Sheriff Greg Solano Blog

Funny Friday- The Zen State Trooper.

2008-07-24T20:17:00.005-06:00

This Maine State Trooper is not only the most calm officer I have ever seen, he also has an amazing ability to not laugh his head off with the over reaction of this speeding violator. The speeding citizen also had high hopes that newly elected President Bill Clinton would not only change the world, he would also help speeders across this country.

(Warning there is some explicit language.)

Officer Deaths Decrease During First Half of 2008

2008-07-23T01:35:00.006-06:00

In October of 2007 I blogged about the 54% increase in officer deaths in 2007. I am happy to report that those numbers have decreased dramatically. So much so that the number of deaths have not been so low since 1965 when 55 officers were killed. In the first six months of 2007, 100 officers died in the line of duty as compared to 2008 where in the first six months 59 officers have died in the line of duty. These numbers include all officer on duty deaths including shootings, traffic fatalities and other line of duty deaths.

Preliminary 2008 Law Enforcement Officer Fatality Statistics as of July 22 according to
National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial Fund.

2008 2007 %Change
Total Fatalities 64 110 -42%
Gunfire 25 43 -42%
Traffic Incidents 32 50 -36%
Other Causes 7 17 -59%

2008 Fatalities - Top 10 States

Texas 7 Ohio 3
California 5 Oklahoma 3
Florida 4 Several 2
Georgia 4

Federal Agencies
4

The last two New Mexico Officers who's names were added to the National Memorial in May of 2008 were: CHRISTOPHER M MIRABAL Patrolman from the New Mexico State Police, and GERMAINE FERRIS CASEY Police Officer from Rio Rancho P.D.. There are now 130 names of Officers from New Mexico listed on the National Memorial in Washington. I have blogged before about the need for officers to pay attention to this statistics if only as a reminder not to become one of the numbers. While Traffic Accidents have been the top killer of officers for a number of years, shooting deaths are not far behind. In the first half of 2008 50 officers have died in traffic accidents and 43 have been shot to death.

Preventing these deaths means a combination of defensive driving and defensive tactics by officers when on the streets. Citizens often do not understand why certain tactics are used when performing tasks which may seem mundane. Simple traffic stops may seem like everyday activities to many citizens, however to an officer it is one of the most dangerous tasks we perform. Officers constantly change and revise how these stops are performed in order to keep one step ahead of the criminals. On the other hand just like when going through security check points at an airport all citizens are subjected to additional scrutiny in order to deal with the few who would do harm.

Officers also need to pay extra attention when going from call to call. Officers spend 10 hours a day, 40 hours a week, not counting over time, driving from one end of the county or city to the other responding to calls for service. Even when it is not a full blown emergency when someone calls the police they expect a quick response. Many times officers end up in too much of a hurry trying to serve the public. I often remind the deputies in the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office that it does not serve the public or your fellow deputies if you never get to the call. Even a minor traffic accident can not only tie up the officer involved for hours it will also tie up other officers and commanders as well. On the other hand when you average out the number of hours officers spend behind the wheel the actual number of accidents officers are in are way below the national average for drivers.

Many of us in law enforcement management are concerned about the economy and its downturn. We are very concerned about the effect it will have on crime across the nation. In bad economic times there are often increases in crime across the board including thefts, robbery's, and homicides which are the result of another crime in progress. Officer deaths could increase during national increases in crime rates as well. I am hoping for the best but at the same time we always prepare for the worst.

A Dad First.

2008-07-14T21:58:00.007-06:00

I was going to talk today about the decrease in officer deaths across the nation in this last year. I guess I will leave that for another day. It seems like the whole world knows my son was arrested for his second DWI. If I was not Sheriff it would not be a big news story. At least not one that would make all three TV stations and two days of coverage in one local paper and coverage in the other local paper. My official comment "I'm disappointed in my sons recent arrest" really does not tell the inner turmoil and pain my wife and I feel. I have seen alcoholism since I was a young child. I have seen the worst of what DWI does to peoples lives as a cop since 1988. I have seen the domestic violence, I have seen people die with cirrhosis of the liver as young as 40 and I have lifted their bodies soaked with blood filled vomit into body bags. Worst of all I have been to crash after crash with DWI drivers and innocent victims dying on our streets and highways.

Imagine fighting DWI all these years and seeing your own son arrested for his second DWI. Imagine your son is in the hospital after a suspected DWI related accident, all you know is he has a head injury and at first you are told it should be minor and then you learn he may be admitted to the hospital because doctors are unsure. Because I am Sheriff I tell my wife we can't go to the hospital. My appearance there could be taken as an influence against the officers there to arrest my son. We have to avoid any appearance of influencing the outcome of the arrest. Therefor we don't call anyone for information, we wait. I did not call the state police for information because I did not want anyone saying I called them in an attempt to influence the handling of the case. Any other parent could call the police to find out what was happening with their son, I could not. The hospital had only one nurse on duty for the whole emergency room so when I called just to find out if he was ok it was fruitless.

While I am waiting I can't help but think about what got us to this point. My children have always had extra pressure because of my career. When my son was in high school I was a Juvenile Detective assigned to the Gang Unit. I had to do a lot of work at the high schools during this time when Juvenile Gang activity was at an all time high. My son got a lot of hell from other kids about his "Narc Dad". I always told my kids about how bad it would be if my kids were in trouble. My son struggled through High School but graduated anyway. He could not wait to get out of the house when he turned 18. Was I too hard on him or was he tired of living under my shadow? My whole family has to face life in the public eye. Both my kids had to hear lies, rumors, and some downright awful things said about me over the years. When our family had good times or bad times it was always under the public eye. Even before I was sheriff, when I was a union president my kids would read about and hear about controversy's at my job in the papers and from other kids whose parents were cops who disagreed with decisions I made in the union.

