New State Ban on Red Light Camera's Could Doom Santa Fe Program

Today The State Transportation Commission banned red light camera's and speed vans on state or federal roads. All communities with red-light cameras installed on state or federal roads have 60 days to remove them. A policy which was approved during a meeting held in Clovis outlined the ban. According to a story at cnjonline.com Santa Fe Police Department’s Capt. Anthony Robbins argued in favor of red-light cameras, citing statistics showing a more than 50 percent drop in red-light and speed violations at lights where cameras are installed. He also said the severity of crashes at those intersections is changing because of the cameras.

I am unsure of where those statistics came from because Santa Fe has not yet installed the camera's that were approved over 1 year ago. In February of this year the Santa Fe New Mexican reported that installation of the red light camera's were on hold pending state approval. All four cameras that were to be installed in Santa Fe were to be on four Cerrillos Road intersections — at St. Francis Drive, St. Michael's Drive, Richards Avenue and Zafarano Drive. Cerrillos Road is a State Highway and under the new ban all four of these intersections will be unable to have red light camera's installed. The speed van currently in use by the city of Santa Fe would also be banned from use on state or federal roads. This could doom Santa Fe's red light camera program . Redflex, the company the city is contracting with to install the camera's and run the program provides the equipment in exchange for a lease fee and a cut of the fines and administration fees to run the program. They require high traffic areas for the camera's in order to ensure the volume needed to provide adequate profit margins for the program.

Readers of my blog know I am not in favor of the types of red light programs being used by municipalities and the company redflex. State law requires citations to be given by a uniformed certified officer who must witness the infraction. The only exception is in the case of an accident when the officer can rely on evidence at the scene and witness statements to issue the citations. So how do New Mexico cities use red light camera's to issue citations? They do this through a civil action.

The citations issued are civil summons issued by the city. The only cause of action if you do not pay the citation is for the city to take civil action and boot your vehicle under civil forfeiture ordinances until you pay. If you do pay the citation then the only penalty is the cash you send to the city. No matter how many citations you get for running red lights by the cameras you will not receive points on your M.V.D. records. Your insurance companies will not know you even received a citation. The penalty is cash and or impoundment. The city saves on storage fees by impounding your car in your own driveway by booting the vehicle.

Because it is a civil action your only recourse if you want to dispute a ticket is to appeal the ticket to a hearing officer hired by the city to hear the appeals. The hearing officer only judges whether or not you ran the light not extenuating circumstances like a judge would. So lets say a car is skidding into your rear end at a light you have already stopped at or are slowing to a stop. Your only choice is to step on the gas and continue through the intersection or get rear ended. You step on the gas and avoid the accident but the camera snaps your picture and you get a ticket. The hearing officer will not take the circumstances into account only whether or not the photo adequately shows evidence that you did or did not run the light.

A judge can take all factors into consideration and make a ruling. Now cities and redflex do not want these tickets going to a judge because judges tend to take plea agreements and dismiss tickets more often than a hearing officer would. Thereby reducing dramatically the revenue from red light tickets. And of course because of state law which says that an officer must witness the infraction any judge who gets a red light camera case would be obligated to throw the case out. I have always said that if red light camera's were legitimized by state law and offenders could go before a judge and plead their case I would be more amenable to the program. Although I still think the jury is out on whether red light camera's actually work to reduce accidents and save lives or if their only good for raising revenue. As of February the city of Santa Fe has issued $170,000 worth of speeding tickets from the speed van. A big chunk of that money goes to redflex and the rest is split between the city and the state. What has yet to be determined is whether redflex will be interested in putting camera's on smaller city roads as both Cerrillos Road and St Francis Drive are state roadways. I applaud the decision of the State Transportation Commission.

For lots more on Red Light Camera's click Here.

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Op-Ed on Political Scare Tactics

Following the below posted Press Release by Mayoral Candidate and Republican Asenath Kepler is an Op-Ed piece I wrote and was published in both the Albuquerque Journal North (subscription may be required) and the Santa Fe New Mexican (interesting comments). While my support and endorsement of Mayor Coss has been announced, I still feel that the true premise of my Op-Ed is about the poor use of scare tactics and not just the fact I am supporting Mayor Coss. These scare tactics are also being used by Kepler and her supporters on other issues as well, including Annexation.


KEPLER PRESS RELEASE
_______________________________________________

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Mary Ann Crenshaw & Associates

505-982-8008

MAYORAL CANDIDATE ASENATH KEPLER TARGETS CRIME AS TOP PRIORITY and outlines her plan for reducing staggering statistics

Two well-known jewelry stores robbed in mid-afternoon in the heart of Santa Fe’s Plaza. A child’s purse snatched in her own Don Gaspar driveway, her grandfather beaten as he tried to intervene. An elderly man walking his dog in the Guadalupe Historic District pistol-whipped because he had no cash. A prominent downtown business owner murdered at 8 pm on the first night of Fiestas. A man robbed and shot on a popular recreation trail. A late afternoon armed push-in on one of Santa Fe’s busiest thoroughfares. These are just a few of the many recent incidents that make crime Asenath Kepler’s top priority.

“This isn’t the Santa Fe I’ve known for over than fifty years,” says Mayoral Candidate Asenath Kepler,”and this frightening rise in crime is completely unacceptable! We’re not only going to lose the downtown merchants but visitors and residents as well”

Kepler points to a staggering rise in statistics: robberies, auto burglaries and thefts and residential burglaries all up from the 2008 figures. “People -- particularly the elderly and those who live alone -- are afraid to leave their houses after dark, even in the most central neighborhoods,” she says. “I hear the concerns every day as I campaign.”

The problem, she maintains, is the lack of police presence, a direct result of fiscal irresponsibility at the city level. “We’re down by 40 police offers,” she says, “and if we don’t act now,” she says, “I fear a major downtown incident that may set us back by years. Our city’s residential and commercial burglary rate is fourth per capita in the nation. We don’t want to wait until we’re number-one before the mayor takes action!”

Her solution: Re-allocate resources to provide increased police protection for residents and visitors alike. Kepler plans to do that with:

• Increased and highly visible police presence in our neighborhoods and downtown Santa Fe. Kepler would work with downtown merchants to create substations in the Plaza and other downtown neighborhoods, to be manned by both police officers and public safety assistants.

• An immediate and complete audit of all city functions, seeking adjustments of programs and services as well as staff reassignments that would provide enough savings for this increased police protection.

• Public safety vacancy allocations. Under the current system, city employees who retire with accrued sick and vacation days are left on the books until their sick and vacation leave is paid out, a process that can take up to two years. Consequently, the vacancy is not filled until that time. Under Kepler’s plan, fiscal reorganization will provide a budgetary fund that would apportion departmental projects that would allow the police department to fill vacancies immediately.

• Community roundtables and neighborhood forums that would allow residents to vent their frustrations, express their concerns and participate in the solutions. Kepler would work with schools to develop neighborhood centers and increase neighborhood watch groups, with PSAs assigned to assist each group.

“Crime affects the entire community,” Kepler maintains. “Without a stop to this out-of-control crime spree we cannot hope to attract more business, more tourists or more residents. We need to make Santa Fe once again the safe, secure and neighborly city that has been its image for the past 400 years.”

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My Op-Ed Response.

Inflated Crime Stats Serve Candidate's Scare Tactics.

Crime is often used as a political weapon during elections. I found mayoral candidate Asenath Kepler's "crime plan" press release disturbing in that it picks out certain incidents over the last year and attempts to scare residents into voting for her.

