As LP Magazine continues to explore retail theft trends in specific geographic locations, we heard from a contingent of retailers who asked that we investigate what’s happening in one particular area. You’d think New York City or Los Angeles would be at the top of the list, but over and over, we heard that something different was happening in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Steeped in history dating back to the 1300s, and founded over 300 years ago, Albuquerque has endured conquistadors, floods, droughts, and uprisings to develop into a hub of the southwest. Known as Duke City to locals, it’s a seemingly idyllic home to just over half a million residents. With hot-air balloon, wine, and mariachi festivals—how is it that Albuquerque has become a top concern for retailers?
According to FBI UCR data, as of 2023, the state of New Mexico ranked second-highest in property crime in the United States. When looking at total crime rates per 100,000 residents, New Mexico has the second-highest incidence of violent crime, behind the District of Columbia. The city of Albuquerque ranks as the sixth-highest nationally for property crimes (per capita from 2019 to 2023) and tenth-highest for violent crime.
Whenever we look at any crime data, we need to be skeptical. According to information posted on the FBI’s website regarding the UCR database, “Data users should not rank locales because there are many factors that cause the nature and type of crime to vary from place to place. UCR statistics include only jurisdictional population figures along with reported crime, clearance, or arrest data. Rankings ignore the uniqueness of each locale.” When thinking about the accuracy of the data, we must also consider practices that discourage retailers from reporting crime on their premises, such as nuisance laws, and declining rates of reporting due to case dismissals or lack of follow-up.
So, how did Albuquerque get to this point? What’s behind these abnormally high criminal statistics?
Assembling the Puzzle
With any puzzle, we typically begin with the edges and work our way in. To assemble the puzzle of Albuquerque and understand how the city got to where it is, we researched publicly available archives, interviewed a variety of retailers and former Albuquerque Police Department officers, and spoke to the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office, industry experts, and the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce. We heard from the DA’s office as well. With a history so complicated and so many stakeholders who care about the future of this city, it’s difficult to answer every open question about Albuquerque in a short article. What we’ve attempted here is to provide some context for the current situation.
While the opinions shared with us on the drivers of organized retail crime (ORC) and retail theft differed somewhat, we heard consistent themes in every conversation. Retail crime reached an apex during COVID-19, but was already exacerbated by:
- Lack of resources
- Fentanyl
- Lack of consequences
Fewer Feet on the Street
Many law enforcement agencies across the country are facing a depletion of their forces. Whether due to defunding efforts, backfilling for retirements, or a declining interest in policing careers altogether, the lowered number of police on the beat is becoming an urgent concern.
The Albuquerque Police Department has had to climb an even steeper hill, battling an exodus of veteran officers, starting in 2014 with the Department of Justice consent decree, and corruption investigations in 2022. The reductions in manpower through retirements (forced and unforced), terminations, and suspensions have taken their toll on the department.
The Department of Justice ordered the consent decree as a reaction to APD officer-involved shootings higher than the national average, and specifically, the shooting of James Boyd, a homeless man who was brandishing knives during a police standoff in March of 2014. The shooting, caught on video and body cameras, caused a community uproar. As part of the resulting DOJ decree, an outside, independent monitor, Dr. James Ginger, was appointed in January 2015 to conduct audits, gather data, and make recommendations about the department. Dr. Ginger had already overseen consent decrees in Pittsburgh and New Jersey, and as a former police officer, trainer, and researcher, seemed well-positioned to help the department move forward.
As the DOJ oversight began, every arrest was scrutinized, and the department’s morale suffered. According to a former APD officer who chose to remain anonymous, the corruption within the department was “blatant, notorious, and embarrassing,” and morale under the consent decree was “in the dumpster.” With more stringent controls from the DOJ, rising crime rates, and fewer police to do the work, it’s no wonder that morale was low and the officers were frustrated. Joe Wolf, CFI, former Albuquerque Police Academy director, was with the department at the beginning of the decree. “There was a lot of frustration and anxiety over the leadership change and concerns about the consent decree. However, the working officers I knew were still committed to the work and willing to see things through.”