I knew what I was signing up for when I took or ran for each position. My family was just along for the ride. They wanted to support me but did they really know what they were getting into? Early in the morning after my sons accident I called the hospital again to see if he had been released, no the nurse said, a doctor had not been found to see him. Apparently the hospital was short on doctors as well as nurses this morning. The nurse also said the cops had left. The cops had left? This usually means the suspect, my son, was worse than I thought. Many times in a misdemeanor arrest, if the person is going to be in the hospital for a while they leave them there and summons them into court on a later date. Officers can not be tied up waiting in a hospital for a person to be released. Only in felony arrests do officers stay with the patient until they are released. This is standard practice but I knew that if this was the case with my son that it could become a problem. Some people would not believe this was standard practice. Here I was thinking about the politics of the situation.

As my wife and I drove to the hospital praying that he was going to be ok I decided I needed to be a dad first. Stop thinking about my career and think about my son. He has been in counseling for alcohol treatment for about three weeks now. He has really been depressed lately having a hard time making ends meet and providing for his two year old child. No excuses though, no one should Ever, Ever Drink and Drive. Now we are arranging for inpatient treatment if our insurance provider decides through an assessment that he qualifies. My wife and I prepare to try and help him with his bills if he goes into rehab for weeks. He wonders if he will still have a job when he gets out. I guess all parents think their kids are good kids, and deep down I know my son is one of the most caring, loving persons I know. I know he is hurting and we need to do all we can to cure him from the disease that seems to have crept into all our lives. My wife and I thank god no one else was hurt and that my sons life was spared. I am prepared for criticism and press articles about whether or not my son received special treatment. The truth is I know he did not and you know what, ........ I'm a dad first.

.

Drastic Cuts Await Northern New Mexico Drug Task Force

2008-06-29T20:50:00.006-06:00

New Mexico is about to swallow 67% cuts in one of the primary funding sources in the war on drugs. The Byrne JAG grant which in past has provided 2.9 million in funding for combating drug dealing in New Mexico has been reduced to 900,000 by the Bush Administration in the 2009 federal budget. Across the nation the grants have been reduced from 520 million to a mere 170 million to be divided up among all 50 states. Since the Clinton administration law enforcement has faced year after year of cuts in every funding source once provided by the federal government.Northern New Mexico which includes Santa Fe, Rio Arriba, Los Alamos and Taos Counties usually combat drug dealers using the Region III drug task force. The Task force is made up of officers from cities and counties in the area and the New Mexico State Police. Each City and County who sends officers to the task force pays the base salaries of their officers. The task force and its federal funding provide equipment, office and civilian support and overtime funding as well as monies to purchase drugs and pay informants. The 67% cuts in funding will create big changes in the way things are done. After a big sigh and a few moments in mourning we will now have to sit down and cope.

Byrne-JAG grants began on February 26, 1988.On that day New York City Police Officer Edward R. Byrne was working witness protection on a witness in a large drug case. While sitting in his patrol car outside the witnesses' home he was ambushed and killed by two gunmen. Police later captured four suspects, the two who ambushed him and two lookouts. The hit was ordered by a gang related drug kingpin from his jail cell.

Later that year the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 was passed. As part of the act the U.S. Government launched a Department of Justice initiative titled the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program. Over the years it provided local law enforcement agencies with the tools, money and officers it needed to combat high level drug dealers, gangs and murders.

The region III task force is the best way to combine our forces and deal with the big picture and target the big fish who deal drugs in Northern New Mexico. I believe several of the city and county chiefs and sheriff's along with State Police, will commit to whatever resources are needed to continue the task force but it will not be easy. With costs for officers on the rise, gas prices on the rise, ammunition expensive and hard to get due to the war, law enforcement is really feeling the crunch. It is only a matter of time before the effects are felt both within the ranks and in the public.

Across the nation U.S. Attorneys General, National Sheriff's Associations, The International Chiefs of Police and others have rallied against the cuts. Usually this works in at least restoring lost funds if not getting increases. This year we have all failed Miserably. Our own Attorney General Gary King petitioned congress along with Attorney Generals from 50 states to restore the funding. I personally spoke to Congressman and Senate Candidate Tom Udall about the need to restore this funding however the cuts were recently passed and attempts by some in congress to restore the funding have failed.

(photo from Democracy for New Mexico )

Some of you, whether you believe in recreational or medical drug use or not, may think that this does not affect you. Some believe the war on drugs is a failure and should be abandoned all together anyway. I believe burglaries and other thefts could increase, homicides and gang activities could grow, and innocent people could die. Mexican cartels which already have taken over Meth, Cocaine, and Heroin supplies could grow into todays American Mafia's. The biggest problem with the Mexican cartels is they are not afraid to kill whether it is on American soil or Mexican. Already hit lists of individuals in New Mexico have been drafted by Mexican Cartels who are not afraid of U.S. Law Enforcement. Mexican criminals are gaining power and could end up making Manuel Noriega look like a Wal-Mart shoplifter compared to this new breed of heavily armed criminal.

When I think of the Bush Administrations handling of the war on drugs and law enforcement in general it reminds me of the time President George stood on the deck of an aircraft carrier and declared that "major combat operations in Iraq have ended. All while standing in front of a Mission Accomplished banner. This was five years ago and our troops still die in Iraq as the war rages on. Has President Bush declared victory in the War on Drugs? Maybe the Federal Government has waived the white flag and surrendered? Either way the Federal Government is wrong. We must continue to attack the problems created by drug addiction, not only with law enforcement but with additional treatment and prevention programs. Funding for treatment and prevention is also declining rapidly and is unavailable to many who need and want it.