Many of her ideas were tried and failed during the times when Debbie Jaramillo was mayor and Chief Donald Grady was running the police department.

Substations sound good to residents because they think that an officer will be sitting in a substation waiting for a phone to ring and then they will rush out to a crime just blocks away. Manned substations take officers who could be out on the streets doing preventative patrolling, catching speeders, looking for burglars and being a presence in the community and put them behind a desk.

It was tried in Albuquerque and Santa Fe and was a complete failure. You can see remnants of the old substations at Frenchy's Park, the downtown Public Library and on Alameda Street. The city police and the county sheriff's office along with state police and other agencies have a successful joint burglary task force which is working to bring down burglaries and property crimes with success.

Property crimes are on the rise throughout the nation, and New Mexico and Santa Fe is not immune. However, by creating a false reputation of Santa Fe as a high-crime city, this candidate's political scare tactics are hurting all of us. This could further damage our already lower tourist and travel industry, which is reeling from the economic downturn as a whole.

I have been impressed by Mayor Coss' ability to increase police officers in the city police force from 124 to 154 officers over the last four years. This increase in the number of police officers on the streets is greater than under any other mayor in Santa Fe's history. When you pull out the mostly economy-driven property crimes in Santa Fe, you will find that violent crime, sex crimes, and overall crime are at their lowest levels in eight years.

There is always more that we in law enforcement can do, but we must be very suspicious of candidates who try and scare up votes rather than earn them.

Greg Solano is the sheriff of Santa Fe County.


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Bad Cops, Bad Union Leaders.

A horrible video has popped up in the Santa Fe and New Mexico news media. Every profession has its share of bad people. There are doctors who rape people while they are under anesthesia. There are lawyers who steal peoples life earnings, teachers who take advantage sexually of the students whose lives are entrusted to them, and even priests who abuse children sexually. There are bad people in my chosen profession also. Yes there are bad cops, cops who make all the rest of us look bad.




Every day there are thousands of cops who do the right thing and they will never make the headlines with as big of a splash or stay in the headlines as long as the ones who do bad. Unfortunately there are two ways a cop makes the headlines for more than a day. When they are a bad cop and when they die in the line of duty.

The current case is now becoming a part of the political scene. A local race for mayor is being thrust into the police abuse that occurred in 2007. Usually the incumbent mayor is saddled with the burden of anything an officer does under his watch, even though the mayor really does not have any direct oversight of the individual officers. In this race the shoe is on the other foot. The leading opponent of Mayor David Coss has aligned herself with the police and fire unions. Asenath Kepler initially garnered the police union endorsement after deep divides in the police union allowed Allen Lopez to become president and Adam Gallegos to become Vice President. I know both officers well, I was Allen's training officer in 1989 or 1990 when he was a young rookie and Adam worked for the Sheriff's Office before his discontent and anti management views drove him to leave and go work for the City Police. I thought that Adam would start over at the city and leave his discontent behind but from all indications he has transferred that discontent to a new police administration. It is unfortunately also my understanding that Allen Lopez has joined the ranks of the malcontent as well.

At the Santa Fe City Police the union has a history of electing those who are most vocal against the administration or those who have an axe to grind. This is unfortunate since the growth and success of the police department is dependent upon good management/union relations. What union members there have not yet figured out is that smart effective union leaders are better for the union as a whole than angry ineffective leaders. It is worse when those leaders are facing disciplinary actions themselves or have had a troubled past. The Santa Fe Police Officers Association (the union) is a chapter of the Fraternal Order of Police. I have great respect and admiration for the Fraternal Order of Police as I was the former local Vice-President of the F.O.P. and former union president of the P.O.A. . However locally the F.O.P. and P.O.A. have become wayward children of the National Organization. The Santa Fe F.O.P. is near bankruptcy and the P.O.A. is in shambles.

On top of all that we come back to the incident I started this blog post with. The reprehensible beating of the 17 year old suspect who was in handcuffs at the time is embarrassing to watch and there is no way to justify what happened on that day. Yet Sergeant Allen Lopez the police president continues to give statements to the media that these officers, two of whom were fired, should have kept their jobs. There is statements from the mayor that the police union pressured him to intervene in the firings and indications that the reasons the police union did not endorse Mayor Coss was because the mayor refused to intervene. In another city police disciplinary described in a story in the Santa Fe Reporter an officers testimony about an incident was proven to be false in audio recordings and he was fired. The mayor was also asked to intervene and again the police union president was claiming termination was too harsh. An officers word means everything in court and when you are caught in a lie your career is over. As a former City Police Union President I can say it was unethical and outside of the provisions of the Union Contract to ask the mayor to intervene in these disciplinary actions. I give big kudos to Mayor Coss for not allowing politics and union pressure to enter in to what was the right thing to do.

When a union president allows himself to be portrayed in the media as defending bad officers their credibility in the public becomes unreliable and their influence on the public for political endorsements and asking for the public's help when it is time for raises and other needs becomes diminished. As a former union president I can say that the union has a responsibility to assist its members through the disciplinary process and support them to a conclusion. They need to balance that responsibility with their responsibility to provide effective leadership to the rest of the union members as well and allowing the union to look foolish in the media and the public eye does not further their cause. Yes there are bad cops and the rest of us in law enforcement must speak out the loudest when we see them disrespect the profession we all love. Only then will the public believe that we are not all the same.

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City of Santa Fe Candidate Forum

Tonight I attended the Santa Fe Police, Fire and AFSCME forum for the City Council and Mayor candidates. I was interested for several reasons but primarily because the forum would be to address public safety issues. I also have some lingering interest in the city police having started my police career at the city and being a former president of the Santa Fe Police Officers Association which is the city police union and one of the sponsors of the forum.

The questions asked were remarkably similar to the forum I attended in 2006 when the same unions held a forum for city council and mayor candidates at the Fraternal Order of Police Lodge#3. The questions focused on the annexation, paying for public safety, the economy, and union/management relations.

The format of the forum led to a long and tenuous forum to sit through. Because there were three mayor candidates and seven council candidates, two running unopposed. For anyone else out there looking at putting on forums I suggest separating the mayor and council candidates into two forums and leaving out the candidates running unopposed. The forum started about 6:45 and ended about 10:15pm. With all the candidates they only had time to answer 7 prepared questions and they each had a short introduction and a short time at the end to give a final speech. I counted one hundred and twenty people at the beginning but by 9:40 the crowd thinned down to seventy.

Many notables were in the crowd including Police Chief Aric Wheeler, Deputy Chief Robin Contreras, City Fire Chief Barbara Salas, New City Attorney appointee Geno Zamora, District Judge Michael Vigil and his wife, County Commission Candidate Angelica Ruiz, Magistrate Judge David Segura, Congressional Candidate Adam Kokesh, and probably a few others I missed.

The crowd had about equal Kepler and Coss mayoral candidate supporters with T-shirts, stickers, and buttons. Kepler supporters also carried signs. Other candidates went without supporters with campaign materials. Clearly these two candidates had the most organized support. Both Coss and Kepler had many supporters who I recognized as active in Santa Fe politics and unions over the years. I did notice that some of Keplers supporters were Coss supporters in 2006 when he ran for mayor. The candidates participating in the forum were as follows:

Incumbent David Coss, Asenath Kepler and Miguel Chavez for mayor

Incumbent Chris Calvert, Doug Nava and Russell Simon for City Council in District 1

Incumbent Rebecca Wurzburger and Stefanie Beninato in District 2

Incumbents Carmichael Dominguez and Ron Trujillo, each running unopposed in District 3 and 4

The first Question asked what the candidates priorities for restructuring were and what if any functions would you privatize. Kepler and Chavez did not address privatization while Coss stated he has always been against privatization and that cuts could be made where needed. Miguel Chavez stated he would concentrate on basic city services such as police, fire, and senior citizen services. Asenath Kepler said she would conduct a thorough analysis of the budget in every department, she blamed the managers and department heads for putting the city in its current situation she says she would bring them all in cut their pay and lay them off before she affected any of the line workers. Wurzburger stated she would look for efficiency's and places which could be cut and work to increase tourism in order to bring in more revenue. Calvert said he would rely on workers to suggest cuts and efficiency's. Simon said he would look to diversify Santa Fe's economy and do more than just go after tourists. Beninato pretty much agreed with Simon.

