A local business owner got a call about the break-in at 4 a.m. and said what was most frustrating was how long it took for police to respond.
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – A local business owner got a call about a break-in at 4 a.m. and says what was most frustrating was how long it took police to respond.
Ronnie Clark told KOB4 the amount of time it took officers to respond to the break-in call was unacceptably long.
“I think he was inside for about four or five minutes and the alarm was going off during that time. Our alarm company automatically calls the police, so I sat there at 5am and watched the security cameras for an hour and still no one there,” Subway owner Ronnie Clark said.
Clark, who owns 10 Subway restaurants in the area, lives in Farmington, and all he could do was watch and wait for police to arrive.
While he waited, two hours after the initial break-in, another man appeared on camera.
“A guy was walking past and saw it, saw there was broken glass so he went in and helped himself to some chips and a drink,” Mr Clarke said.
Clark calls 911 again.
“They’re saying it’s not really an emergency because there was no one in the store, but they saw someone in the store so they’re changing the status. Whatever they classify it as, they’re raising it to a higher level,” Clark said.
In 2023, APD boasted that it was improving its response times to 911 calls — on average, officers respond to non-emergency Category 3 and 4 calls within an hour — but Clark failed to meet that average response time.
“The police finally showed up at 8 a.m., so we went to the scene, but by that time we had to wait four hours,” Clark said.
Asked why it took so long, an APD spokesman said the department is still working to improve its response times, and that on the night of the break-in, APD officers were responding to multiple higher priority calls, including multiple shootings, a stabbing and a fatal car accident.
Why didn’t Albuquerque’s Department of Community Safety respond in a situation where a homeless person was breaking in and stealing food?
An ACS spokesperson said by phone Tuesday that APD responds first when someone commits a crime, such as trespassing on the subway, even in situations where it’s clear a person needs to be connected to community resources.
That doesn’t mean ACS won’t get involved, but it will have to wait until the criminal investigation is over.
If a defendant is released from jail, ACS steps in to identify how the city can help the defendant and ensure they don’t repeat crime in the future.