Many times the pendulum swings from one extreme to the other and I am hoping it begins swinging back to a place where law enforcement is adequately funded. Until then we will hunker down in our fox holes and hold the enemy at bay until reinforcements arrive.

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

2008-06-26T15:53:00.006-06:00

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Sheriff Greg Solano Endorses Barack Obama

2008-06-23T23:13:00.005-06:00

As those of you who read my blog regularly know, I endorsed Hilary Clinton in the Democratic Primary Election. That election has come and gone and as I stated back in January when I endorsed Hillary, Barack Obama was also an excellent candidate and I would have no problem supporting him should he be the nominee. Well, he is now the nominee and not only do I whole heartily support Barack Obama, I ask each of you to do so as well. We need new effective leadership to undo the pain of the Bush Administration, John McCain is a war hero and has served his country well, I will not deny him that. However, he is not that different in his philosophical beliefs and his ties to the Bush Administration.

This country needs a clean break from the failures of the Bush Administration and no one represents that change more than Barack Obama. My wife and I had a chance to visit with him shortly when he campaigned in Santa Fe just before the June Primary. My wife Antoinette was an early Obama supporter and this was one of the few elections we have ever voted for different candidates. The split between my wife and I was very indicative of the split seen across our entire nation as almost half the nations democrats supported one candidate or the other. When I met him I must say I was struck by his magnetic personality and the presence of greatness I felt when around him. I have met several Presidents and Vice-Presidents and I must say he was different than most in the way he made you feel when you spoke to him. I have no doubt he will continue to have that effect on the public and this will carry him to a landslide victory. Most important is that you get out and vote in November no matter who your candidate is, second to that thought is my hope that you will join with me in electing Barack Obama as our next president.

Barack Obama and Sheriff Greg Solano backstage at the rally in Santa Fe New Mexico.

Antoinette Solano with Barack Obama backstage at a rally in Santa Fe New Mexico

P.S. Be sure and visit my Run for Lieutenant Governor Blog to read about my trip to Las Cruces!

A new post on the Solano for Lt. Governor Blog.

2008-06-19T17:41:00.004-06:00

I have put up a new post on the Solano for Lt. Governor blog. It details my trip on Tuesday with about 20 other Sheriff's from throughout New Mexico as we toured the desert along the border between Mexico and Las Cruces. It was very informative and gave me a first hand look at the problems Sheriff's in Counties along the border are having.

Here is a pic with me standing on the back of an ATV with Under Sheriff Robert Garcia at the wheel as we tour the desert between Las Cruces and Mexico in Dona Ana County.

Time to Rally around Democratic Congressional Candidates

2008-06-16T13:11:00.003-06:00

I have never made any bones about my devotion to the Democratic Party. Therefor it should come as no surprise that I am supporting the Democratic Candidates for Congress. The nice thing is that we actually have some great candidates for our federal offices and even if you put aside the party affiliation we still have the most qualified and best persons for the job.

I started out my support for the general election by helping Tom Udall who is running for the Senate by appearing in a commercial titled "whats right". While filming took a few hours the portion I appear in is only a few seconds as we walk and talk together at a crime scene. Tom Udall has been effective, attentive to his constituents and has proven himself to be man who votes what he believes and not what the lobbyists want or voting the way the wind blows on any given day. He would come to the senate with experience and knowledge to hit the ground running and we could ask no more from our representative.

I am fully supporting Ben Ray Lujan in his quest to fill the 3rd Congressional District seat in Northern New Mexico. He won a landslide race in a hard fought primary and now will face his Republican Challenger in the November Primary. I have known the Lujan family for years and thier devotion and dedication to New Mexico goes without saying. Look to Ben Ray to carry on his fathers legacy to new heights in congress.

The race which I really did not have a hard decision but was slightly torn up about is the 1st Congressional District Race with Democrat Martin Heinrich facing off against Sheriff Darren White of Bernalillo County. My first thought was that it would be great to have a member of Law Enforcement at the federal level. He should understand the needs of Law Enforcement and should be able to effectively argue from experience what the Bush cuts to Law Enforcement programs have done to decimate community policing and drug enforcement across this nation. Unfortunately Sheriff Darren White has shown to be a Bush foot soldier. He has chaired his New Mexico fundraising and failed to stand up to massive cuts in the COPS programs, the Edward Byrne Justice Assistance Grants often called (Byrne-JAG funding). Funding has gone from the billions to millions under the Bush Administration. All the While Darren White has carried President Bushes flag high.

Sheriff White has supported the failed Bush war efforts and has shown no inkling that he will not continue in the path of his mentor President George Bush. I am disappointed, I would have loved to see a Law Enforcement officer bring his or her unique experiences into congress. Perhaps another day we will have a Law Enforcement Officer whom I can support run for congress.

On the other hand I believe we have a great candidate in with Democrat Martin Heinrich he has worked to combat crime and graffiti in Albuquerque as a city councilor and worked to pass a local ordinance in Albuquerque on an issue I fully supported which was increasing the minimum wage. On the war in Iraq he wants to undertake creative and genuine diplomatic initiatives with all countries in the region so we can bring our troops home as soon as possible. And, he states we must make sure our returning soldiers receive the quality health care and benefits they deserve.

In the 2nd Congressional District general election race I also support and ask you to support Democrat Harry Teague . This district although predominantly democrat is the district which elected Steve Pierce a republican. We can send another strong message to Washington by electing Harry Teague in this district.

