Authorities say downtown crime has been reduced by business-sponsored initiatives

Local leaders attribute the drop in crime in Downtown Albuquerque to proactive policing of local businesses.

In September, Albuquerque police launched an initiative to put more officers downtown during high-crime hours — requiring local businesses to foot the bill.

According to Rebecca Atkins, a spokeswoman for the Albuquerque Police Department, shootings, carjackings and carjackings are down 50%, 42% and 34%, respectively, with the APD TEAM, or targeted enforcement, and active surveillance. However, burglaries have doubled and residential burglaries have increased by 11 percent over the same period.

Other crimes showed smaller declines. Aggravated assault and commercial theft decreased by 2% and 22%, respectively.

Atkins said 11 downtown businesses raised $150,000 in overtime pay for TEAM officials. Officials say they have burned about half of those funds since September.

There are eight officers downtown during peak hours, Friday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. They accept volunteers to work overtime without any problems.

Before TEAM was implemented, there were five homicides in the downtown area last year. Since then, there have been two.

“While these numbers are huge, we know there’s still a lot of work to be done,” APD Chief Harold Medina said at a downtown rooftop Wednesday afternoon. We will continue to work on the TEAM overtime concept to ensure we are putting resources in the right place and making individuals feel comfortable returning to downtown.