Veteran Albuquerque Officer, Union Official Fired

Albuquerque Journal — A longtime Albuquerque police officer who also served as secretary of the police union has been fired, officials said.

Deputy City Attorney Kathy Levy, who serves primarily as APD's lawyer, confirmed in a telephone interview that officer Dawne Roberto had been under investigation since March after a citizen filed a complaint against her, but she would not say specifically what Roberto was fired for.

The president of the police union, however, said in an interview Wednesday that it was her understanding that allegations Roberto violated the department's social media policy were among the reasons. The union has appealed the firing.

The Journal earlier this year obtained a copy of the citizen's complaint through the state Inspection of Public Records Act. The complainant's name was redacted, but the body of the complaint indicates that it was filed by the wife of an APD sergeant.

Among the allegations in the complaint was that Roberto had "for years" been involved with a website called "The Eye On Albuquerque," whose anonymous bloggers are hyper-critical of the city and police administrations, the Albuquerque Journal and others.

The complaint alleged that Roberto "has been running this blog for years and gets much of the information for their stories from work," according to the complaint, which states that Roberto was a personal friend of the sergeant's family. "She is and has been abusing her official capacity as a police officer to disseminate police information on a public blog site. I have seen her approve comments while logged onto the page with my very own eyes." continue reading...