I hope you will all join me in supporting these candidates. We must send a strong message to the Republican Party and the Bush administration that we do not accept failure, not the failures of the war, the failure of the American Economy, and the failure to prevent the gas crisis we are facing. In my next post I will discuss the Presidential Race.

Sheriff Joe Arpaio Steps into New Mexico Politics

2008-05-31T12:02:00.002-06:00

Sheriff Joe Arpaio from Maricopa County Arizona has decided to step into the New Mexico political scene. An article from Gwyneth Doland in the New Mexican Independent News website describes how the Sheriff who is both hated and revered across this country decided to endorse Aubrey Dunn in his 2cd Congressional District primary race against Ed Tinsley.

I have described in some past blog posts some of Sheriff Arpaio's tactics regarding his tent city jails and lately he has taken to rounding up illegal immigrants in his county. He has begun using deputies to round up immigrants and even started a hot line where citizens can call in information on smugglers and individual immigrants. Using laws designed to arrest smugglers of immigrants he is arresting the immigrants who are smuggled as co-conspirators. He is one of the first and may be the only sheriff in the country who is doing this. Because of Sheriff Arpaio's hard stance on illegal immigration he is supporting Aubrey Dunn who is also taking a hard line on illegal immigrants. Aubrey Dunn has also attracted the support of the Minute Man Civil Defense Corps. The Minute Men are a group of volunteers who's mission it is to patrol the border and catch immigrants crossing over illegally.

Both Sheriff Arpaio and The Minute Men cite Aubrey Dunn's promise to fight any type of amnesty program as the reason they are supporting him. In this blog post I discussed whether Sheriff Arpaio would last a day in Santa Fe. Here are some other posts where I discussed Sheriff Arpaio.

New Mexico is a diverse state, City's like Santa Fe and Albuquerque have proclaimed themselves immigrant friendly, while cities and counties which are along the Mexico, New Mexico border take a hard line with immigration. Problems from illegal immigration are much more pronounced in the cities and counties along the New Mexico border and as such the citizens who live in the area want relief. Some candidates from these areas are positioning themselves to attract the voters who are fed up with the immigration problems in the U.S.. I do feel that immigration reform is needed and while we should strengthen our borders we must make a workable solution available for those who want to come and work here to do so in a legal way. I have often felt that Sheriff Arpaio has a tendency to tip toe if not step on civil rights and often chooses the extreme solution to a problem. This does provide media coverage and can rally the troops which, when you look at his re-election numbers seems to work well in his county. It's not my style and Sheriff Arpaio and myself are on completely opposite sides of the political spectrum.

Has The Tide Turned on Police Recruiting?

2008-05-18T22:24:00.004-06:00

Over the past 5 or so years recruiting for Law Enforcement has been trying at best and frustrating at the worst. When I started as a City of Santa Fe Police Officer in 1988 now Captain Gary Johnson and I were among almost 100 applicants who applied for three positions in the city police department. When we were hired we started at $6.50 an hour or approximately $14,000 a year. Wages slowly increased mostly due at the time to the start of police unions. Yet, as wages increased, applicants to the positions rapidly decreased. 100 applicants for three openings no longer was the norm. In the last two years only 1 or 2 applicants would make it through the testing and background process, sometimes no one would survive the vetting process.

This morning I ran across the this article in the Albuquerque Journal (subscription may be required). In the copyrighted article titled "Everybody wants to be a Cop" Author T.J. Wilham describes how

Teachers, mechanics, stockbrokers, contractors and even bartenders are giving up their careers to make big bucks and join Albuquerque's finest— and they are doing so in record numbers. Come July, the Albuquerque Police Department is expected to seat an academy class of up to 100 cadets. It will likely be the largest class in the academy's 60-year history. The largest so far was the class of 1984, with 63 in a year.

According to the article starting pay in Albuquerque has increased 47 percent boosting basic pay above the $58,000 mark. Yet there are still questions about whether or not the department will reach authorized staffing levels after years of being short over 100 officers. I am curious as to how the change from 10 hour shifts to 8 hour shifts will work out. The amount of time officers must spend in court and other day off duties makes it very hard to get by with the traditional 2 days off. With ten hour shifts officers have three days off but many times one or two of those days are spent in court or other overtime duties.

The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office currently has one vacancy and two individuals completing background checks. One of those two is expected to be hired. Pay has increased at the sheriff's office each year over the last 6 years with increases over 15% happening last year. The City of Santa Fe is currently doing much better at hiring then in previous years and soon could be adding another 45 officers to its current staffing levels. When I first started as an officer most people became officers because they had a burning desire to be one or they did it for the excellent benefits officers have, the pay was not a big incentive. Now traditional careers which once paid more have fallen below officers in pay and when you combine the pay with the benefits Law Enforcement becomes a much more lucrative career. It is still not for everyone. It is often hours of tedious duties, patrols and paperwork uninterrupted by minutes of terror, horror, or emotional stress. However, you can never forget the satisfaction you earn when you help someone.

I am glad to see pay increasing to a respectable level, when I started at $6.50 an hour I literally knew police officers who lived in public housing with their spouse and kids. Not as a community policing effort but because they qualified for the housing and could not afford anything else in Santa Fe. One of the things that has always bothered me was officers who encouraged their children to do anything else but law enforcement. When pay was low and working conditions tough I could see why they did it but still disagreed. Law Enforcement is an honorable and fulfilling career and we should encourage our youth to look at this career. Now that pay and benefits are up to par we should do more to show young people what a great life you can have as an officer.

Public Defender Goes Overboard.

2008-04-08T18:13:00.004-06:00

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.