While Dr. Ginger’s almost ten years of oversight were met with mixed feedback—and some controversy at the department and locally, with some residents questioning his pay and actual time spent in Albuquerque—the department successfully completed its supervision under the consent decree in 2024, and the DOJ completely ended its oversight effective April 14, 2025. While there were positive outcomes, such as automating evidence from
body-worn cameras, increased reporting, and accountability on arrests, the general consensus among those we spoke to was that the morale in the department suffered greatly.
Then, in 2022—more turmoil. Harold Medina, appointed Chief of APD in 2021, did not step into an easy job. The department was contending with COVID-19, and then, within a year of taking the position, an investigation was launched into officers inside his department. Tips from the public came in accusing officers of taking bribes in exchange for court no-shows on DWI cases. Internal Affairs was brought under the microscope, and the FBI was involved—the reputation of the department couldn’t help but suffer further.
Another spate of officer departures due to terminations, resignations, and retirements ensued. In 2021, there were sixty-three resignations and ninety-seven retirements; in 2022, fifty-nine resignations and ninety-seven retirements; and in 2023, forty resignations and thirty-five retirements. The settlement as part of the DOJ consent decree required the city to conduct a staffing study, which recommended a minimum of 1,000 officers on staff, 500 of whom should be working calls for service. In 2021, Chief Medina had set a goal of, and the city budgeted for, staffing at 1,200. As of the date of this article, there were 864 officers employed by APD.
We reached out to the Albuquerque Police Department for comment and received no response. However, from all accounts, it appears that APD is taking steps to fill the vacancies in its department. A Junior Police Academy, the 2023 Partnership with Central New Mexico Community College “Pathway to Public Safety,” the Citizen Police Academy, Women in Blue, the LEAP Program, and hiring bonuses are all designed to attract recruits to the profession and to APD.
Chief Medina also enacted an incentive of $1,500 a month and 100 percent medical benefit coverage to retain retiring police officers. At a press conference in 2022, the chief said, “You know, departments under a consent decree are not easy places to work for, and I personally try to recruit laterals from surrounding agencies on a consistent basis.” He added, “We remain committed to reform and trying to find the most sustainable way to move forward and fight crime at the same time.”
Geography and Drugs
Albuquerque is centrally located in New Mexico, astride the Rio Grande.
Also, sitting near major transportation routes such as Interstate Route 40, which runs across the country east to west, and Interstate Route 25, running north to south, Albuquerque is easy to get to. It’s fifty-six miles to Santa Fe, NM; 332 miles to Phoenix, AZ; 267 miles to El Paso, TX; and 513 miles to Oklahoma City, OK.
Most importantly, the city is a mere 268 miles from Juarez, Mexico. It’s an easy target for those who want to quickly move stolen goods and illicit drugs back and forth over the border.
Retailers we spoke to felt that there is ORC in Albuquerque, but that it’s mostly locals doing the thefts for drugs, and the goods are moving back over the border into Mexico. The distance between Albuquerque and other major cities most likely doesn’t make it a prime target for national ORC groups, unless they are highly motivated and on cross-country trips.
Sgt. Donnie Hix from the Bernalillo Sheriff’s Office, and copresident of the New Mexico Organized Retail Crime Association (NMORCA), has over twenty years of experience in law enforcement and has seen the effects of drugs on the community. According to Hix, the fentanyl problem in the area really took off during the COVID-19 epidemic.
“With a new drug like fentanyl, the dealers were testing different formulas to see how much users would tolerate before OD’ing. They wanted to get their users hooked and let the product explode on the street.” As the dealers cut the dose of fentanyl back and became more efficient at production, the drugs became cheaper to produce. Today, in the drug markets around Albuquerque, fentanyl pills can go for as little as one dollar a pill.
When you have a portion of the community who are now addicted to an easily manufactured and transported drug, there cannot help but to be a rise in crime to pay for and feed the habit. Quick, easy money is needed, whether that’s through stealing cars, home break-ins, or retail theft. Out of all property crimes, retail theft is probably the lowest risk and quickest way to get money for drugs. There are low odds of being caught, and if caught, low odds of being held accountable.
