Who will be Bernalillo County's Next Sheriff?
By: ABQRAW staff editorial poll
Posted: 11/6/2022 @ 6:00PM
We are primarily a crime based news source and so it is with great anticipation that we wait to see who will be our next elected Sheriff of Bernalillo County. Albuquerque, as you know, falls entirely within Bernalillo County and there are several neighborhoods within Albuquerque which are patrolled by the Bernalillo County Sheriffs Office.
For all intents and purposes there are two leading candidates for sheriff in this election. They are (R) Paul Pacheco and (D) John Allen. There is also a libertarian candidate named Kaelan Ashby Dreyer.
Both candidates are former law enforcement officers – Allen retired from the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office after a controversial time with the NM State Police and Pacheco retired from the Albuquerque Police Department after 27 years. Both men were born and raised in the city of Albuquerque.
Pacheco’s campaign learned about a controversial history Allen had while with NMSP where he committed perjury and they have been running a TV ad calling Allen a “dirty cop” because he was sued for an unlawful search while Allen was employed as a New Mexico State Police officer in the late 1990s. That case settled with the driver he stopped for $30,000. Allen went on record about the incident saying he had received verbal consent to search the car but not a toolbox attached to the bed of the truck where drugs were ultimately found. Allen admitted that he should have communicated more clearly with other officers and further reviewed evidence before court. Pacheco also mentions a "timesheet fraud" investigation while Allen was with BCSO but no records could be found about that case.
John Allen’s campaign said Pacheco is pronounced like “Pinocchio” – because he is a liar and as proof he points to a column in the Santa Fe New Mexican that mentions in Pacheco's latest ads he has changed the pronunciation of his name from "Puh-CHEE-co" to "Puh-CHECK-o".
Pacheco has told us over the years that he has Portuguese and Spanish genes and the pronunciation on the east coast where his family is from, is "Puh-CHEE-co" He said he told us that he made a promise to his mother on her deathbed that he would carry on the east coast pronounciation of "Puh-CHEE-co". Pacheco told us at an event recently he does use the “Puh-CHECK-o” pronunciation from time to time as to not offend people.
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John Allen for his part has aligned himself with Melanie Stansbury, Senator Ortiz Y Pino, and other anti police officials. Stansbury is on record supporting the George Floyd Breathe act and Mayor Keller has held fund raisers for Allen. Keller is a fan of abolishing ICE who the sheriff would ultimately need to work with. So even tho Allen may not claim to be anti police he has aligned himself with people who feel different and may owe them if elected.
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Picture from Facebook people for Paul page
Pacheco has gone on to tout his 27 years with APD as an Officer and Detective of the year, and also his time with corrections and as a representative for the west side. Pacheco has received endorsements from The Albuquerque Journal, the Albuquerque Police Officers Association, the Fraternal Order of Police, and several high ranking retired members of the BCSO, Retired APD chief Mike Geier and even a couple sitting city councilors.
Kaelan Dreyer, who has no law enforcement experience is running as a self-described protest candidate. He seems to be more popular among Democrats and activists than among Republicans
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