisseau said.

Ultimately, the council advanced the budget request. The final vote on the budget is expected to take place May 20.