Belen police Facebook post on Chavez arrest draws mixed reaction
A Belen police Facebook post on Pete Chavez’s trafficking arrest was shared hundreds of times and split readers over its joking tone and professionalism.
A Belen Police Department Facebook post about Pete Chavez’s arrest for trafficking and a federal parole violation was shared hundreds of times and split readers over whether the department crossed into mockery.
Chief James Harris said the post was meant to bring humor to an arrest that weekend. “A lot of people thought it was funny, and it was intended to have some humor to it, but it’s using a little bit of humor to bring light to a very, very serious issue, and that very serious issue is the drugs and the drugs that are being dealt on our streets.”
Some readers saw an official law-enforcement account trying to connect with the public through blunt humor, while others saw a post that sounded too casual for an arrest announcement.
A federal court filing dated Sept. 1, 2023, placed Pete Pasqual Chavez in United States v. Chavez, CR 15-3557 JB, in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Mexico. A March 23, 2016, U.S. Department of Justice release named Pete Pasqual Chavez, then 36 and of Albuquerque, in a federal firearms case involving a felon in possession of a firearm and ammunition.
The Belen Police Department had used Facebook for arrest notices before. On Aug. 30, 2022, the department posted that two men had been arrested in separate cases and booked into the Valencia County Detention Center. The Chavez post mixed an arrest tied to trafficking and a parole violation with a joking tone.
This article was produced by Prism’s automated news system from verified source data, official records, and press releases, then run through automated quality and moderation checks before publishing. The system is built and supervised by the people who set the standards it runs under. Read our full AI policy.
Did this article answer your question?
