Belen City Council Unanimously Approves Andrew Rodriguez as New Police Chief

Thirteen months after Jose Natividad's resignation left Belen without a permanent police chief, the City Council voted unanimously April 9 to confirm Andrew Rodriguez, a career officer whose resume spans the Los Angeles Police Department, the Rio Rancho Police Department and, most recently, command of the Albuquerque Police Department's Real-Time Crime Center.

The vote closed a search that opened in March 2025, cycled through three separate application rounds and generated more than 30 résumés before Mayor Robert Noblin forwarded Rodriguez's name to the council. Noblin, who called public safety the "highest priority" for the governing body, told council members the selection was not made lightly.

Rodriguez's appointment gives Belen a chief with an unusual breadth of agency experience. He joined the Rio Rancho Police Department in October 2006 and advanced to deputy chief by March 2020, a rank he held until October 2023. He then moved to APD to run its Real-Time Crime Center, a unit that integrates surveillance data, interagency intelligence and real-time patrol coordination across one of the state's largest departments. Earlier in his career he spent 11 years with the LAPD. He holds bachelor's degrees in political science and history, and a master's in public administration from the University of New Mexico.

Rodriguez had been a finalist for the Santa Fe police chief position in 2022 and applied for the top job at APD earlier this year before the Belen opportunity materialized. He told the council he did not take the decision to accept the role lightly, citing a long career and a sustained goal of leading an agency.

During the session, Noblin also publicly thanked interim Chief Adam Keck, who managed the department through the 13-month transition after Natividad's departure.

What Rodriguez does in his first 90 days will set the tone for a department that absorbed more than a year of leadership instability. His Real-Time Crime Center background positions him to pursue data-driven patrol scheduling and tighter coordination with the Valencia County Sheriff's Office and state police. The council will be tracking early decisions on staffing levels, response times, DWI enforcement and school-zone safety as the clearest indicators of whether an extended, three-cycle search finally produced the stability the Hub City's police department needs.