The Albuquerque Journal — the state’s largest daily newspaper — is about to absorb some major losses, NMI has learned.

According to sources in the news room, the Journal’s politics reporter — Jeff Jones — has announced he’s resigning. And get this: Jones, among the most professional and hard-working of Journal beat reporters, will be leaving journalism to be a police officer.

Prior to joining the state desk, Jones worked as the paper’s intrepid crime and cops reporter — so in a way, Jones is going back to his roots.

No word on which local badge Jones will be wearing.

Also, the Journal’s editorial page editor, Steve Mills, is apparently set to retire in June. Ditto for Bruce Daniels, a longtime presence on the aforementioned state desk and, recently, lead author of the ABQNews Seeker blog.

In another loss for the editorial page, editorial writer Tom Harmon — another veteran of multiple desks at the newspaper — is also retiring for good.

These are all big losses for the Journal. It will be more than interesting to see how the editorial page, in particular, is reconstituted, as well as who inherits the politics beat from Jones.

Stay tuned.