ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- The city of Albuquerque, N.M., has reached a tentative agreement with the New Mexico Petroleum Marketers Association and the convenience store industry to raise security levels for 17 c-stores cited by the city as hot crime spots, said the New Mexico Business Weekly.
The agreement comes as City Councilor Martin Heinrich was considering pushing forward legislation of his own that would have imposed stricter security requirements on c-stores, according to the report.
The agreement calls for the implementation [image-nocss] of armed security guards at the entrances of all 17 c-stores. The store owners would be responsible for paying for the service, the report said.
Heinrich called the tentative agreement the result of successful negotiations between the city and the c-store industry. "At the time [of this legislation], I felt there were serious problems and they weren't being acknowledged or addressed by the industry and right now they are," Heinrich told the newspaper. "The more security presence you have at one of these stores, the more proactively it reduces the number of criminals who want to hang out there."
According to Heinrich, c-store management has the option of hiring a private security firm or using the Albuquerque Police Department's (APD) Chief's Overtime Program, a program that allows businesses to pay APD officers for overtime security detail work.
He said that despite the cost burden for the extra security, it will provide relief to APD, which receives hundreds of service calls from these stores every year. "Every time you get a call for service from APD, and they come out and write a report, you're talking a minimum of $50 worth of expense, depending on the crime," Heinrich said. "Thousands of calls were made by [the] 17 stores. The most severe store in my district over a two-and-a-half year period had 700 service calls."
Heinrich said the next step is for each c-store to sign off on the agreement, and then it will go before Mayor Martin Chavez. Heinrich added that he hopes to have agreements in place and implement the full security changes by November.
Ruben Baca, state executive for the NMPMA, told CSP Daily News, "We have been working through the association with Councilor Heinrich and the City of Albuquerque to come to an agreement as far as security and calls of service to convenience stores.We have come to an agreement through a Memorandum of Understanding that addresses only 17 stores out of hundreds in the city limits.We will have roving security guards at these 17 stores and have formed a task force that will work with the City to address any other problems that may arise.I can only say that this is a genuine effort by the industry to try and address problem stores in problem neighborhoods.We may be able to increase security, increase lighting and attempt to assist the Albuquerque Police Department at these stores, but the one thing we cannot change is these neighborhoods and their crime problems.That has to be an effort that is addressed by the City and neighborhood associations with assistance as best possible from the business community.I can tell you that this problem is like fumigating your house for cockroaches, all that happens is the cockroaches move and go to your neighbor."Members help make our journalism possible. Become a CSP member today and unlock exclusive benefits, including unlimited access to all of our content. Sign up here.