Bernalillo County court adds Friday docket for homeless-related citations
A new Friday docket will put nine homelessness-related citations on a set schedule and send flyers with Zoom details and defender contacts.
Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court will open a dedicated Friday docket on July 17 for nine Albuquerque Police Department citations tied to homelessness, giving defendants a set court date instead of leaving them to track down appearances on their own. The change is meant to cut missed hearings and reduce the bench warrants that can follow low-level misdemeanor cases.
Under the new process, the initial court date will be printed directly on the citation. Defendants will also receive a flyer with instructions for appearing in person or over Zoom, plus contact information for the New Mexico Law Offices of the Public Defender. Current hearings are available only for the present day and the next six days, making advance notice especially important for people who do not have stable mailing addresses or reliable phone service.
Service and treatment providers will be stationed outside Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court courtroom 320 every Friday. Presiding Criminal Division Judge Michelle Castillo Dowler is overseeing the effort from courtroom 520.
The court’s existing Outreach Court already brings together prosecutors, defense counsel and community providers to address outstanding legal obligations and connect unhoused and precariously housed people with services.
Albuquerque continues to see heavy citation activity tied to homelessness. In 2025, people were charged 1,256 times with obstructing sidewalks, more than 3,000 trespassing charges were issued and unlawful camping cases rose to 704 from 113 the year before. About 49% of people booked into the county jail were classified as homeless, and the jail population marked transient or homeless rose to 12,000 in 2025 from 3,670 in 2022.
Albuquerque police will begin scheduling Friday court appearances for the nine offenses on July 1, and the court’s weekly docket will follow.
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