The heated question of the night was the annexation question, the city recently entered into an agreement to annex 10,000 acres over the next few years with phase one taking place in November of last year. The annexation has been discussed and put off for about 30 years and finally began to come to fruition in 2009. It has been a sore subject for police and fire in the city with fears that current staffing levels are far too inadequate to cover the areas when annexed. There has been a large debate over just what the staffing levels should be and how to pay for the additional staff.

Kepler hit the ground running as she raised her voice in answering this question. She said she wants to stop all further annexation not knowing how it will be funded. She said "it was unconscionable to put lives in danger" referring to officers fears it will be unsafe with inadequate staff, she added again with a raised voice and serious expression on her face "this is no joke!" Mayor Coss was much more relaxed as he stated the city had developed a good relationship with the county and that the counties deputies were not going anywhere, He also added that the city had already increased police by 30 officers, fire by 20 firefighters and added 3 new fire stations since he was elected. The mayor went on to say the annexation should have happened in the 1980's but we flinched at the costs. He went on to say the city was committed to adding 40 more officers in the future to help meet needs. Miguel Chavez said we need to move forward with the annexation, there are benefits as well as challenges, he pointed out that in phase one the costs are estimated at $200,000 while the revenues from the area are $187,000 so he went on to say we are generating revenue as we annex these areas.

Incumbents Ron Trujillo and Carmichael Dominguez joined Coss in saying the annexation needs to happen while all other candidates said they would re-look at the annexation agreement and perhaps spread out the time period for the additional phases of the agreement. Ron Trujillo also mentioned that the red light cameras which he was the leading proponent of would create additional funds for police and fire. He brought up red light camera's again later in the forum as a source of revenue for public safety. The camera's are not yet installed but are slated to go up in the next few months. I thought this was particularly interesting since all along the cameras were pushed as a safety issue and not intended to be for generating revenue. Councilor Trujillo also lamented the governor of the state pushing legislation to have half the revenue from red light camera's diverted to the state.

Much of the remaining questions and answers dealt with the economy and the need to diversify and bring new jobs to Santa Fe. Many candidates advocated taping the cities reserves to avoid further furloughs and any layoffs. Kepler again heated up the room when she said "the tapping of reserves was avoidable, a good city manager and finance director would have known the economy would crash, I will save millions with audits" She also said there were allegations of fraud and waste in the city and audits were needed. Coss replied he knew of no fraud and waste and stated the city had saved for times just like this and had eleven million dollars above the minimum required reserves.

I took pretty extensive notes on the rest of the questions but I have no doubt that if you have read this much you probably won't read much more. One last thing I have to mention is the crowd looked pretty much in shock when during the forum Coss supporter Morty Simon was standing up front taking pictures with the flash on his camera turned on, of the mayor candidates or perhaps just the mayor it was hard to tell. Kepler was about to answer a question when she stopped the forum and told Mr. Simon "You have taken enough pictures, I don't know if you are taking them of me or one of the other mayor candidates but you have taken around 50 and you have enough pictures!". Mr. Simon sat down and as far as I know took no more pictures. The forum was interesting but long, even the reporters had to leave half way though to go and get their stories written and submitted. I am glad I went by and watched I always learn from watching these both from the perspective of the constituent and as a political candidate.

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First Day of Carlos Fierro Trial

This morning I sat in on opening arguments in the Carlos Fierro Trial. I am always careful about my comments in on going cases. The Sheriffs office did not take part in this case and I will limit my comments to just what I observed and what it is like to take part in a trial like this.

The jury consisted of 8 women and 8 men accounting for alternates. They all seemed attentive and I saw at least 3 of them taking notes. Trial was due to start at 8:30 am however Attorney's and the Judge stayed in chambers until 10:40 am. When the trial began the Judge, Michael Vigil gave jury instructions. The primary instructions were to keep an open mind until the trial ends. No reading, listening or watching news on the Internet in regards to the trial. Jurors are not allowed to discuss the trial with anyone including other jurors until the trial ends and jurors are sent to deliberate.

Then Attorneys gave their opening statements. Prosecutor Juan Valencia gave the opening statement while District Attorney Angela Spence Pacheco sat at the prosecution table and watched. The Defense was expected to claim that the victim was wearing dark clothing, some street lights were out, and that an argument occurred in the bar causing Carlos Fierro to believe he had been somehow attacked and that something was thrown at his car and that caused him to flee when he stuck Fierro. Prosecutor Juan Valencia addressed each of the defense arguments during the opening statement. He went through the events of the evening and stated "if Carlos Fierro had been sober this accident would have never occurred" as he pointed at Carlos. He often described the victim William Tenorio as a "Big Gentle Bear of a man". Repeating this description several times.

Mr. Valencia stated Carlos Fierro was with then State Police Sergeant Alfred Lovato drinking at the Rio Chama then at WilLee's bar where the accident occurred. The two left the bar and went to an Allsups convenience store where they realized they had left Carlo's credit card at the bar. They were driving back to WilLee's bar when they struck a curb blew out a tire and then continued accelerating through a red light, almost struck a person, then continued accelerating up in front of the bar where they struck Mr. Tenorio. Carlos did not stop and continued driving away as he struck another median or curb and blew out another tire. He was stopped blocks away by a city police officer. He failed field sobriety tests and took a blood alcohol test. According to Mr. Valencia the blood test was .21 over two times the legal limit.

Juan Valencia was clear and concise as he spoke to the jury. He had his opening memorized and barely glanced at notes. I thought Spence would give the opening and I had seen her in trials past and expected she would do well however, Juan whom I have never met did an excellent job. The jurors watched every word leave his mouth with interest. He never really raised his voice and kept it at an even matter of fact tone which I think worked well with the jury.

Defense Attorney Jason Bowles was up next. He opened with a few paragraphs about how "two families lives were intertwined forever" He described the pain both families (Tenorio's and Fierro's) are feeling. He described Carlos as a family man who works hard. Bowles stated that "this was a horrible tragic accident but not a crime." He said Carlos would take the stand and admit he was drunk driving. He went on to say that the issue in this case is the Vehicular Homicide and Leaving the Scene Charges. He gave numerous reasons why as he stated "a sober person driving down that road at that time would have also struck William Tenorio." He brought up street lights that were out, and the fact that Mr. Tenorio wore dark clothing, he claimed that Mr. Tenorio was jay walking and brought up state laws on jaywalking and pedestrian right of way laws. He claimed that since all the witnesses heard Mr. Fierro's vehicle strike the curb and blow out a tire prior to coming down the street and striking Mr. Tenorio, then Mr. Tenorio should have heard it also. Attorney Bowles stated Mr. Tenorio did not hear the car because he was walking backwards into the street paying attention to his phone and people he was leaving outside the bar and not paying attention to what was happening in the street. He also mentioned that this was one of the darkest nights of the year.