New York Times Chronicles Heroin Problem in Northern New Mexico

2008-04-03T21:35:00.002-06:00

The April 2, 2008 New York Times delved into Northern New Mexico's heroin problem, primarily the use of Narcan and distribution of clean needles. New Mexico distributes Clean needles in a needle exchange program and also distributes nasal spray doses of Narcan which is a drug used to recover and prevent death during an overdose.

According to the article Needle exchanges and Narcan distribution are opposed by federal officials, who say they amount to endorsing addiction. Bertha K. Madras, a deputy director at the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy, has said that Narcan, the trade name for naloxone, should be administered only by medical professionals and that it could make addicts feel safer and less likely to seek care.

As I read the New York Times article this morning I couldn't help but think about this article which came out this morning in our local paper. While the contents of the article which chronicles the arrest of a man who traded heroin for the sister of an addicted man would shock many, it does not surprise me. Northern New Mexico which includes portions of Northern Santa Fe County is an entirely different world when it comes to drug addiction and death. I have seen grandparents, parents, children and great grandchildren all addicted to heroin in the same family. The family ties of addiction make arrests and undercover operations in these areas extremely hard. Because everyone is related, outsiders are not accepted and can not break into these family drug cartels. This makes law enforcement operations extremely hard in these areas.
I have often defended the drug war and exposed why I feel that legalizing drugs is a bad idea. However I do feel that we as a state and a nation are not spending enough for treatment centers, in particular long term treatment centers. I also feel Narcan is an effective life saving tool. I still have not made up my mind on needle exchange programs. On the one hand I do not want to do anything that promotes continued use of drugs however, I do realize that clean needles prevent the spread of diseases and save lives also.

This issue is not a quick fix issue. We will have to use many different tools in order to combat this problem. The costs to jail someone is as much if not more than treatment. The waiting lists for treatment is long however the jail always has room for one more. The one point I do often make is the fact that many of those who do receive any treatment at all are as a result of an arrest. You really don't find many people who seek out help on their own. Many may not want to believe it but when we arrest someone for drug crimes we would like nothing better than for that person to get help and become a productive member of society.

For more on drugs and legalization click here.

Reaction to feds wreck havoc post.

2008-04-01T09:46:00.003-06:00

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.

2008-03-31T11:07:00.004-06:00

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.

KOAT TV has interview with Deputy Shot in Lincoln County

2008-03-27T23:08:00.002-06:00

KOAT TV had an interview last night with Sergeant Robert Shepard of Lincoln County Sheriff's Office. Sergeant Shepard was shot by a fugitive on March 18, 2008. It was very emotional for me to watch and Sergeant Shepard showed what a great man he is when he makes a point of wishing condolences to the family of Kurt Sohrbeck the man who shot him. Kurt Sohrbeck was killed yesterday 3-26-08 when he was found in Otero County. I am glad to see Sergeant Shepard is doing better and my family's prayers continue to be with him and his family. I also thank god that the Otero County Deputy who confronted Sohrbeck survived the encounter and made it home to his family.

There is a saying in law enforcement that sounds harsh but is implanted in the back of every cops mind. "It is better to be judged by 12 than carried by eight."

Record blog visits since posting Toby, Ted, Rodney and Me.

2008-03-27T22:33:00.003-06:00

The last two days the visits to this blog have more than doubled. Seems this blog was mentioned in the forums of both Toby Keith and Ted Nugent's Web sites. You must become fan club members in order to access the forums so I did not get to see the actual posts. My counter keeps track of how people find this blog and most hits in the last two days have come from their forums. Normally I get 60-70 hits a day to my blog. Yesterday I received 240 hits and today we are over 140 so far. I guess we need to have more celebrity guests on this blog! LOL.

Toby Keith gets sworn in as a deputy.

Toby, Ted, Rodney and Me.

2008-03-25T18:47:00.009-06:00

Its appropriate that the title of this post sounds like a country music song. Its about my day with Toby Keith, Ted Nugent, and Rodney Carrington. The three along with Claire Forlani, ("CSI: NY"), country icon Willie Nelson, Barry Corbin, ("No Country For Old Men," "Dukes of Hazzard"), and Tom Skerritt ("Brothers and Sisters") were filming the movie "Beer for my Horses" in Santa Fe.

As has become usual for Santa Fe, The Sheriff's Office provided security and traffic control for the movie, paid for by the production company at over time rates. I visited the set and Ted Nugent, Toby Keith, and Rodney Carrington joined Burt Reynolds, Adam Sandler, and Chris Rock as honorary deputies in Santa Fe County. I had lunch on the set and watched some set up for the nights filming. It was a lot of fun and I thank the stars and the staff on the set for treating me like a star.

Ted Nugent and myself on the set of Beer for my Horses.

Toby Keith getting sworn in by Sheriff Greg Solano as a Honorary Deputy

Rodney Carrington and I strike a pose.

The Nuge signs an autograph for me.

Some may remember that Toby Keith gave Barry Switzer a friend and supporter of mine a signed guitar for my Re-election campaign. We raffled the guitar off at a fund raiser which was attended by Barry Switzer, former Oklahoma University and Dallas Cowboy head coach, who mingled with the crowd and signed autographs.

This last weekend Ted Nugent (his honorary commission says Theodore Nugent) called my cell phone and expressed his prayers for Deputy Robert Shepard of Lincoln County. Deputy Shepard was shot by a fugitive on March 18, 2008 and is in an El Paso Hospital fighting for his life. Ted said he wants to be back in New Mexico in a few weeks and would like to visit the Deputy. I am sure all of law enforcement appreciates Ted's support.

