Residents of a previously serene Albuquerque neighborhood are criticizing city officials' response to the surge in crime allegedly related to renters that built an underground bunker.
The neighbors say there was a rise in stolen cars, stolen packages, and other nuisances after the newest renters moved in. Some of the incidents have been caught on video.
'There was concrete. There were bricks inside. It was pretty large. That was built into the backyard of the house that led into the joining arroyo."*
The Esquibels have been in the neighborhood for several years but noticed the change in the last years. "We moved here originally because we loved it." Alandra Esquibel said to KOAI-TV. We thought the location was great."
The couple caught one person urinating near their property through surveillance video.
"You could see them coming in with bags, thuggish and homeless people," Joshua Esquibel said.
Police records show that there were nearly 50 calls to the neighborhood in the last year before code enforcement discovered a tunnel leading to an underground bunker.
It was a large dug-in tunnel network. It had support structures," said Commander Chris Patterson of the Albuquerque Police Department. "There was concrete. There were bricks inside. It was pretty large. That was built into the backyard of the house that led into the joining arroyo."
"There's definitely some auto thefts that we've been able to track back to it, " Patterson continued. "Some property crimes, porch packages being stolen from porches, luggage items taken from people's cars, so some auto break-ins. And then obviously we think there's probably also a drug nexus as well."
Despite all of the incidents, the renters were allowed to stay in the home.
The Esquibels and others question why city officials haven't used a provision that allows them to condemn a property that has three criminal acts in the span of three months....
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* Arroyo is a Spanish word for Brook and refers to a dry creek, a gulch, or a stream bed that momentarily and occasionally fills up and flows when there is a heavy downpour. Arroyos experience flashfloods when there are thunderstorms. An Arroyo in Latin America may refer to a stream or a small river that could be flowing constantly without drying up. In North America and parts of Southwest Asia the Arabic term Wadi or rambla is used instead of Arroyo. Arroyos are an important source of water in the desert regions. In the US, the desert dry wash biome covers the Arroyos of the southwestern part of the country.