Bowles also claimed that Mr. Fierro fled because he heard a loud crash and saw glass flying in his car. He claimed that Fierro thought someone had thown something at the car and he was in panic and flight mode fleeing a perceived threat. Bowles said he would present testimony from an independent traffic expert which would show that Tenorio was not in the cross walk. He questioned the city police officers traffic expert since he worked for the police department and was not independent. He went on to allege that the police department never considered this just a tragic accident and treated it as a crime from the beginning.

Defense attorney Jason Bowles kept his tone matter of fact like and I thought did a fair job of presenting a defense that at its base tries to convince the jury that William Tenorio was at least at much at fault as Mr. Fierro with out outright saying it. This type of defense must be handled with kid gloves. You do not want the jury to be disgusted with blaming the victim. Especially when you are admitting that your client was drinking and driving and even struck a curb and blew out a tire, and then drove with that blown out tire before striking Mr. Tenorio.

Before lunch art teacher Oceanna Holton testified and described the accident just as prosecution described it. She stated in her testimony that Mr. Tenorio did use the crosswalk when he was hit. She stated that the headlights on Mr. Fierros car were off at the time he struck Mr. Tenorio. I had to leave and did not see the rest of her testimony and cross examination in the afternoon.

I cannot attend all the trial and even missed all the afternoon witnesses however I do want to try and attend when Carlos Fierro testifies. It was a full house and people were denied entry after the 30 seats in the courthouse were filled. Family members from both Fierro and Tenorio filled the courtroom. There is a lot in this case for the jury to consider and it only takes one juror to have a doubt. There will be different stories and testimony which will require the jurors to sort though it all and decide, was the accident caused by Carlos Fierro drinking and driving or was it caused by Mr. Tenorio, his dark clothes, and low lighting.

The Torch is Passed at The Santa Fe City Police Department

Today the Torch was officially passed to Chief Aric Wheeler of the City of Santa Fe Police Department. Chief Eric Johnson retired on Friday and took his last ride in a City of Santa Fe Police Cruiser to his parents home. Chief Johnson was an excellent chief who carried the department through some growing pains with a lot of integrity.



















Chief Aric Wheeler

Congratulations to Chief Wheeler, I look forward to continuing to work with you in your new capacity. Your family must learn to ignore or accept the criticism which will come. Each person deals with it differently. I like to read the criticism whether it is in letters, emails, comments on the Santa Fe New Mexican Website or sometimes through the rumor mill behind my back. I look at all of it constructively which can be hard when some of it is personal and hatred based. When you are the leader criticism comes easily. Remember what Theodore Roosevelt once said.

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood, who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; because there is not effort without error and shortcomings; but who does actually strive to do the deed; who knows the great enthusiasm, the great devotion, who spends himself in a worthy cause, who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement and who at the worst, if he fails, at least he fails while daring greatly. So that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who know neither victory nor defeat.”

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Should Police Chiefs Be Elected?

The last time I titled a blog post with a question it created quite a stir. Oh, well I am going to start this blog with a question also. I started as a police officer in 1988 after being hired as a rookie by the Santa Fe City Police Department. The chief of police at the time was Raymond Sisneros also a former Sheriff. He left about 2 years later and became Undersheriff for Sheriff Benjie Montano who is now the soon to retire Deputy Chief of the Santa Fe Police Department.

Next to take the chiefs position was Chief Bobby Lucero who lasted by my memory a little under 4 years. Debbie Jaramillo was elected Mayor in 1994 and Chief Lucero learned his fate after Newly elected Mayor Jaramillo announced on a morning radio talk show that he was fired. An outsider was then brought in as Chief. Chief Donald Grady was brought in during the summer of 1994. Chief Grady was Santa Fe's first black Chief of Police and quickly became controversial not for his race but for his inability to relate to the officers who served under him. It was during this controversial period that I lost the presidency of the police union to an anti Grady faction who used racial overtones to create divisions in the police force. Now I was not pro Grady but I did not agree with my opponents tactics to get rid of Chief Grady. Chief Grady lasted less than 2 years resigning in February of 1996. I left the city police in 1995 and went into private business. The Grady years and my departure from the city police could fill a couple of other blog posts.














Chief Donald Grady

Mayor Jaramillo was not happy with her Chief being driven from the Police Department. The City Police Officers and the Mayor were always at odds and the line officers truly felt the Mayor hated cops and Chief Grady was sent to punish them. Mayor Jaramillo then appointed her brother in law Carlos Jaramillo to the Chiefs Position. Now the initial appointment only served to enrage officers even more and led the media and others to dub Santa Fe Jaramillo Ville. The mayors brother was city manager and now her brother in law was chief. A local radio station started the name by playing a rendition of the song Margarita Ville in which the lyrics were changed to read, "Wastin away again in Jaramillo Ville". I wish I had a copy of the song which was one of the most hilarious parody's I have ever heard. I made a little money during this time selling buttons which had a picture of the sign outside city hall with the "Santa Fe" removed and "Jaramillo Ville" in its place.















Chief John Denko

Chief Jaramillo actually was a laid back get along with the officers kind of guy and he faired much better as chief than anyone initially thought he would. When Mayor Jaramillo lost her re-election bid in 1998 Chief Jaramillo left soon after. The new Mayor Larry Delgado replaced Chief Jaramillo with Chief John Denko in 1999. Former Chief Denko is now the Governors Cabinet Secretary for D.P.S. . He left in 2003 with a little less than four years as Chief.















Chief Beverly Lennen

Beverly Lennen was the next chief to take the helm at the City of Santa Fe Police, becoming the first woman chief in the history of the City of Santa Fe Police Department in 2003. Unmentioned in my previous paragraphs was the fact that Beverly Lennen served as interim chief on several occasions in between many of the chiefs appointments which I described above. Chief Lennen lasted until February of 2006 lasting a few months over 3 years. Finally we get to Chief Eric Johnson, Appointed in 2006 by newly elected Mayor David Coss. Chief Johnson has just announced his retirement which will come on May 29th 2009.





















Chief Eric Johnson

I just went through all that to get you to this point. Do you see a pattern here? No chief has lasted a day beyond 4 years during my institutional memory which goes back twenty one years (man I am old ). Now a mayors term lasts 4 years and many are re-elected meaning a possibility of up to eight years serving as chief. Santa Fe Chiefs however do not last. Why is that?

As I look back on the chiefs over the last 20 years there is one very common factor. They are all retired or near retirement. Most candidates will not accept the job of chief unless they are within a year or two of minimum retirement years. This ensures that if they are fired they can just retire. Even with that as a fallback most chiefs in recent years also enter into a contract which says that they can revert to their previous rank should the mayor wish to remove them for any reason except out right malfeasance in office.

Next we must look at the stresses of a City Police Chief. The police chief is clearly a political appointee hired by the Mayor. This ties their job to that of the Mayor. As long as the Mayor remains and supports the Chief, the Chief should stay. However the Chief still has many more supervisors. There is the City Manager, Eight City Councilors, and the Mayor. The Chief must answer to all of them while still answering directly to the public. Imagine answering to ten bosses all wanting attention for the needs of their district. Some of them maybe don't like you just because you are the mayors pick and maybe they are not happy with the mayor or the city manager. Maybe they ran for mayor and lost, or maybe they want to run for mayor and their success may depend upon your failure. Seems like a tough job?

