National Guard Patrols ABQ’s War Zone

Albuquerque –

On June 9th, 2025, we once again got to see the New Mexico National Guard in action. This time we observed them helping set up a perimeter for the Albuquerque Police Department.

We first observed the Guard units helping with several perimeter posts for the Pride Parade this past weekend.

The call they were assisting with today was a barricaded subject in an apartment building near the 530 block of Ortiz Dr. SE. A truck with the State of New Mexico seal rolled up, they turned on their flashers and National Guard members stepped out and took their post.

One soldier put a large cone on the sidewalk. The National Guard soldiers wear cargo pants, a black polo with patches, a protective vest that says CERT on the back of it, a police radio, and a body camera.

We reached out to the New Mexico National Guard public information officer asking if the vehicles will be outfitted to have more visible lights to warn drivers and pedestrians of the National Guard units being stationed on street corners. We have not heard back from them but will update the story if they do.

They did not put up crime scene tape and stood on the corner and advised foot traffic they could not go southbound on Ortiz. Some citizens were confused by the presence of State of New Mexico vehicles and the unidentifiable personnel in the streets.

The barricaded man was eventually taken into custody without incident. Soon after, the National Guard members were relieved of their post. They were then sent to go help out in other incidents in and around the War Zone of Albuquerque.

UPDATE:

New Mexico National Guard Public Affairs Director Hank Minitrez reached out to use on our questions via e-mail.

He responded to our emergency light question:

Yes, the emergency lights are being worked and will happen.

Minitrez also shared the role the Guard is doing:

The Guardsmen are working standard 12 hour shifts in these areas:

•              Prisoner Transport Unit: Administrative intake of prisoners, to include property booking and paperwork, at the downtown Prisoner Transport Center.

•              Field Ops: Traffic control, running paperwork, outer perimeter security for major crime scenes & critical incidents.  

•              Real Time Crime Center: Drone launch & recovery, drone footage exploitation, license plate reader tracking, traffic camera tracking, shot spotter tracking. Fusing all-source crime data for dissemination to field units.