There’s a dark secret behind The Land of Enchantment’s veneer of geological wonders, painted skies, and unique foods. 

New Mexico routinely and unashamedly offers far more detestable qualities. 

With Albuquerque being the most populous metropolitan areas in the state (~560k population), the city was recently awarded the distinguished honor of being one of the top 50 rattiest cities in the country (KOAT, May 5, 2021). 

In this instance the article is referring to the four-legged vermin; however, the rat metaphor fits perfectly when characterizing the rampant domestic violence (10–15) issues in the Albuquerque area. 

Looking at a snapshot of the first six days in May 2021, 125 individuals were arrested and booked into Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC). Of those, 47 were violent offenders (26 were arrested for blanket violent offenses such as battery or assault, and 21 were arrested with explicit charges of battery against a household member or false imprisonment). 

This puts violent offenses at roughly 38% of all arrestable offenses, domestic violence at roughly 17% of all arrestable offenses, and out of all of the violent offenses (47 incidents) domestic violence accounts for roughly 45%.

Those who listen to the police scanner with any regularity are aware that one of the most prominent call outs are 10–15 domestic violence related incidents. 

The scanner is probably the best rebuttal to the absence of news regarding crime. The large media entities that serve the metropolitan area tend to curate their coverage of events in a way that highlights the good aspects of Albuquerque; however, they rarely cover criminal activity that is not egregious, such as a homicide or a school lock down. 

The day-to-day violence that impacts our communities often goes under reported and under acknowledged by the population at large. 

This is what creates the logical binary seen in the comments of most social media platforms when people defend the status quo. 

“Every state has problems!”

“If you don’t like it here, you are free to leave!” 

We have all seen these, and certainly more abrasive tropes that ultimately minimize the trauma experienced by victims of violence. 

Combating this narrative requires individuals to arm themselves with more information. Encourage your peers to listen to the radio traffic of first responders and judge for themselves what crimes are occurring, and with what frequency.

Arming oneself with this information will help to minimize the current issue where domestic violence (10–15) has become normalized (10–4) in our daily lives. 

Most importantly, if there is ever any suspected household violence in your neighborhood or home, do not hesitate to reach out to local resources. 

Exposing New Mexico’s dark side will require a community effort, and a unified response, but the result of less household violence is more than worth it. 

Scan On!