State reps listen to first responders at safety townhall

A safety town hall, hosted by Socorro County emergency responders along with State Representatives Gail Armstrong and Rebecca Dow, was held last Tuesday at the Socorro County Annex II.

The sheriff, state police, City of Socorro fire chief, City of Socorro police chief, Socorro County emergency manager and New Mexico Tech police took turns speaking to the challenges they faced and made requests from the state representatives, followed by an opportunity for the public to ask questions and share concerns.

Socorro County Sheriff

Socorro County Sheriff Lee Armijo discussed the difficulty in using state and county funds for narcotics enforcement due to procurement policies and legal restrictions. He spoke to the legal complexities around making purchases for enforcement purposes.

Armijo said another challenge was the need for extra staff to distribute JAG (Justice Assistance Grants) Funds. He said keeping pay competitive and retaining staff was also an issue, and noted that while some extra funds from Senator Josh Sanchez had been provided, ongoing support is uncertain.

He also informed representatives that the recent volume and scope of the public records requests were overwhelming, and he was concerned about their potential misuse.

“IPRA requests are out of control,” Armijo said. “We just got a guy from California, but he wanted all of our arrests from 2024, records, names, contact information, gender, for any uses of force in those arrests.”

Angel Garcia, City of Socorro police chief, added that sometimes people use the videos from IPRA requests for their YouTube channels.

State Police

Andre Billingsley, state police sergeant out of Socorro, said that their department’s focus is on visibility and data-driven policing, traffic enforcement, and crash reduction in Socorro and surrounding districts. He emphasized the importance of being present in the community and targeting enforcement where data shows higher incidents.

“Here in Socorro, we have nine officers. But we also in the district, we have a total of 21 between sergeants and such. So we are just trying to be everywhere that we can possibly be,” Billingsley said.

City Fire Department

Lawrence Baca, City of Socorro fire chief, said they face a variety of challenges as a small rural department, including competitive pay, losing trained staff to larger departments, covering the whole county, and doing transports to Albuquerque.

He said the department also faces high costs for equipment and compliance. For example, they are required to have an 80-foot ladder truck for two tall buildings in the city, and must replace bunker gear regularly, which is very expensive ($8,000 per set, two sets per person). They also have to comply with strict OSHA and ISO requirements, which are difficult for small departments.

“I think the most important thing for us is, obviously, trying to expand our department. We’re the second biggest county in the state. We’re the only handling service in our county that transports. So it’s been a struggle trying to provide services for the county. Let’s not forget, we’re not just EMS. We’re fire. We do inter-facility transfers from support out quickly, at least two or more times a day. So our biggest problem has been having enough staffing to do these services,” Baca said.

He asked why first responders weren’t included in that recruitment and retention money like law enforcement was.

New Mexico Tech Police

Jeremiah Benjay, interim chief of police for New Mexico Tech (NMT), said he had been serving as director of emergency management and the patrol sergeant for the university and just started as interim chief a couple days ago.

He said they have also seen an uptick in public records requests and shared concerns about the University recruiting and retaining officers due to retirement system disparities between PERA and ERB.

Delilah Walsh, vice president of Administration and Finance at NMT said that most universities recruit retirees and there was a need for legislative change to help university law enforcement agencies compete for and keep qualified officers.

“If I have an officer who maybe is done with being on patrol in the streets and wants to work in a quieter university retirement, there’s no way they’re going to switch over from an PERA to the ERP and work an extra five years,” Walsh said.

City Police

City of Socorro Police Chief Angel Garcia said fentanyl and opiates on the streets is an ongoing and persistent issue that they deal with every day. He said his department is focusing on reducing violent crime rates in the city and highlighted the importance of community policing. Garcia said they have a newly formed neighborhood watch program and they hold regular meetings with residents to support vigilance and address concerns.

Recruitment and retention of officers is a top challenge, said Garcia. He echoed concerns from other departments about being understaffed and not well paid, as well as the difficulty in competing with other agencies that offer higher salaries and better equipment.

“We are competitive for our area, right now. But the challenges are Valencia County getting a 10% raise, Belen getting 15 to 20% raise. Then equipment wise, we’re lacking in equipment. We’re lacking in automobiles,” Garcia said.

Socorro County Emergency Department

Fred Berger, emergency manager and fire marshal, talked about the three fire districts and the improvements they have been trying to make. He said that last year, two of the fire districts were dysfunctional, and because they didn’t have any training records for them they were automatically disqualified for $1.2 million in funding.

“So we’re trying to fix the districts, but we’re unable to get the grants, so we’re being penalized for what has happened in our past. That will not happen again. Next year, we’ll be compliant,” Berger said.

He said that although they now have a stipend program, which he is grateful for, where volunteer firefighters get paid for training and each call, the pay is not sufficient. The department receives a $25,000 allowance per year from the State Fire Fund, but this amount is not enough when divided among all responders. He noted that even counties paying more per call are still struggling with volunteer retention.

“I’m going to just be blunt; the volunteer programs are dead. And it’s not just hitting New Mexico, not necessarily, it’s all around the country. The volunteer programs are dead. So how do we as a 100% volunteer county, get people to volunteer for us? So that is a huge problem that we’re seeing right now. And thank you Andy (Lotrich) for allowing us to convert some of our positions to dual positions,” Berger said.

Dow and Armstrong said they spend a lot of their time educating their peers on rural issues, the unique circumstances and needs of rural areas, so that policies and funding can be more appropriately tailored and supportive.

Armstrong and Dow criticized bureaucracy and rule-making, calling for more transparency and solutions-oriented approaches from state agencies.

“I’m tired of being told you can’t, instead of saying, let’s find a way how you can. Because I guarantee you there’s a way we can, but it’s easier to just say ‘no’,” Armstrong said.

Dow recommended submitting project funding requests in phases.

“We don’t really know how the capital outlay or January is used until weeks into the session, and they may say only fully fund projects. So that’s why we ask for phases. You can give us all the phases at once if you want, but if it’s a $10 million price tag, we all have to say ‘no’, if we’re told fully fund or zero,” Dow said.

Dow and Armstrong expressed concerns about the South Central Council of Governments (SCCOG), specifically criticizing its performance and accountability. They highlighted issues related to resource distribution, leadership effectiveness and the SCCOG’s ability to secure funding, especially in comparison to other councils. Dow and Armstrong specifically mentioned Jay Armjo and recommended against voting for him.

Both representatives thanked the police, fire, county and city for their hard work and committed to helping them any way they could.

“We’re here to advocate for what’s good for your cities and your counties and your villages and for your departments. So we may not always get it all done right the first time, but we’ll go back and try again and keep advocating for that,” Armstrong said.