Ride-Alongs for State Politicians Held in Effort to Get State Approval for a Shiny New Aircraft

The Albuquerque Police Department is requesting a second helo for their fleet, building on their first acquisition in 2019.

The delivery of a new production Airbus H125 in 2020 was the first the City had in more than 18 years, and now the Department says it needs a second. APD has gotten more than enough use out of its current aircraft, to the point when they need another to cover for downtime, maintenance, and simultaneous missions. On a normal schedule, the unit takes flight to patrol "at least twice a day", with more missions depending on what's happening in the city at any given time. When multiple happenings are afoot simultaneously, the APD is forced to pick and choose which one merits the helo support more than the rest. So, like any operator does, they want to go shopping.

Gilbert Gallegos, APD spokesman, said “We talk about it as a force multiplier a lot of times because it probably takes the place of, you know, probably 6, 7, 8 officers at any given time." he said all they really want is "essentially more coverage during the day and the night."

The department took up New Mexico House Speaker Javier Martinez in the hopes of gaining some friends in their bid to loosen up the state's purse strings. $6.5 million isn't something the Department can just throw on a card, after all. In order to acquire a second helo, the New Mexico House will have to approve the purchase and apportion the funds.

“It’s eye opening, I think, for me to see it happen,” Martinez said. “We saw a couple situations where things could have probably gotten out of hand, and they didn’t.”

He wasn't so quick to guarantee another aircraft, however, noting that the state only has a relatively short 30-day session coming up, and a new helicopter isn't going to top the list of must-haves when there's so much on the table.

“There are bills around court-mandated treatment, for example, as we work on issues of homelessness and mental behavioral health,” Martinez said. “We’re going to continue to make not only budgetary investments, but also looking at policies to improve public safety. And we’re going to continue to work on education.”

The Department swears it makes a difference, though. In typical "but, moooom I want it!" fashion they say it will make a super-duper difference on street-level crime.

“We don’t want to spend millions of dollars with technology just because it’s nice and maybe makes things a little easier,” Gallegos said. “When you use it altogether, you can really make a dent in crime.”

FMI: https://www.cabq.gov/police