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APD Officer Resignation Statement

Officer Joshua Montano submits this written statement in response to a Pre-Determination Hearing Notice from Police Reform Superintendent Eric Garcia. Montano details his nearly 19-year career with the Albuquerque Police Department, including being severely injured in a 2022 collision and finding support from colleagues in the DWI Unit during his recovery. However, Montano claims the investigations into him and others in the DWI Unit have been unfair, with outcomes already predetermined by Chief Medina. As a result, Montano resigns from APD while maintaining he did not act alone and that supervisors had knowledge of their actions.

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Fallon Fischer
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13K views1 page

APD Officer Resignation Statement

Officer Joshua Montano submits this written statement in response to a Pre-Determination Hearing Notice from Police Reform Superintendent Eric Garcia. Montano details his nearly 19-year career with the Albuquerque Police Department, including being severely injured in a 2022 collision and finding support from colleagues in the DWI Unit during his recovery. However, Montano claims the investigations into him and others in the DWI Unit have been unfair, with outcomes already predetermined by Chief Medina. As a result, Montano resigns from APD while maintaining he did not act alone and that supervisors had knowledge of their actions.

Uploaded by

Fallon Fischer
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We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Date: March 20, 2024

From: Joshua Montano


To: Eric Garcia, Police Reform Superintendent
RE: PDH Written Statement for March 4, 2024, PDH Letter

Dear Mr. Garcia:

Please accept this letter as my written statement to provide information as requested in your March 4, 2024, Pre-
Determination Hearing Notice.

I have served the citizens of the City of Albuquerque beginning in 2005 as a Police Service Aide. I became an APD officer
in 2007. I fell in love with this department at the young age of 18. It was the best and most accomplishing thing I had done
in my life. There aren’t enough words to describe all of the great and amazing things I have been able to provide to the
citizens of this city over the course of my career. During my time as an Officer, I have risked my life on numerous
occasions for the safety of others, just like all of the great officers on this department. In 2022 I was nearly killed when I
was struck and severely injured by a reckless driver who was impaired by alcohol. It was one of the most difficult
challenges of my life and career. All glory to God that I recovered from my injuries and was cleared to come back to
work. Yet, I know nothing other than law enforcement and love being a police officer. As you know from your time with
APD, police officers get to see the worst of people day after day but every now and then, we get to the see the best of
people as well and that makes it easy to gear up and report to work each day.

Unfortunately, following that collision while I was injured and suffering not just from physical pain and anguish, I found
myself all but abandoned by the department. I say “all but” because I did find comfort and support from my colleagues in
APD’s DWI Unit. They were my family because they cared for me when others didn’t and they supported me when others
wouldn’t. However, that support came with a high price and on January 18, 2024, I found out what the cost of that support
really meant.

When I was put on administrative leave, I thought there would be an opportunity for me to talk to the department about
what I knew regarding the FBI’s investigation. I thought there would be a time where I could disclose what I knew from
within APD and how the issues I let myself get caught up in within the DWI Unit were generational. I thought there would
be a time where I could talk about all the other people who should be on administrative leave as well, but aren’t.

That opportunity was denied to me though. As I know my lawyer has explained in all his letters to the City, in order for
me to talk to the City about what I knew, I needed to not be the City’s scapegoat for its own failures. Instead, Chief
Medina has made it seem like there are just a few bad officers acting on their own. This is far from the truth. None of
allegations against myself or others in the DWI Unit happened without supervisory knowledge. And they didn’t just
happen over a few years ago. From my time as a P2/C, officers all know that our attendance, or non-attendance, at Court
is watched over and monitored.

I take responsibility for my actions. However, APD’s investigations of me have been unfair, and because of Chief
Medina’s public statements, the outcome of these investigations is already set. Therefore, I have no choice but to hereby
resign from my position with APD. As I mentioned at the beginning of this letter, I fell in love with this department nearly
19 years ago and this is such a difficult moment for me. I do not waive any of my earned and accrued sick, vacation, or
comp time and respectfully request that I be out-processed as any other employee would be upon resigning from the
department.

Respectfully,

Joshua Montano, Officer

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