Minds Interrupted: Stories of Lives Affected by Mental Illness

2008-03-22T22:38:00.002-06:00

On March 15, 2008 I took part in Minds Interrupted: Stories of Lives Affected by Mental Illness. It was an evening of monologues featuring stories of people affected by mental illness. The pieces included performances by people both with a diagnosis of mental illness as well as family members living with this disease. The event was produced by the Santa Fe Chapter of the National Alliance on Mental Illness and Project Life Stories. It was interesting from a writing perspective because other than this blog most of my writing has been fiction. It was one thing to write the monologue but performing it became an emotional event. I still choked up a little when I got to the part where my mother passed away. The house was sold out and all the monologues were inspirational. Those who are afflicted with mental illnesses were particularly inspirational and their bravery in standing up and telling their stories was indescribable. It was one of those things that you just had to be there. Here is my monologue.

He was a Marine, through and through. Although as a child the movie Rambo with Sylvester Stallone had not yet been written it could have been the story of my uncle. He was a large man with a serious look and a stone chiseled face. Vietnam had made him into the man he was, yet unlike Rambo he was intelligent. Always reading a book, sometimes a dictionary or a bible. Many times even after his tour of duty ended he still read army manuals. Books about infiltrating enemy camps or out thinking the enemy on the battlefield. After Vietnam his intelligent side kicked in. He went to work for defense contractor McDonnell Douglas building bombs and missiles. Still contributing to the war effort. At the time he was the successful one in the family. The one with the nicest house and the pool in the backyard. He lived near Los Angeles with a wife, two young girls and what appeared to the rest of us as a perfect life.

I was about 14 or 15 when I first realized things had changed. I soon learned that after Vietnam my uncle came back with addictions. Addictions to marijuana and alcohol. While he was functional for many years eventually it caught up with him. He lost his job, and then his wife, the house with the pool came next. By the time my mother got involved he was deep into a mental illness that turned him from the most successful Solano to the homeless Solano. That's when he arrived at our house. For the most part he still looked like the big strong marine. He even still walked around with large books, reading intensely as he walked back and forth in the front yard. He often would lift large boulders and carry them back and forth across the yard as a way of keeping physically fit. It was only when you looked into his eyes that you first realized something was wrong. When you looked into his eyes it was as though the soul was no longer there. He was not the uncle I grew up with. He was someone else. In some ways it was only the shell of the man I once knew. Did anyone notice I have been referring to my
uncle in the past tense for the last few paragraphs? I only just now noticed it. He was a marine, he had a nice home, he was married, etc, etc. I guess it’s because all this was pre-mental illness. Its as though he died, only he didn't, he is still around today. Just not the man he once was.

My mother worked two and three jobs to raise her two boys and two girls. A single mother who was intent on keeping her family off welfare. I remember as a young boy going to the grocery store and paying with coupons, food stamps. No fancy debit cards like today, In those days you separated the food and non food items, pulled out your book of food stamps and payed with the different denominations. Everyone in line knew that you were paying with food stamps. My mother hated it; I could see it on her face every time we went to the store. Now we had another mouth to feed, my uncle, her brother. My mother tried to get help for my uncle. He had been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. PTSD was a new thing in those days although it really existed for centuries. In World War I it was called shell shocked, Later Combat Fatigue, now PTSD. Different names, same ruined lives. He received medications which seemed to work, when he took them. He would go though bouts of getting better only to go though bouts of drinking and not his taking medications. The cycle ended with him going to jail. Jail, for those of you who don't have immediate family members with mental illness combined with drug and or alcohol addictions, is where we send our ill family members. That is where they stay until a bed opens up in a short term treatment facility.

The more my mother learned about his illness the more she wanted to help, not just my uncle but others as well, the future mentally ill who maybe could be saved before they lost it all. One of my mother’s jobs was with the State of New Mexico as a clerk at the Department of Motor Vehicles. While working for the state she learned of a state funded program called Sangre De Cristo Mental Health. A small clinic which was trying to provide outpatient treatment for those with mental illness. She applied for and received a job there, first as a secretary and later she progressed to a case worker. All while armed with nothing more than a high school diploma. While making mental illness her job, she still kept working to help others outside of work. At one time she traveled to Washington DC to learn about a new group called the National Alliance on Mentally Illness. Her travel companions and her returned to Santa Fe and began forming the local chapter. Meanwhile my uncle was still in and out of jail. Most of the time he was arrested for Protective Custody or Public Drunkenness. With no other place to take those intoxicated or mentally ill, police could only take them to jail. My mother next began work on a sobering center. A place where the intoxicated could be taken to sober up, get treatment and get back on their medications. A very early edition of the Newspaper the Santa Fe reporter chronicled her attempts to make the sobering center a reality. I was now 21 years old, just married and beginning a family of my own. I had moved into my own small, actually really, really, small mobile home with my new wife.

I remember the phone ringing in the middle of the night. You know one of those wake you up in the middle of the night calls that can never be good news. I reached over for the phone and it was one of my uncles. One who hardly ever called me. My mother was dead. She had taken a van load of staff from Sangre De Cristo Mental Health to a seminar in Taos. She dropped them off and then headed back down the canyon. The theory is that she swerved to avoid a boulder in the road, lost control
and went off the cliff above the Rio Grande. My life was never the same. My uncles only got worse. While family member after family member tried to care for my uncle no one could get the cooperation from him my mother could. His daughter moved to Santa Fe just to care for him. This ended in frustration and despair. Today you can still see my uncle, you can catch him at the St. Johns food Kitchen for lunch. You can also find him walking Cerrillos Road in Santa Fe. He refuses to live with
anyone and seems to be complacent living on the streets. He hardly recognizes me or anyone else.

