Former Bernalillo County Sheriff Darren White was grilled on a range of issues by the Albuquerque City Council last night, before being confirmed as Albuquerque’s chief public safety officer. White was confirmed on an eight-to-one vote, with Councilor Rey Garduño dissenting.

Garduño questioned White extensively on his approach to crime, including the use of predictive modeling, which White had mentioned as one of the techniques he finds promising in police work. Garduño wanted to know how it relates to racial profiling.

“What concerns me…with predictive modeling [is the idea that] we can predict what a criminal looks like, what a criminal is, and what a criminal might do,” Garduño said, “and in fact…the literature I’ve read …predictive modeling leads to another area that I’m very concerned about, and that is profiling.”

White replied that he shared concerns about profiling, and had issued guidelines just before leaving the Sheriff’s job that prohibit racial profiling.

“I agree, there is no place for that in law enforcement,” he said. He later gave Garduño his word that racial profiling wouldn’t occur in the Albuquerque Police Department.

Councilor Ken Sanchez continued in that vein by asking White to explain his attitude about “undocumented foreign nationals.”

Sanchez read the APD policy that Mayor Richard Berry said during his campaign made Albuquerque a “sanctuary city,” and asked if it “stands” under White’s direction. Here is what the policy states:

“Officers shall not inquire about or seek proof of a person’s immigration status unless the person is in custody or is a suspect in a criminal investigation for a non-immigration criminal violation and the immigration status of the person or subject is pertinent to the criminal investigation.”

White said that it is currently being followed and that there would be discussions about how or whether it should be changed down the road.

In response to a question by Councilor Brad Winter, he also said he agreed with how the police department is currently operated.

Winter reminded him that Mayor Richard Berry ran on a platform that property crime was out of control, and asked him if he thought that was a problem and whether or not the police department had been tackling it correctly over the last couple of years.

Property crime is a very bad problem, White said, but the police department has taken “very pro-active steps” over the past couple years to tackle it.

White also answered a number of other questions, including police morale, and the red-light camera program. You can see that part of the city council meeting on Gov-TV, here. If you let it download completely, you can fast forward to White’s session with the council, which is a little over three hours into the meeting.