Martinez: Law enforcement needs to work together better

A meeting to address law enforcement response and transparency between Socorro County, the Village of Magdalena, and three law enforcement agencies is in the works.

During the Socorro County Board of Commissioners meeting, County Chairman Ray Martinez requested the meeting in response to recent incidents in Magdalena.

“The article that came out in the paper, and I had a lot of calls from public they were grateful that we’re starting to look at stuff like this. I also had a call from the Mayor of Magdalena, and he told me he’d be willing to meet because there’s things he feels there were things said that weren’t true. That’s the reason that I made the comment that we all need to be in a room with all those agencies,” Martinez said.

Martinez said it would be better to have a meeting where they could have a discussion, and people could defend themselves and talk together.

“We can all sit down professionally and discuss how we get better,” Martinez said. “We can help each other.”

At the Magdalena Village meeting last Monday, during public comment, Terri Winchester asked the Magdalena Mayor Richard Rumpf about the marshal retention bonuses and the article in El Defensor Chieftain.

“I was really hoping Martinez and the Sheriff would be here after what was in newspaper, because a lot of people reached out to me about how they don’t like the idea that they’re getting bonuses when they’re not doing their job,” Winchester said.

Winchester said in the original legislation for the bonuses it was only supposed to be given on anniversary years. “It’s being given to them every year. And Santa Fe may say that’s okay, but for me, that seems unethical. And you can say that all this money’s coming from the state, but it’s me as a taxpayer’s money. So I want to know, are they getting it? How much are they getting?” Winchester said.

Mayor Rumpf confirmed the two certified deputies would receive $56,000 in retention bonuses this year.

Rumpf said he was upset when he read the newspaper and said it had misinformation and at least two lies in it.

“The marshals have never, ever refused to respond to a call. The person that instigated it, they had their own agenda. They were told to call 911. It’s amazing to me why people will not use 911, federal government spent billions of dollars on doing that system. But that system lets those dispatchers know who’s available. That is their job to know who’s available. They reach out and notify those agencies, if they’re off duty and out of town, it’s kind of hard to respond.” Rumpf said.

He said according to the timeline he was given it was 20 minutes before anyone called 911. A state trooper, who was nearby, arrived in seven minutes and the Sheriff was there in 16 minutes.

“They finally called 911 after 20 minutes they were calling this manager, that manager trying to call people, cell phones, law enforcement cell phones. 911 is there for a reason, and it was, as far as we can tell, it was 20 minutes before anybody called,” Rumpf said.

At the county board meeting, Lee Armijo said he wanted to add to Chairman Martinez’s comments.

“I must correct my mistake. And so, I did say that they refused to come out. What happened is, is they weren’t called that night,” Armijo said.

He said it is his understanding his deputies believe dispatch won’t contact the marshal’s office after hours because they won’t respond. He agreed to a meeting and said he will have all the answers confirmed on the details for the meeting.

Martinez thanked the Sherriff, “like I told the mayor we are not here to point fingers.”

Editor's note: This article has been corrected. Mayor Rumpf did not confirm "the deputies received $112,000 in 2023 and $200,000 in 2022" A previous El Defensor Chieftain article printed on January 19, 2023 states "The legislative grant totals $281,250 to be split up over three years. According to the DFA, the funds for the first disbursement of $112,000 must be expended by June 30. The second disbursement of $112,000, made on July 1, must be used by June 30, 2024; and the third disbursement of $57,250 on July 1, 2024, should be expended by June 30, 2025." We regret the error.