By Astrid Galvan
Albuquerque Journal
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — The Metropolitan Detention Center on Friday suspended a twoweek-old policy that Albuquerque police were criticizing as a threat to public safety.
The policy said the jail would turn away inmates if police did not have hard copies of warrants when booking a suspect. Previously, the jail allowed police to book inmates with information from the federal National Crime Information Center. MDC said it was enforcing a decades-old state law.
Jail officials reviewing policies came across that law some weeks ago, MDC Chief Ramon Rustin said. He said he did not know why it had not been enforced in the past and added that it is in part to protect people whose warrants have been cleared but are still in the national database and could be falsely arrested.
“We’ve been reviewing all of our county policies and procedures and how we do things at the jail,” Rustin said. “This issue on how we commit folks was brought to my attention.”
Police argue the policy could put citizens at danger if an officer can’t immediately get a copy of the warrant.
“That could potentially leave us no choice but to release a person with an outstanding warrant,” Albuquerque police Sgt. Patrick Ficke said. “It’s just very concerning to us right now.”
APD is working with MDC to figure out a solution, Ficke said.
Problems are especially likely if an officer arrests someone with an out-of-state warrant, because the officer would have to contact the agency that issued the warrant. The agency would then have to fax the warrant to MDC.
That could be hard to do on a weekend or in the middle of the night, Ficke said.
“If we can’t get a hold of them, we will have to let that person go with the new policy,” he said.
It’s not rare for Albuquerque police to arrest someone who is wanted in another state and book them at MDC while the out-of-state agency gets extradition orders.
But, typically, officers book the suspect based on a printout of NCIC, a crime database that includes warrants. They had one day to get the warrant faxed or delivered to MDC.
“Of course, if we have a murder suspect from out of state, we’re going do our best to get a hold of that agency and do the best we can to make sure to not let someone like a murder suspect just walk,” Ficke said.
Asked where and how that person would be held, Ficke said the department has not figured that out yet.
Copyright 2011 Albuquerque Journal