Now lets compare this to the Sheriff. A Sheriff is elected to a four year term by the citizens and the Sheriff ultimately answers only to them. This places the Sheriff on equal footing with the County Commission in that they need the Sheriff to help with concerns in their district just as much as the Sheriff needs the Commissioners for his or her needs such as budgetary and passing ordinances and other needs. The County Manager also needs the Sheriff just as much as the Sheriff needs him. They are all on pretty much equal footing and the need for each other creates a mutual respect whether real or political. I throw that in because regardless of the actual respect the individuals may or may not have for each other, for political reasons their is a need to display to the public the semblance of getting along and respect for the citizens sake.

I also believe that because the Sheriff is elected he or she is more responsive to the media and public relations concerns than a Chief may be because he needs to be sure what he or she is says to the media will meet the approval of the Mayor, City Manager, and eight councilors.

So, what if the Chief of Police was elected? Would we retain chiefs longer, I believe the answer to that is yes. What does that accomplish? It would accomplish more continuity in the chiefs position and less controversy in appointments. I also believe it could allow a chief to spend more time being responsive to the public concerns and less time dealing with city hall. An elected chief would have to be more responsive to the public and during election time lay out a plan for law enforcement in the city. In between elections citizens would decide how well the chief lived up to the campaign promises and the plans laid out during the campaign. Whether percieved or real the meddling accusations against councilors and mayors should be eliminated or greatly decreased. Now this is just an idea thrown out there by a Sheriff who stays up to late at night thinking about things like this and the likelihood of this ever occurring is next to zero. Yet I think it is an interesting concept that deserves some attention.

There are those who say that the Mayor would never give up control of law enforcement because it is one of the basic functions of government. Yet there are even benefits to mayors and city councilors. Having a separate elected police chief would allow the fellow elected councilors and mayor to just point their finger at another elected official when crime issues arise. A quick google search led me to one campaign site where the chief is elected in San Angelo Texas. I also found an editorial in Los Angeles which discusses electing the Los Angeles Police Chief.

A good example of how the public might feel about this issue occurred several years ago when Bernalillo County and The City of Albuquerque presented a proposal to voters to merge the two governments into one metro government. The issue that was most debated and was credited with the defeat of the proposal was that the elected sheriff would be done away with and a police chief would rule over all the new metro government law enforcement. Of course the sheriff spoke out in opposition and the public voted the proposal down. The idea of re-hashing the proposal with an elected sheriff overseeing all law enforcement never quite gained ground and the proposal was never brought up again. Maybe that is a solution to discuss in another blog post, the combining of city and county government in Santa Fe. Of course with an elected sheriff for law enforcement :-) .

So there is an idea thrown out there for debate, criticism, or laughter, I am not sure I even fully agree with the idea as I have not spent enough time hashing out the true details. And as it has often been said the devil is in the details.

What do you think? Vote below.


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FBI Conducted Simular Probe in other Cities

In today's Albuquerque Journal North there was a story about a tape (subscription required) which the F.B.I. released to the Santa Fe Police Department approximately two years ago. In the tape Chief Eric Johnson and his brother, Capt. Gary Johnson are searching a hotel room during a 2003 drug investigation. According to the story written by Vic Vela and Kiera Hay City Councilor Patti Bushee wants the tape released now that the internal investigation is complete. Rumors have been swirling in regards to bad blood between City Police and City Councilor Patti Bushee.
The disagreements came to a head weeks ago during an incident in which Bushee criticized Santa Fe Police for disciplinary action to be taken against an officer who refused to remove beads given to her during a gay pride parade by Councilor Bushee.

According to leaked information which has been coming out little by little over the last year, the tape reportedly shows money was planted in the room by the FBI. The Johnson's entered the room after being let in by hotel personnel, saw the cash and left. I have heard that the room was under surveillance for some time by city police and that the room was only entered after it was believed that it had been vacated by who ever was believed to be in the room and was reportedly using the room for drug sales. The article in the Albuquerque Journal quotes two lawyers who state that the search could have been in violation of the supposed occupants civil rights. If as I have heard, the room was believed to have been vacated then the rights to privacy by the previous occupants may not be valid.

The real interesting thing is that in 2004 the F.B.I. did the exact same thing in Ramsey County MN. The F.B.I. in what they called an "integrity test" placed $13,500 in a hotel room wired with a video camera. The FBI had a drug dealer call a Deputy and tell him a drug dealer named "Vinnie" had left drugs and money in a room at the Best Western Kelly Inn in St. Paul. Three deputies went into the room and two of them with out the knowledge of the third removed half the money and placed it into the trunk of their car. Later when the began to suspect the whole deal was a set up they returned the money claiming they took it as part of a joke they were playing on the third deputy.

Unlike the Santa Fe case the U.S. Attorney prosecuted the two deputies and on Wednesday August 27, 2008 the two were found guilty and face 20 years in prison for the incident. The important contrast to the Santa Fe Case is the fact that the U.S. Attorney prosecuted the deputies. The fact that no prosecution occurred in the Santa Fe case is clue number one that nothing illegal occurred. The F.B.I. has the ability and in fact is charged with prosecuting civil rights violations by police. If a civil rights violation or a criminal theft had occurred then the F.B.I. and the U.S. Attorney had a responsibility to prosecute.

I have been critical of the F.B.I. and the recent investigations of the City Police in the past and I still feel there was mishandling of this case as well. The F.B.I. had the tape and information on this case for years and only turned over the tape and began leaking information about the tapes existence during their botched investigation of City Officers in an apparent case of drug money theft. The leaks in my opinion were designed to put increased pressure on the City Police and its Chief. In May of 2007 The F.B.I. filed charges and searched the homes of two of Santa Fe City Police Detectives. There was a number of leaks of information in the weeks leading up to the charges as well as afterwards regarding the case. The F.B.I. seemed to have no trouble leaking information to the press yet would not release information to the agency heads at the City Police Department. The Police Department not knowing how far reaching the cases were put a halt to all narcotics investigations.

This created an increase in narcotics and burglary cases that plagued the city and stretched out into the county and even surrounding counties. We all had to deal with the repercussions of these cases. So the federal government came in, spread around huge allegations. They filed 24 felony counts against two city detectives, and refused to cooperate with agency heads allowing them to make informed decisions regarding the agency they head. Then a year later they drop all but one count against one detective and work out a deal with the other in which he agrees to not be a cop in New Mexico and they just walk away.

I hope that the release of the tape regarding Chief Eric Johnson and his brother, Capt. Gary Johnson will finally put an end to all of this era of the F.B.I. tearing down the City Police and that the City Police will continue to move forward. I have confidence in the current administration at the City Police and until I am shown evidence to believe otherwise I will continue to support them. I also have supported Councilor Patti Bushee for many years going all the way back to her initial appointment by then Mayor Debbie Jaramillo to fill her council seat. I consider her a friend and for the most part an excellent city councilor. I do feel that she and other city councilors are getting too involved in personnel issues of late and need to allow city staff to do their job. The interference of City Councilors in personnel issues is creating more problems than can ever be solved by their involvement.

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Have Officers Outgrown Cops in the Neighborhood Programs?

This story in the Santa Fe Reporter made me wonder whether Police Officers have outgrown these types of programs. At the same time some residents don't want the officers living in their neighborhood. In the story Mark Sanders describes some residents who oppose a program called the Caretaker Housing in City Parks. The Program would provide affordable housing for police in city parks. It is designed to provide more security to parks and the neighborhoods which surround them as well as help provide local housing for officers who increasingly are living in outlying areas and communities such as Rio Rancho.