Sangre De Cristo Mental Health closed down a few years after my mother died. Other Mental Health Centers have also come and gone. Those with mental illness still go to jail awaiting a bed in a mental health inpatient facility. Twenty three years after my mother began efforts to open a sobering center, the center came to fruition. The joint City, county sobering center opened last year. I am a conglomeration of my experiences growing up. The struggle my mother went through with my uncle and his mental illness taught me a lot about love and devotion. My uncle’s illness became my mother’s life. Her career developed out of her efforts to support him. In a way her death came in the same manner. While I can’t say that I began a career in law enforcement because of these experiences, they have definitely shaped my policies and issues. I can never forget seeing my uncle go from the most successful in the family to the homeless one in the family. I will always remember the love, devotion and sacrifice my mother endured for her brother. As I write this I struggled for a way to end this monologue and then I realized my family still struggles with my uncle’s illness and we pray for his safety while grasping for answers. There is yet no end to this story.

If it weren't for lawyers, we wouldn't need them.....

2008-02-29T11:29:00.004-07:00

The voters in the City of Santa Fe are getting ready to vote on an amendment to the City Charter which would require those who want to run for Municipal Judge to hold a law degree. The local newspapers have advocated for this in editorial after editorial each election year where the municipal judge is on the ballot since the days of Judge Tom Fiorina.
In my teenage years I remember getting a ticket, Ok, maybe more than one, and appearing before Municipal Judge Rumaldo E. “Cuate” Chavez. I had to research his real name since no one knew him as anything more than Judge Cuate Chavez. I remember sitting in his office with my mother and handling the whole thing pretty informally. No passing through a metal detector, standing in one line to check in, then waiting in a packed courtroom for the judge to appear and taking in case by case and everyone wondering if the judge is going to be as tough or lenient as she is to the case she is hearing now. It was the true peoples court. Judge Cuate scolded me and then went easy on fines, He knew my mother, a single mother of four children, working two jobs to get by, would be footing the bill. He also knew that my mother would be much more harsh on me than anything he could meat out.

This was true peoples court. No big formality's, no "please rise" as the judge entered the court room and you got true one on one time with the judge to plead your case. Quite a stark contrast to the Red Light Camera era upon us now. Granted it is a court of law and the city has grown tremendously since these days in the early 80's. But has the true premise of a "peoples court outgrown Santa Fe? Have we progressed so far that we must give up the idea of a peoples court and decide that what we need for petty misdemeanors and misdemeanors is beyond the common sense judge and what we need is someone who has gone to law school?

If voters want a lawyer couldn't they just elect one during election times? Currently while you do need a law degree to run there is nothing to preclude any and all lawyers to run. It would be interesting to see a good non-lawyer candidate face a lawyer candidate and see really how the voters would decide. I was interested in seeing such a race this time around however no one challenged the incumbent lawyer candidate.

I feel that more important than a law degree is a person of good common sense. Someone who decide cases within the law but having true compassion and understanding that this is a court which commonly handles not real criminals, but real people dealing with daily problems and who may have made a mistake, or maybe they are innocent. Ayn Rand a Russian born American Writer once said “The only power any government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws.” Sometimes I believe this to be true. It is usually in the misdemeanor category that this is most true.

Things like the Cell Phone ordinance in the city are perfect examples. The Police have many options to give citations to those who drive badly or are inattentive to their driving due to cell phone use. The actual hands free cell phone ordinance in my opinion is not needed and only causes some people who are actually good careful drivers to break the law. I know of no one who has not broken this law even just long enough to tell someone they will call back or to tell them to hold on while they pull over. These kinds of laws I believe are just the things that require a common sense judge and not a law degree to make a decision on. In my profession I have appeared before many a Judge, many of them with or with out law degree's. I have seen good and bad on both sides. On felony cases and in courts of record I fully believe we need judges who are lawyers. In misdemeanor and courts which are not courts of record ie- Municipal and Magistrate I believe we can still have citizen judges who may or may not have law degrees.

I urge the public to vote no' on Amendment Seven, which would require candidates for Municipal Judge to hold law degrees. Those lawyers who want to run will not be precluded and we will not preclude good candidates who do not hold degrees from running.

"I busted a mirror and got seven years bad luck, but my lawyer thinks he can get me five." Steven Wright, Comedian

Is it really Pork?

2008-02-11T20:28:00.000-07:00

As we watch the poker game at the roundhouse I can't help but think that the legislature with the help of Lieutenant Governor Diane Denish have called the Governors raise and now the Governor has to decide is he all in or does he check on the river? Or is it really the legislature that is drawing dead and the Governor holds the Ace in the hole in this battle?

All poker metaphor's aside it was very interesting to watch the battle over capital outlay money. Whenever one of these battles happen the media or the opponents takes to calling these projects "pork" or "pork barrel money" this has a bad connotation. However, the truth is that this is the very reason we have legislators who come from each district and county in the state. Each district elects their legislator and sends them to Santa Fe to represent not only the state as a whole but the district as well. It is their job to ensure that they return with their districts fair share of government projects. This is how jails, police stations, courts, library's, parks, colleges, schools, streets, bridges, sewer plants, water treatment plants, etc, etc, etc, get built. If your legislator was ineffective in getting these things for your county, city or district they would not last long.

The same newspaper reporter who writes about "pork" is the same one who will just as quickly write a story about an ineffective legislator who can't get anything done. Yes sometimes legislators fund some bad things. Money for parties, roads that are on private lands, and other embarrassing funding bills. On the other hand most of these capital outlay projects are needing in the communities where they are funded. Providing these basic services and infrastructure is exactly why we have a government in the first place. Otherwise the colonists would have kicked England out and just stayed without any organized government at all. No country has been able to flourish without some sort of government and never will.

