When I first heard about the sprawling corruption scandal that gutted the Albuquerque Police Department’s DWI unit in 2024, I, like a lot of people, assumed the specialized unit was finished. A decades-long bribery scheme involving nearly the entire squad, hundreds of dismissed cases, officers on the district attorney’s “Brady list” of untrustworthy cops, it seemed like the kind of institutional collapse you don’t recover from.
But, as a journalist, it’s my job to check. So imagine my surprise when APD’s latest numbers landed in my inbox this week.
Not only does APD still have a functioning DWI unit, but in 2025, with just four officers, they made more arrests than they did in 2024 when the scandal broke. Let that sink in: a skeleton crew working under the shadow of one of the worst corruption cases in department history somehow managed to be more effective than their predecessors.
In 2024, APD’s DWI unit started with seven officers, dropped to three, and limped to the finish line with four. They made 362 DWI arrests and conducted 20 checkpoints that yielded 55 arrests. Then in 2025, after losing two of their highest-producing officers to promotions, the remaining four officers made 395 arrests and ran 17 checkpoints that produced 59 arrests.
More arrests. Fewer checkpoints. Smaller team.
It was a quiet resurrection. While the city was still reeling from revelations about attorney Thomas Clear’s “DWI Enterprise,” where officers allegedly took bribes ranging from cash to hotel stays in exchange for tanking cases, a handful of cops were out there doing the job the right way.
As we reported, District Attorney Sam Bregman had to dismiss nearly 200 cases in February 2024 because the arresting officers’ credibility was shot. Another 144 pending cases were later dropped. Officers were fired, resigned, or barred from testifying in court. The internal affairs commander overseeing the investigation was himself terminated for dishonesty. Officials worried publicly about a “chilling effect” on DWI enforcement.
And yet, the arrests went back up in both the DWI Unit and for APD overall.
In a city that has grown weary of police scandals and dysfunction, this feels like something worth acknowledging. APD’s DWI unit didn’t just survive, it became more productive with fewer resources.
Of course, we should maintain some skepticism. Four officers making 395 arrests is impressive, but Metropolitan Court saw 2,404 total DWI filings in 2025, meaning the specialized unit accounted for only a fraction of the city’s DWI enforcement. Most DWI arrests still come from patrol officers encountering impaired drivers during routine calls. And we don’t yet know the conviction rate on these arrests.
Still, there’s something genuinely hopeful in watching an institution rebuild itself from rubble. The APD DWI unit of 2025 bears little resemblance to the corrupt enterprise that preceded it. Smaller, leaner, apparently cleaner, and doing more with less.