This is a serious problem as I described in this blog post entitled "cops don't live here anymore". Mark didn't mention what kind of housing would be put into the parks. Will they be manufactured housing? Mobile Homes? or real single family housing? These questions among others are important. Also the city may want to do a survey or take applications to find out just how many officers would live in this type of housing. When I first became a rookie officer in 1988 I started at a little over $6 an hour. we had city police officers living in city housing projects. Not as part of a community policing program but because they qualified to live there based on their income and family size. Many officers were also on the Federal Food Stamp Program. Aside from retirement which has always been good for law enforcement officers in New Mexico, men and women really became officers because they wanted to help others and because they grew up wanting to be cops, not for the pay.

Now starting pay for officers is up to a respectable level of just under $15 an hour with officers making $18 an hour and more after the first year. Officers now expect more in terms of where they are willing to live. That is one reason many move to or buy houses in Rio Rancho and surrounding communities. It is not only that affordable housing is not easily available in Santa Fe but also the fact that your dollar buys a lot more outside of Santa Fe. Larger lot sizes, more square footage, and a new home for the price of an older used home in Santa Fe.

I often get people who want to rent guest homes or other housing in Santa Fe to a Law Enforcement Officer. Usually they are small guest homes or maybe a mobile home located on a business lot. The owner hopes to rent to an officer at a low rental rate in exchange for the security of having an officer living on their property. We also often have city and county properties including housing located in government housing projects or blighted areas offered to officers for little or no rent. Officers used to jump on these properties but in the past few years many of these offers go without takers. Officers are still underpaid compared to the levels of training, dedication, and hazards of the job. However, officers can now afford better and like all who want the American Dream they strive for better.

I am curious just how many officers will take these houses in the parks and whether or not the homes and yards can be made appealing to young officers and their families. I also hope the city considers the turnover that occurs in these types of homes. Once the officer saves money and moves up in pay and rank they will move on from this type of housing and hopefully into a home they own, still in Santa Fe. We really need to focus on making it appealing and financially sound for officers to become City of Santa Fe home owners rather than citizens of Rio Rancho. I commend the City of Santa Fe for doing something to keep officers living local and I hope they have considered the factors I describe in this post along with others to make this program successful.

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Cops Don't Live Here Anymore.....

Mark Sanders from the Santa Fe Reporter has an excellent cover story in this weeks Reporter detailing the fact that most cops who work in the city and county of Santa Fe, don't live here. Its a very in depth article and Mark did an great job of showing both the effects on the community and the officers themselves. Santa Fe is reaching critical mass as far as law enforcement officers living 30-60 miles away verses them living in the city and county. One item he touched on was the take home car program. It is a very beneficial program used by most police agencies in New Mexico. As both the City and County pass the 60% mark of officers who live outside the county we lose many benefits of the take home car program. Officers are allowed to take home their police cruisers for several reasons.

1. They can respond directly to an emergency with out going to the police station first when they are off duty and called out in an emergency.



2. They can respond to accidents, emergencies or reckless driving while en route to and from work and help on situations which they may drive up on.



3. Police presence in the neighborhoods reduce crime, (the police cars visible in neighborhoods).



4. Cars assigned to individual officers tends to reduce wear and tear and cars are kept in better condition because one individual is responsible for the vehicle, verses a motor pool type situation where many people use the same vehicle.



5. Take home vehicles are used as a perk to attract and retain personnel.
   It is an especially effective recruiting tool because other law enforcement agencies in the region have similar vehicle use policies for their officers. It stands to reason that a take-home policy would make an agency more competitive for the most qualified job applicants.



6. Take home vehicles let officers keep their special equipment, such as SWAT gear, organized and readily at hand.

As you can see from the list of benefits the take home cars make sense. However we lose some of the benefits when officers live 30 -60 miles away.

1. Officers still help when they encounter crime or accidents on their way to and from work however many times the help comes to citizens outside their jurisdiction so their ability to take action is limited.



2. There is still an increased police presence in neighborhoods but the benefit is for neighborhoods in other cities and counties which have more affordable housing. The City and County of Santa Fe is paying for safety and security of other communities.



3. While cars are still better maintained by individual officers versus motor pools the increased wear and tear put on by the increased mileage may negate some of the benefits. Gas costs are also greatly increased by the increased distances to and from home.

As you can see we start to lose the benefits of take home cars as we allow the costs to live here to be beyond the reach of our civil servants. When we look at the true cost to not have affordable housing in Santa Fe city and county it goes beyond simple dollars and cents. We start to encroach on the actual safety and security of our residents. Think about, doctors, nurses, firefighters, teachers and other essential personnel who are often needed in emergencies or whose shortage of available personnel is even worse in Santa Fe due to its high housing costs. What is the true cost of not ensuring we have housing available at all income levels?

There is much controversy over the proposed city transfer tax on high end homes in Santa Fe. The Transfer tax is designed to raise funds for affordable housing projects in the city of Santa Fe. There is probably many ways including the transfer tax to combat this problem and there is much disagreement on the best way to tackle the issue. However, we must tackle the issue. There is more than increased gas costs for take home vehicles on the line. The safety, security and sustainability of the county and city are at stake.

The Santa Fe Reporter article described Aspen, Colo., where the median home cost is so prohibitive (more than $6 million in the first quarter of 2008 for a single family structure) that the city has begun a lottery system for police department heads and emergency responders.“They get them at a reduced cost,” Sgt. Chip Seamans of the Aspen Police Department says. Department employees are eligible for the lottery after five years. The city then determines the cost of the property based on income. So depending on income, a new cop might pay $100,000 and a chief might pay $300,000 for a house. In either case, Seamans says, it is a great deal.“To be able to purchase a home in Aspen proper is a bit of a stretch for any government worker,” Seamans says, noting the starting pay for a rookie is $7 an hour better than in Santa Fe—$22.03.

We have probably already reached the point where we should consider this type of system for Santa Fe. There are those who would oppose this, at least until their home is burglarized, or until the S.W.A.T. team takes 50 minutes to respond to their emergency. I hate to bring up these instances since they could be thought of as scare tactics but it is the truth. Sometimes the truth is scary.

Public Defender Goes Overboard.

I almost fell off my bed when I read this story. Let me explain, first off I read the papers about 1:30 to 2:00 in the morning before I go to bed. Sometimes not the whole paper but at least the biggest stories and then I will finish the rest in the morning. Enough about my insomnia or odd sleeping habits. I clicked on a story about the opening arguments in the State vs Ivan Atencio trial. Ivan Atencio is a career criminal drug addict. One evening a lady calls police to report that she has observed a stolen car parked at a store parking lot and there is a man inside. Doing what a cop is supposed to do they approach the man and ask him to step out of the car and speak to officers so they can investigate. He refuses to follow commands struggles to escape, and as he tries to drive away he drives straight at an officer making the officer fear he was about to be run over. The officer fires his weapon at the vehicle in order to stop the vehicle from running him over. A chase ensues and all that many other officers hear on the radio during the chaos is "shots fired". apparently some officers may have thought this to mean that the suspect had a gun.

During the high speed dangerous chase the officers finally stop Atencio and surround the car. He again tries to drive away putting officers lives in danger of being struck by the vehicle Mr Attencio is driving at them. Officers fire their weapons once again trying to stop Mr. Attencio from killing someone, primarily the very officers he is driving at. He is shot but not fatally and arrested.

Now, defense attorneys are supposed to mount a rigorous defense on behalf of their client. I have no problem with that. A common defense tactic is to blame the police for what happened. Never mind that the actions of the suspect created the situation that officers had to react to. However, where I nearly fell out of bed was when I read this which was said during opening arguments, "The Santa Fe Police Department, literally in a concerted effort, attempted ... to murder my client," Public Defender Sydney West said. "What you will see in this case is police were the perpetrator and Mr. Atencio was, in fact, the victim."