Vulnerable Population
Drug kingpins need people willing to do their dirty work. In Albuquerque, due to a confluence of factors, there are people willing to steal from retailers to fund their drug habits or to make ends meet. Some are petty thieves, some are gang members or drug addicts, or mentally ill, and some are homeless.
The effects of the 2008 crash were felt hard in Albuquerque, which had a large part of its economy based on oil and gas. That industry and subsequently, Albuquerque, were slower to recover than the rest of the country. Then an influx of population occurred. New Silicon Valley-type businesses, start-ups, and engineering firms began to move into the area, attracted by New Mexico’s Trade Corridor and favorable tax incentives. Long home to the Los Alamos National Labs and the Sandia Labs, the corridor was no stranger to brain power. But, according to Moody’s Analytics, only 3.2 percent of the residents are employed in high-tech jobs. With this growth also came disparities in income, fewer housing options, and increased housing prices.
From 2022 to 2023, Albuquerque experienced an 83 percent increase in homelessness. That jump is hard to comprehend and even harder to react to as a community if you don’t already have services in place. This is a vulnerable population. They are living in fear and often fall victim to violent crimes. Hix stated that “the homeless were banding together to stay safe” and that those who use drugs had pooled their efforts to make their fentanyl buys instead of risking robbery or attacks.
How do the dealers and fences get some of this population to engage in their retail theft schemes? According to Hix, it’s the lure of cheap drugs. “They [the fence] just wait at the bus stop and they say, ‘Hey, go get me bras and perfume from Victoria’s Secret.’ So, they do their thing, get a full bag of stuff, and then hop on the free bus back to the fence. This is about $700 worth of merch, right? They’ll give them like fifty pills.” Addicts can smoke anywhere from 10 to 100 pills a day.
The many retailers we spoke to for this story, including big-box, specialty, and grocery stores, all of which wanted to remain anonymous, were in agreement that the free bus transit system acts as a super highway for thieves. It’s quick and easy to commit theft in one area and hop on the free bus to quickly escape to the other side of town, meet up with the fence, and buy drugs—all before the police are able to respond.
The city has attempted clean-ups at illegal campsites and has invested in affordable housing and drug and mental health resources; however, the problem persists. During a Point-In-Time survey conducted in 2024, the city had 2,740 people living unhoused. There is much more to be done, and frustration in the community is mounting, with recent calls for a tougher response to vagrancy violations, but where will the manpower to enforce come from?
Politics and Accountability
Just like the rest of the country, politics in New Mexico and Albuquerque are in an upheaval. Some blame lax criminal laws on liberal policies instituted by the democratically controlled legislature and the governor’s office. Limited police powers, reduced sentencing and penalties, and early release for criminals happened in many states as a reaction to overcrowding and incidents such as the shooting of George Floyd and James Boyd. But the pendulum likely swung too far to the left with low felony theft thresholds, low or no-bond, and little or no accountability for minors, all adding to an already stressed criminal justice system.
What else is contributing to crime in Albuquerque?
Part of the Puzzle—Witness No-Shows
If criminals know there are no consequences for their actions, they are likely to re-offend. We heard from industry experts that the city has a nearly 50 percent no-show rate in court on retail theft cases. This state of affairs is due to many factors, according to Lourdes Saldana, regional vice president for ALTO, a company that assists retailers with their court cases and has a team in Albuquerque. Witnesses to retail theft cases must cross a number of hurdles. “Many individuals face barriers such as limited access to reliable transportation, lack of childcare, and difficulty taking time off work. Missed court appearances are sometimes the result of individuals not receiving timely or accurate court notifications. A general sense of fear or distrust toward the legal system may discourage individuals from appearing in court.”
