Like me, many of you have been the victim of burglaries or a crime. We react with anger and fear. FWNA wants you to become engaged to change the narrative by being an actively engaged citizen. Get to know and enjoy your neighbors, watching out for one another. And support those who are tasked with our protection. Only we can make the neighborhood and the city a better place to live.

There are so many ways to get involved. Of course, the first we recommend is to become an active member of the neighborhood association. Go to abqfairwest.org and sign up so that you are informed about what our great neighborhood has to offer.

Sign up for the Citizen’s Police Academy, CPA, a twelve-week program that meets two days a week. The course is designed to teach citizens the philosophy, policies, guiding principles, ethical practice, procedures of our of law enforcement. Also, you will get to know the people that make up the various units that protect our city.

This program will give you a real appreciation for our men and women in the police force. Graduation this session is November 19th, after which participants (including our FWNA President, Katherine Turner) are given the opportunity to complete a ride-along during a full shift. Katherine is hoping to ride along with our local officers in the Southeast Area Command, under Commander Johnny Yara and Lieutenant Rene Barraza, whom she met at the National Coffee with a Cop on October 2nd at Kap’s Coffee House on Central.

Mayor Tim Keller cuts the cake Kaps provided to celebrate our men in blue. Officer Steve Weinstein is in the back, waiting for his slice. I get to have a picture with Commander Johnny Yara, Dennis Torres, Lieutenant Rene Barraza.

Another opportunity to take advantage of is Neighborhood Watch. Many of you are members of this crime prevention program. This program is organized in a block-by-block basis. We would like to see the majority, if not all, of our blocks have Block Captains. If you contact Laura Kuehn, the Crime Prevention/Crime Free Programs coordinator, she will send you a packet to get started. Her phone number is 505-768-2006, or you can email her LKuehn@cabq.gov. Katherine Turner also has the information and can send it to you if you contact her, 505-818-8859 or abqfairwestpresident@gmail.com.

If you schedule a meeting with the Crime Prevention team, Katherine would love to attend your meeting. If you are already a Block Captain, please send your name and block area to abqfairwestpresident@gmail.com so we can thank you for your service to our community. Laura Kuehn also has many other crime prevention programs such as Fraud and Con Game Prevention, Children’s Crime Prevention Program, and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED), just to name a few. Check out the list of services at https://www.cabq.gov/police/crime-prevention-safety.

Lastly, do you know about the Community Policing Council? This wonderfully important organization is helping to foster better policing, community practices and relationships with our Police department. “The goal of each Community Policing Council is to engage in candid, detailed, and meaningful dialogue between Albuquerque Police and the citizens they serve. Councils are independent of the City and Department. They are encouraged to formally recommend changes to Albuquerque Police Department policies and procedures. They are also asked to make recommendations and identify concerns, problems, successes, and opportunities within each area command and for the department as a whole.”

The next meeting on October 17th from 6pm to 8pm at the Cesar Chavez Community Center 7505 Kathryn SE because of my CPA course with APS. I encourage you to join them.