What!!! Calling our officers attempted murderers! I am disgusted at this public defenders choice of words and her unabashed attempt to make the officers the criminal's in this case. We in law enforcement are used to the tables being turned on us in criminal cases by the defense attorneys. Officers are often accused of incompetence or indifference. When the physical evidence is irrefutable the attorneys try to say it was not collected correctly or that officers somehow wanted to frame someone they never met and would have no motive to do so. When there is no physical evidence then officers are accused of not looking hard enough to find it. It always goes back to a common defense tactic of putting the officer on trial.

Usually the defense attorneys are not so disrespectful and callous about doing so. I hope this backfires, I hope the jury has enough sense to see what is really happening here. Sometimes they do, unfortunately sometimes jury's take the bait.

Reaction to feds wreck havoc post.

My phone has been ringing a lot since I posted yesterdays opinion on the way the federal government has handled the City Police Detectives case. So far all the calls have agreed with my take on the issue. The Albuquerque Journal picked the story up off my blog and Vic from the journal added that several officers from the city had already filed complaints with Tom Udall's Office. The congressmen and women from New Mexico are probably gun shy about getting involved in criminal matters after the Robert Vigil and Manny Aragon cases in which Senator Pete Dominici and Congresswoman Heather Wilson were lambasted for contacting then United States Attorney David Iglesias. However I hope they are not too gun shy. This case does not involve political figures and when the F.B.I. and U.S. Attorneys do the amount of damage they have done to a community the only recourse a community has is to file a complaint with our congressional delegation.

Feds wreck havoc with City Police then walk away.

On Friday Night I received several calls letting me know that the federal govenment had dropped all charges against former Santa Fe police detective-sergeant Steve Altonji. As I spoke to several individuals involved either peripherally or some what directly over the weekend I can't help but wonder what the federal government was thinking. In May of 2007 The F.B.I. filed charges and searched the homes of two of Santa Fe City Police Detectives. There was a number of leaks of information in the weeks leading up to the charges as well as afterwards regarding the case. The F.B.I. seemed to have no trouble leaking information to the press yet would not release information to the agency heads at the City Police Department. The Police Chief, not knowing for sure who was involved and how strong the case was had no choice but to suspend narcotics investigations in the city.

This created an increase in narcotics and burglary cases that plagued the city and stretched out into the county and even surrounding counties. We all had to deal with the repocutions of these cases. So the federal government comes in, spreads around huge allegations. They file 24 felony counts against these detectives, and refuses to cooperate with agency heads allowing them to make informed decisions regarding the agency they head. Then a year later they drop all but one count against one detective and work out a deal with the other in which he agrees to not be a cop in New Mexico and they just walk away. Considering that the federal government already filed a motion in court which says they do not have enough evidence to prosecute these cases, what was their bargaining chip and what is the hammer they hold over the head of Steve Altonjie to make him give up his career as a cop in New Mexico? The only thing they possibly had was the fact that Steve probably wanted to just end the whole thing and make it all go away. So he agrees to give up his career in New Mexico as an officer.

The truth probably is, What Career? With their slash and burn tactics the feds had already ruined the careers of these two detectives and even when you look at the one charge that Detective Danny Ramirez plead guilty for, and his explanation verses the federal governments explanation, there is still much to suspect about whether Detective Rameriz was really guilty of anything. I have to admit when I first read the indictments (read them here) the purported evidence seemed insurmountable. But the truth seems to be that the federal government threw together a bunch of circumstantial evidence and filed the cases in court before anything could be proven. This is very amateurish in the sense of what a good prosecutor and law enforcement agency should do and seems to have been designed to put enormous pressure on the two detectives to just take the easy way out and plead guilty to something rather than face the costs and pressure of going to court.

This is not the way our system of justice is supposed to work. When charges are filed you should have enough evidence to present a case to a jury. Granted their is always extra work that may need to be done prior to trial but you do not file charges and hope the defendant takes a plea and you don't ever have to prove your case. I am embarrassed by the way this was handled. The Federal Government has come into Santa Fe, blew through the City Police Department like a tornado, left the city to pick up the pieces and walked away. Someone in the federal government should have to answer to the way these cases were handled. I call on our congressional representatives to look into this matter and see who dropped the ball and hold them accountable.

If these detectives were guilty the public deserves to have them held accountable. If they were innocent they are owed their lives and their careers back.

Chief Johnson Recieves vote of Support from Troops.

Chief Eric Johnson of the Santa Fe City Police Department won the "no confidence vote" held by the Santa Fe Police Officers Association by a two to one margin. Another third of the officers eligible to vote did not do so. One would assume that most of those are satisfied or ambivalent with the way things are going thereby increasing the vote of those who have confidence in Chief Johnson's administration. So what now? The department is not going to fill all their positions over night, in fact several of those who led the effort to have this vote are near retirement. As each position is filled many more are retiring.

While police retirements plans are funded through the State Public Employees Retirement Association somehow counties and municipalities need to find a way to keep officers from retiring at a young age. While I have long been a proponent of the 20 year retirement for officers the down side is we are losing officers in their forty's. This is really young and they still have many good years still in them.

Officers receive seventy percent of their top three years pay at 20 years of service. This tops out at eighty percent for 22 years and 10 months. So officers really are forced to take retirement once they reach these places in time. Imagine having 22 years and 10 months in and you are not ready to retire. If you continue working you are working every day for only 20% of your pay. You can stay home and get 80%. If you leave accept your retirement and come back you lose your seniority and rank. Basically you are starting your career all over again. Senior officers do not want to do this because they find themselves reporting to and below rank to young officers who may have only had five years on the force. Because of this most retired officers leave law enforcement and go into a second career doing something else.

We need to come up with an solution to this problem. We cant go back and increase the years needed to retire, union contracts and backlash from employees would not allow this to happen. If we allow retires to come back and keep their previous rank and pay this will stifle the ability for others to move up and create a situation where career advancement would be slowed to all but a standstill. I have not come up with a workable creative solution to this problem but if anyone does they can save law enforcement in New Mexico. All agencies in New Mexico are facing the same problems.

This would not be as much of a problem if there was a long line of young men and women waiting to be officers. The truth is that young people today are more concerned with making money and having a career that involves big houses, cars, and success in a material sense. Law Enforcement is a public service career. Those in public service do not make that kind of money unless you are appointed in the upper echelons of state or local government. What you do get out of a law enforcement career is a career you can be proud of, a good retirement and a decent middle income life style. I remember when kids grew up wanting to be a cop or a firefighter, not for the money but because they honestly wanted to be a cop deep down in their soul.

I remember one time sitting down at the local Fraternal Order of Police having a beer with several officers. Talk got around to our kids and one by one each one said they did not want their kids to be cops. They talked about their kids having successful high dollar careers where their lives were not at risk. This was sad for me to hear. We need to encourage our young to carry the flag when we are finished. Law Enforcement is a great career that will make your life worthwhile.

Many times I am walking in the mall or at a grocery store and I will run into some young man with his wife and child and they will come up and introduce me to their family. Many years ago when this young man was a child I arrested him, or maybe I cut him some slack and didn't arrest him but gave him a good scare. I have been thanked many times even by those I arrested. Their lives were changed and somehow at least they believed that I played a part in that. That is what being a cop is about.

No Confidence Vote in Chief Eric Johnson.

