Mayoral candidates tackle gang issue

gangs and crime are in the spotlight in the three-way race for mayor of albuquerque. stuart dyson...  More »

gangs and crime are in the spotlight in the three-way race for mayor of albuquerque. stuart dyson is back from the minute thumbnail 05:08 pm campaign trail where the candidates are talking law and order. stu? reality check - good - nobody's in denial about albuquerque's gang problem - big and getting worse - the best way to tackle it is where these three differ. albuquerque cops will tell you there's about a hundred gangs operating in the city these days - some big - some small - all of them involved in crime to some degree - some cops say gangsters are responsible for maybe half the crimes committed here. former state senate leader richard romero says put more police on it. " immediate increase in the gang unit from 4 to 20 officers - where we were at years ago - also i think we need to assess whether our technology - the equipment we have - is up to snuff - up to par." earlier in the campaign somebody stole candidate richard "rj" berry's truck and torched it - now the state lawmaker says the city's priorities are out of whack. " what you don't do is you don't cut youth gang prevention programs like they did in this year's city budget - we get those dollars restored - we make sure kids have good opportunities - if we don't give kids good opportunities they're gonna find bad opportunities." martin minute thumbnail 05:09 pm chavez - looking for a fourth term as mayor - says repeat offenders are the problem - whether they're in gangs or not. " if we just get 'em off the streets you'd see dramatic reductions in - for example - residential streets you'd see dramatic reductions in - for example - residential burglaries - when you have some of these folks that are active burglars they're working 3 or 4 burglaries a day - so you just take one of 'em out and you've solved a whole lot of burglaries." all three candidates agree - the next mayor will need some help from the legislature - as in tougher penalties for gang crimes - back to you  « Less