Letter to the editor: Down the garden path

I think the Magdalena community needs some clarification on the comment made by Mayor Rumpf in last week’s edition of the Chieftain. But first a little history to understand the context. At the November meeting the narcotics investigator training was brought up for approval. It was explained that the training was needed for them to become federally certified narcotics investigators so the village could apply for federal grant money. It was first argued by Board member Dawson that they should go separately so the village was not left unprotected. I also brought up that the same training was being offered in Sedona with exactly the same curriculum so they could go separately and there were openings. One of the officers said that neither was true and that I did not know how to read a website (I’ll admit that I am old and have been reading websites for decades). The trip to the Las Vegas area was then approved by the Board. I later spoke with the NM Dept. of Public Safety Deputy Director of Training, the person in charge of training for all the police officers in the state. She explained that there is no such thing as a federally certified narcotics investigator and encouraged me to ask to see these grants that are requiring the training. I did ask Mayor Rumpf to see the grants on December 9th. So far, he has not been able to provide any.

Included in the packet for the January 13th meeting was the hotel bill from an officer attending a training in Las Vegas, Nevada in December. The agenda also included approval of a February training in Indian Hills, Nevada. The mayor was quoted in the Chieftain as saying the training is “outside of Las Vegas”. Yes, it is 31 miles outside of Las Vegas, however the officers are staying at a casino/hotel in Las Vegas and driving back and forth to the training. It was argued that the training is also offered closer, in Arizona and Texas but the Board still approved their third trip to the Las Vegas area in four months – December, February and March. The trainings have been approved even though the trainings are offered closer, even though both officers going leaves the village with only a young inexperienced officer who has not yet been to training and even though there is no such thing as a federally certified narcotics investigator. As I stated at the meeting – I feel like the Board and the community has been led down the garden path.

Teri Winchester

Magdalena