EDITORIAL: Transparency good for all

We recently asked our readers on Facebook what they would like to see in Rio Rancho in 2024. One of the responses was, “More transparency from the Rio Rancho government agencies.”

We couldn’t agree more.

We have striven to have a good, working relationship with our government officials, and this editorial is not intended to be anything personal. But there are plenty of things we would like to see improved.

We have had talks and even requested that the city send us notifications in certain situations, such as when there is a murder, shots fired, a structure fire, a fatal accident and other situations largely involving public safety interests.

These are notices we routinely get from Albuquerque Police Department, Albuquerque Fire Rescue, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department and even the U.S. Marshals. It does not seem like it is too much to ask from our local agencies in Rio Rancho.

As it stands now, the process is quite convoluted and does not give us the information we are seeking in a timely manner. What typically happens is we see some chatter on a social media page or get an email tip from a reader. Sometimes they are found by going through jail inmate records. Then we reach out to the appropriate department, whether it be police, fire or another city department. More times than not, that involves filing an Inspection of Public Records Act request via the city’s online portal. Those can take days or even weeks to get back. There was even one we filed with the state that took six months to get back.

We understand, from the city’s perspective, that not all the information is immediately available, and there have been many times we have gotten basic information quickly. However, that has come as a result of a direct request for a specific incident rather than an unsolicited notification from the city.

We also feel dispersing the most basic information about an incident in the moment works in the city’s favor. It helps stop the rumor mill, or at least get it under control. Example: There was talk of a shooting at Walmart earlier this month. We asked about it immediately, but it took almost a week to get the incident report back from the city. While a gun was brandished in that incident, no shots were fired. But by the time we got the report, it was old news. It would have calmed the situation if we could have gotten that information the day of.

And, as the number pedestrian fatalities, both locally and statewide, have drawn concern, we got word of a third pedestrian fatality in about a month in Rio Rancho. When we asked police about that case, we were given a case number and told to file an IPRA. That incident happened on Nov. 27, and the deadline for the request got delayed by the city from Dec. 4 to Dec. 14.

Even if something is still under investigation, the public still has a right to know the basic details about an incident; in fact, the Foundation for Open Government (FOG) has said that denying information on the basis that something is still under investigation is not valid under the law.

Additionally, our regular requests for the police reports often take weeks to get back and sometimes get delayed even longer. While these reports might not have an immediate public safety impact, they are something our readers ask about when we don’t have it, so there is very clearly a large public interest.

We think such delays, while they may be technically allowable by law, violate the spirit of the law. Open government laws exist for a reason. Our public has a right to know what their publicly (taxpayer) funded departments are up to. In speaking with open records officials at the recent New Mexico Press Association Convention, they stressed that initial reports of an incident should be available immediately upon request.

We are working hard every day to keep our readers up to date on what is happening in Rio Rancho and its surrounding Sandoval County communities. It is hard to do our job properly when vital information is delayed. We hope our government officials take note and take action.