Facing low associate headcount, some retailers may decide it’s just not worth it to send their store associates to court. And when they do go, they aren’t trained in how to testify. Sgt. Hix agrees, “They [retailers] don’t have an unlimited budget like law enforcement does for that overtime. So, they have to pay their person, their witness, to go to court. They have to pay them to go to the pretrial interview, things like that. And they don’t really have programs established for that.” He added, “Then, when you send a loss prevention person in there that’s not trained in public information release, they could say something against the company.” And many retailers don’t want to take that chance.
The court issues weren’t all the fault of no-show witnesses. The felony threshold in New Mexico is $500 for retail theft. Much lower than some other states, but up until 2023, New Mexico didn’t allow case aggregation. Said Hix, “They’re [criminals] not afraid because they know it’s just a misdemeanor summons. So even if we stop them, they know they’ll only go to jail for over $500 worth of property. And misdemeanor larcenies don’t always get reported, and they aren’t a priority for some law enforcement.”
Cop or Lawyer?
What about when the cases did make it to court and a witness showed up? In the case of New Mexico, police officers represented the state in criminal court. Most jurisdictions require the DA or state attorney to prosecute and take the onus off the officer, who typically needs to show up with a complete case report ready to testify.
Bernalillo County District Attorney Sam Bergman said, “Before I took office in 2023, officers who arrested suspects were required to prosecute cases. Through no fault of the officers (because they’re not attorneys), there was a dismal conviction rate of 15 percent. We changed that. Now our attorneys prosecute shoplifting cases, and officers are out of the courtroom and back on the streets fighting crime. Since 2023, the DA’s office has entered on 1,256 misdemeanor shoplifting cases that would have otherwise been prosecuted by police officers.”
Glimmers of Hope
“Everyone deserves the right to feel safe when they go into a store, right? Too often, that wasn’t the case in Albuquerque. Our team has been working closely with law enforcement and retailers to change that,” said DA Bergman. Increased partnerships, tougher penalties, and focused enforcement activity have started to make an impact.
Partnerships: “There is now an increase in collaboration between the retail agency, the investigating agency, and the DA’s office. For example, NMORCA holds monthly meetings where the retailers and investigators can meet with a representative from the DA’s office to problem solve,” explained Bergman. “Discussions about declined and dismissed cases create opportunities for retailers and law enforcement to work to improve future investigations. In addition, retailers can collaborate and identify those offenders who are hitting multiple stores.”
We heard from multiple retailers and law enforcement that both the NMORCA and Albuquerque Retail Asset Protection Association (ARAPA) are beneficial in keeping each stakeholder informed. They act to streamline information sharing and prevent silos from forming. Founded in 2006, ARAPA has a greater focus on retail crime in the Albuquerque area.
NMORCA was founded by the New Mexico Chamber of Commerce in 2023 and also uses the online platform Auror to build cases and communicate with law enforcement across the state.
Each organization holds meetings to educate its members and continue to forge partnerships between retailers, law enforcement, and the DA’s office. Bergman is a supporter. “By having a DA representative attend ORCA meetings, retailers are kept informed about what is happening in court, and in turn, the DA’s office forms contacts with both law enforcement and retailers. That increases evidence collection as well as witness participation. All this makes it better for businesses and their customers, too!”
Anytime progress and steps forward are made, it’s essential to keep the momentum going, especially with continued turnover for police and retail LP. When asked about this, Ken Cox, a retired retail asset protection leader and a founding member of ARAPA with extensive experience in the Albuquerque area, stated, “If the previous sergeant loved OCU [organized crime units] or loved going after ORC, then a new guy comes on and doesn’t get it, or understand it, he’s going to focus on other stuff—car thefts or burglaries.” Similarly, if a new LP manager or associate starts at a retailer, they aren’t going to have the connections necessary to really make an impact out of the gate. That’s why the ORCAs are so important—they facilitate continuity through conversation.
Stiffer Penalties: Penalties for shoplifting were increased in 2023. According to the Bernalillo County website, “Now, prosecutors can combine and consolidate cases that occur within ninety days of each other. In the past, people who had been arrested and released from custody over and over to shoplift again, may now be charged with a felony.” Case aggregation and building are key components in fighting ORC. Law enforcement and retailers can pull together resources and aggregate multiple misdemeanor cases for an offender in New Mexico under the $500 threshold to help hold them accountable with felony charges.
