Amy Dudewicz

Sergeant Amy Dudewicz has worked for the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office since January 2002, and has dedicated more than 11 of her 16 years of service to the Crimes Against Children (CACU) and the Special Victims (SVU) units. During her career, Sgt. Dudewicz has implemented several programs and fostered partnerships with other agencies to provide advocacy and justice for victims of sex crimes. 

In 2006, shortly after joining the CACU, she realized investigating crimes against children was strictly reactive, so she proactively helped to implement the Operation Safe Child program. Using a referral system through the New Mexico Children Youth and Families Department (CYFD), personnel make contact with high-risk families and assist them in obtaining services and resources to prevent further family deterioration. 

Since becoming the SVU supervisor in May 2013, Sgt. Dudewicz has continued expanding Operation Safe Child to include other county and state entities, nonprofit organizations, and law enforcement agencies. Under her leadership, the program sorts through about 150 referrals per month. Using a database, the referrals are assigned to detectives for a face-to-face home visit. Sgt. Dudewicz has also implemented a ride-along program within Operation Safe Child, using CYFD staff, Bernalillo County social workers, and a nonprofit agency that are “adopting” families to provide mentoring and resources. This program has been highly successful in assisting families and keeping them out of the judicial system. 

Recently, Sgt. Dudewicz has been working with the Albuquerque Police Department to implement a similar program. Other state officials and the New Mexico State Police have also requested guidance from Sgt. Dudewicz as they explore creating a task force using this proactive approach to deter familial crimes against children. 

Sgt. Dudewicz also sees the benefits of connecting victims to valuable services, and has dedicated an SVU detective, a civilian staff member, and a cold case investigator to establish contact with victims, connect them to resources, and follow up on investigative leads, in order to present the cases to the district attorney’s office for adjudication.