A faction of the Santa Fe Police Officers Association which is the City of Santa Fe Police Union garnered just enough members (12 of the approximately 25 members who attended the meeting) to force a vote of no confidence on Chief Eric Johnson. Chief Eric Johnson and his administration has always had an excellent working relationship with the County Sheriff's Office. I truly believe he has displayed excellent leadership coming into a department as chief during a time of challenges related to growing pains and internal issues that were not of his making. The union needs to realize that the last time this happened the department suffered for years trying to recover from its internal divisions and the then Mayor and Council treated the Police Department like the spoiled step child for years.

I was once President of the P.O.A. and a few months after my presidency ended the Union voted for a vote of no confidence on then Chief Donald Grady. At the time the union membership was sharply divided. Appointed as an agent of Change by then Mayor Debbie Jaramillo, the first Black Chief in Santa Fe's history was controversial and his tenure created deep divisions in the City Police that remain to this day. The Department was divided into two camps led by myself as President and Sergeant Frank Novelli who was a radical activist who would become President. The group led by Frank Novelli wanted Grady removed at all costs. Racial comments were often thrown about behind closed doors and really disgusting things such as pubic hairs placed in cake which was given to him were the types of things the situation had degenerated into.

The Chief eventually resigned and the department went through a string of Chiefs and years of internal strife. The union membership developed a reputation as unreasonable and as such raises and support from the Mayor and Council was diminished. The City Council thought of the Union as spoiled and impossible to work with. It really is the basis for a lot of problems the department still has today.

One problem with the City Police Union as the current president admits, and I will attest to from the days I was President is the fact that so few members exercise their voice in meetings by showing up at all. This usually means only the most disgruntled show up and therefor have a larger role in guiding the actions of the union. The current vote to hold a no confidence vote came at the most inopportune time as the city is about to vote on a new union contract with significant raises. Those who pushed this issue at this time probably were not thinking about the big picture and only were interested in pushing their agenda.

I have known Chief Johnson since the days we worked the streets together in the late eighty's and early ninety's. He started when he was 18 years old which was allowed back then. I remember that if he wanted to buy ammunition for his pistol he had to get someone over 21 to buy it for him. You can not buy pistol ammunition unless you are 21. Eric is the kind of dedicated cop you could always count on. In those days just 4 or 5 of us covered the whole city. If one of your fellow officers called in sick the rest of the guys or gals had to cover the slack. It could mean the difference between having backup at a crucial time or not. Eric was the kind of patrol officer you knew would always be there, never called in sick and always was an eager and ready young cop. Ready to be there as a backup when you needed one.

While I don't know what will end up happening with this whole no confidence vote thing, I do know that Eric really cares about what happens in the police department. He is a cops, cop and really as a subordinate you can't ask for much more when you choose a leader. He inherited the current scandals involving the detectives under investigation and he inherited the problems with hiring and retention. The current increases in crime rates in the city can at least partially be attributed to those issues. Hiring and retention are issues all departments face and are part of a societal change which will take years to overcome. The City could do much worse for a chief. I am told by my old buddies in the City Police that the vote was divided between newer officers who voted for the no confidence vote and older more experienced officers who voted against it or chose to abstain from voting. My guess is the older officers remember the last time this happened and also know that the problems will not be solved through this vote.

Badge, Gun, and Green Card?

San Miguel Policia

I was surprised but somewhat intrigued when I read in yesterdays paper that the City of Santa Fe Police were toying with the idea of hiring immigrants as police officers. Public Schools, the Military, and Hospitals have all tried to fill hard to fill job vacancies such as nurses, teachers and soldiers by recruiting from outside the United States Borders. With the promise of a green card and a better life many would be eager to come live the American Dream.

When the City Councilors began to put immense pressure on the Chief to fill vacancies then it was time to "think outside the box". Too bad the City did not have a runaway bride incident to use to their recruiting advantage. All law enforcement agencies are having trouble recruiting and the pressure from city councilors is probably taking its toll on the recruiting officers at the city. They needed to show up to Tuesdays Public Safety Meeting with some answers so the immigrants idea was just one of many thrown at the councilors and the public safety committee. Unfortunately something like this garners a lot of attention and is bound to generate negative reactions such as this one from Joe Monahan.

THE CITY REALLY DIFFERENT

Will someone please do something about the over-the-top Santa Fe police department? A crime wave has swept the city and now they want to hire Mexican nationals to fill cop vacancies? Actually, the department needs more vacancies--including the top brass. Where is the mayor? Hiding in a booth at Tiny's waiting for it all to go away as this story breaks nationally? Mayor, you are supposed to be safeguarding an American treasure, our nation's oldest capital city. But you already knew that.

In all reality the idea will go no where, it would require an act of congress to allow for expedited green cards for those wanting to work as police officers. Background checks would be a nightmare and would be highly inaccurate. On the other hand Spanish speaking officers would help greatly in this immigrant friendly community. They are highly sought after by all law enforcement agencies including mine. Schools have had the most success recruiting Spanish speaking teachers through programs such as the proposed one by the City Police.

I had an interesting conversation the other night with a former Police Academy classmate. We were discussing the recent increases in salaries all police agencies are having to implement in order to hire and retain officers. He said something enlightening. While wages for officers have gone up considerably since the two of us started in 1988 and we were making six something an hour they have not reached "market rate". That is they have not reached a rate that is equal to what is required to make the job a "sought after job even when the risk is taken into account". When parents speak of success for their children they look to doctors, lawyers, the Bill Gates and Warren Buffett's of the world. Yet what is the risk versus reward factor in law enforcement vs these jobs? Even police officers often say they hope their kids grow up to be successful and do something else.

Law Enforcement must be elevated to a respected and well paid profession and not just a job you can retire from in 20 years. We all love to watch "Cops" and "Law and Order" but how many say it looks cool but I wouldn't risk my life for $13.50 an hour. Yes, the starting pay for most officers is between $11 and $13.50 an hour. Officers with experience and whom are State Certified start at $17 an hour. Although, ....... that hourly pay with benefits probably looks really good to someone from Mexico.

When One of Our Own Gets Arrested.

Today I was attending the first meeting of the Governors Tribal DWI Task Force at the Tamaya Resort located on the Santa Ana Pueblo. Governor Richardson appointed me to the task force which is charged with helping tribes combat DWI. Shortly after lunch my cell phone and every other cell phone belonging to a law enforcement officer began ringing and beeping with text messages. Word spread quickly, City Police Sergeant Steve Altonji and Detective Danny Ramirez were arrested by the F.B.I. on numerous charges. We all see arrests every day, we see bad guys, repeat offenders, and some times good people who do bad things. What we don't see often is one of our own in handcuffs. Its depressing and demoralizing. I could see it on the faces of the other officers at the meeting. A couple of us worked with Danny years ago at the City Police. Although we were in separate divisions, Danny in Narcotics and I in Juveniles I would have never expected to see him charged in a crime.

Law Enforcement is hit hard when something like this happens. Officers authority does not come from the badge or the gun, it is the public that bestows that honor upon them. Its a big responsibility to live up to, but in the end officers are human first, cops second. When one of the officers fail we all fail. Now we all have to work twice as hard to redeem the profession and restore the honor. To all of you who are not officers I ask you to not pull out the big brush and start painting. In law enforcement we make the arrests and the courts and a jury make the decision. I await the jury's decision and withhold judgement until the evidence is out. In the mean time all law enforcement suffers. To the families of Danny Rameriz and Steve Altonji, especially their young children, our prayers are with you.

P.S. The Free New Mexican Web Site has been posting updated information all day and now has posted the actual indictments.