Technology: Working smarter and tapping into technology to solve problems may help fill some of the gaps in manpower. An example can be found at the Coronado Mall owned by Brookfield Properties. Their spokesperson provided this statement:
“Coronado Center has experienced a decrease in crime due to Brookfield Properties’ ongoing investment in security systems and technology. The mall partnered with Flock Safety, a manufacturer and operator of security hardware and software, to add automated license plate readers around parking. These readers help detect and identify plates that have been involved in crime such as car theft, organized retail crime, or a violent crime. The security team works with local officials such as the Sheriff’s Office and the New Mexico Department of Justice to utilize these technologies.”
This technology helps retailers and police connect the dots. Flock Safety has offered local law enforcement access to the technology at no charge.
Another example from Ken Cox regarding technology is the APD’s Problem Response Teams (PRTs) and their use of the Zello app to expedite responses to retail crime incidents. According to Cox, “instead of having to call the non-emergency number and either be put on hold and never picked up, or units are too busy… The Zello app made it instant like, ‘Hey, this is Ken. I’m at Ross. I’m at Lowe’s or wherever, and I’ve got one here. Anybody in the area?’ And if they’re not busy, ‘Yep, I’m right around the corner. I’ll be right there.’”
Policing: Within the Albuquerque PD, Chief Medina and his team have been making changes beyond recruitment. Following a trend happening in other departments around the country, the Safety Department now sends trained mental health professionals out on 311 calls instead of police, freeing up officers to stay on the streets and address crime. This approach also connects residents who may be experiencing mental distress with an agency trained to handle those situations at the outset, instead of possibly risking arrest and clogging the courts.
Both APD and the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office have been busy, with targeted tactical operations focused on retail crime and drug activity. In January of this year, APD’s ORC unit, Field Service Northwest, and Northwest PRT announced the results of an operation that cleared fifty warrants and produced thirty-three felony shoplifting charges. At the end of 2024, APD was able to announce some modest improvements in crimes against property, with a 2 percent reduction from 2023.
The Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office has been productive with Operation Route 66. A collaboration between the DA’s office, the New Mexico State Police, New Mexico Corrections, and APD, the operation focused on the area around Route 66, known as Central Avenue or the International District, which had become a magnet for crime. Focused on all types of crime, including retail crime, many of the 400 arrests made so far were of known criminals. According to Sgt. Hix, it’s putting pressure on the local bad guys to move or change their operations. “A guy I interviewed last week told me that they ‘don’t know who to buy drugs from anymore because you arrested everybody. You flipped our world upside down.’”
An interesting sidenote, on March 31, 2025, Chief Medina sent an emergency request for help from the New Mexico National Guard to Governor Michelle Lujan-Grisham. In the letter, he outlined the department’s need for National Guard forces, citing the high levels of drug activity and crime along the Central Avenue Corridor. He specifically asked for their help with securing crime scenes, medical and humanitarian assistance with the homeless population, and prisoner transport. According to the letter, “while significant improvements have been made in combating crime in Albuquerque, the situation in our community continues to be an emergency and requires additional resources. It is true that Albuquerque has seen a reduction in crime in certain categories, but the fentanyl crisis and crime crisis remain prevalent and are of such magnitude that they require resources from the state.”
It’s clear that Albuquerque PD is still struggling to meet staffing needs. Time will tell how the public receives the National Guard in their community. The hope is that APD will be freed up even further to fight crime.
What’s Next?
As with most societal issues, the retail crime problem in Albuquerque is a complicated mishmash. Each piece of the puzzle affects the other. When one element of society is out of balance, all others will be affected. Too much retail crime? Businesses shutter, communities go underserved, and retail deserts are created. Fewer jobs and housing shortages lead to homelessness. Drugs lead to crime. Police corruption leads to community distrust.
There are no easy answers, but taking a hard look at the crime problem in totality, accurate and open reporting on crime data, collaborating between retail and law enforcement, and working together to lift up the community are the first steps.