Out-of-state police training raises stir with village trustee

The action item to approve Marshal Michael Zamora and Captain Brian Waterman’s training and travel to Nevada sparked debate between the village trustees, mayor, deputies and the public at the Village of Magdalena council meeting on November 12.

“I have an argument with all this. Why are we sending both of them at the same time when there are only two certified officers?” Trustee Donna Dawson said, “Why can’t we send one to Sedona Arizona and one to Henderson? I’ve looked into all of this.”

Mayor Richard Rumpf said they were two different trainings, “one is for narcotics, and one is for the pellet gun.”

Magdalena resident Terri Winchester said she looked it up online, and the curriculum was the same in Henderson and Sedona. She had confirmed there were still openings for the narcotic training at the January meeting in Sedona.

Winchester said she wanted to make sure the trustees were getting all the information to make a decision, “I feel like they’re not being told that there are other options for them to go to so that we have coverage.”

Waterman said the trainings were two separate things and the training in January was too soon to prepare for.

“This is the only opportunity and the best opportunity for us to go,” Waterman said, “If we want to be able to prosecute, to be able to prosecute this in federal courts, if we want to be able to work this and have DEA and homeland security assistance. We have to have this training in order to get the federally mandated certifications on this so we can apply for the funding,”

Dawson asked, “Since when did our officers become federal agents?”

Arguments continued back and forth between the mayor, trustees, the public and law enforcement regarding the training.

“The question is, can these two visits be split? Nobody’s arguing that we need federal help, and that this is a federal mandate,” Trustee Jim Nelson said, “I have not heard any objection from either of you, gentlemen to take the courses separately.”

Waterman said they would understand and implement the training better if they learned as a team.

Rumpf said the marshal’s department is doing the best it can, and the sheriff and state police will serve as backup while they are gone.

The trustees ultimately voted three to one to send Zamora and Waterman to the narcotics training in Nevada at the same time, with no from Dawson.

The matter came up again during public comment, followed by law enforcement complaints from the public.

Winchester said she wanted to address the marshal’s department’s lack of visibility in a follow-up to last month’s meeting and questioned why Zamora only logged in six days and Waterman logged in three.

“I don’t understand why, if they have the total 40-hour schedule, why for the whole month of October, that’s all they are doing. That’s not visibility; that’s not coverage. We just gave them a split of $56,000 retention bonus for the year, but they’re only out on the street those few days.” Winchester said.

Zamora said he only logs in when he buys gas and not everything he does is in the report. He said one night, someone contacted him on his personal phone about a cat that was run over, and he also responded to a call on his phone about a suspected burglary.

“People do find out what my phone number is,” Zamora said “So there’s other stuff going on not just the stuff you see during the day.”

Updating the law enforcement report to reflect the marshal’s department activities better was suggested.

In other business, Floyd Wynn was approved for hire as the Magdalena Senior Center manager and Trevor Guerro was approved for hire as a deputy.