So back to Governor Richardson and the New Mexico Legislature. I have some advice for the Governor, Sometimes you lay down the winning hand.

Would you stand in line to vote for no one?

2008-02-06T17:30:00.000-07:00

I was checking the results of New Mexico's Democratic Party caucus this afternoon. I was still trying to see if we had a winner although I pretty much knew we would not have a declared winner yet. I have been looking at the results since yesterday evening and it only dawned on me today. 405 people in the state of New Mexico took the time to vote "uncommitted". Now I don't know how many were absentee ballots however I can't help but wonder. Who would take the time to drive to their polling site, stand in line for anywhere from minutes to hours, and then vote for no one? Even if the vote is absentee, who would request an absentee ballot, have it mailed to them, fill it out and check the uncommitted box and then affix a stamp and mail it back?

Don't get me wrong I want everyone to take the time to vote and take part in the democratic process. So maybe if you just can't make up your mind but want to still take part you show up and vote "I don't know". It was very interesting and the hamsters in my head are running at full speed as I ponder the thought.

What if Uncommitted won even one congressional district. Would those delegates to the National Convention get to vote for who ever they want? Or would they have to go and vote "I don't know". Also does uncommitted equate to "none of the above". What if the ballot only had the names of those who remained in the race and no opportunity to vote uncommitted? 4, 500 voters would have had to choose between Hillary or Barak or enter a write in candidate. How much would this have changed this election in which the win hinges on less than 200 votes. Hmmm.

Below is the latest results as of 2-6-08 at 6:04 pm which I got from KOAT's web site. The Democratic party did not have grand totals only county by county, It includes the latest uncommitted votes.

2008 New Mexico Democratic Caucus

Candidate

Votes

Percent

Hillary Clinton

66,173

49%

Barack Obama

65,963

48%

Bill Richardson

1,181

John Edwards

2,025

Joe Biden

112

Chris Dodd

Dennis Kucinich

499

Uncommitted

405

Precincts Reporting - 181 out of 184 - 98%

Should New Mexico Return to a Democratic Primary?

2008-02-06T00:16:00.000-07:00

My wife Antoinette and I arrived at our polling place, Sweeney Elementary School at about 5:20 pm on Super Tuesday to cast our vote in the Democratic Caucus. As we walked into the door one of the poll workers walked up to me and said "we may need your help, we ran out of ballots and people are getting angry" I began to survey the crowd and see just what I was walking into when a young woman walked in with more ballots. Apparently there was about a 20- 30 minute wait while more ballots were obtained. The lines were long but seemed to begin moving quickly once the ballots arrived. My wife and I got into line and then my son called to say that his truck broke down and he was along side the road. My wife and I left the line and went to go help him.

The three of us returned to the school at about 6:40 about 20 minutes before the 7 pm deadline to vote. Lines were still long but moving relatively quickly. My wife and I had no trouble voting on the old fashion paper ballot. My son was missing from the voter lists and he was forced to file a provisional ballot. We all left about 7:20 and there was still a small line of voters waiting to cast their ballot.

I could not help but wonder what it would be like for all the 22 Santa Fe polling places and the 184 polling places across New Mexico to count and recount these paper ballots. I also could not help but think about all the brand new ballot machines in storage in cities and counties all across this state. They are sitting idle because in 2003 New Mexico decided to have a democratic party run caucus rather than a State run June Primary as was the case in previous years.

After a push by Governor Richardson a state law was passed in 2003 allowing parties to opt out of the primary election and hold their own presidential "caucuses," giving the party control over the date separate from the primary set by law. Governor Richardson and the Democratic party wanted the early February caucus and the Democratic State Central Committee went along with the idea. In the 2004 Presidential Elections New Mexico benefited from a lot of attention brought to our state by the candidates. Now there are 22 states, many larger with many more delegates who now have their elections on super Tuesday along with New Mexico. We no longer stand out and now are just one of the many.

Meanwhile we have given up the opportunity for a professionally run election with modern voting machines which can give near instant vote totals immediately after the polls close. I fully support the democratic party however I do believe elections should be run by county clerks and the Secretary of State. In todays day and age to not walk into a polling place and easily and quickly vote in a modern machine and not have to wait days for meaning full results is not too much to ask for.

It is now 12:44 am and I am watching the sporadic results being posted in between Conan O'Briens interviews and a late night performance by Sheryl Crow. There are 19 counties out of 22 reporting and Obama is ahead by 218 votes. The counting will continue in the counties which have not yet reported however there are almost 17,000 provisional ballots which will not even begin to be counted until later in the day on Wednesday. The election is so close that those ballots will really matter. This election will not be over and final until late Wednesday or Thursday.

Many polling places across the state ran out of ballots just like mine did. In Rio Rancho there was one polling place for what is one of the largest cities in the state. Voters waited up to 3 hours to vote and police had to be called to assist with disgruntled voters. Voters across the state faced long lines and long waits to vote in consolidated precincts. If the County Clerks or the Secretary of State ran elections that turned out like this they would face a hard re-election. I don't blame the democratic party they are not equipped or financed to handle statewide elections. The good thing is that more and more people are voting. We had record numbers in 2004 and It looks like 2008 will break those records. We can not afford to lose the momentum of excited voters getting to the polls. Many disappointed voters headed home and gave up on casting ballots. Will they return in November? Or will they give up on casting their votes? Not to mention that workers were not given time to go vote since this election was not a state run election. How many more would have voted had they had the hour off to go vote? How many voters thought voting was from 7am to 7 pm as it normally is rather than the noon to 7 pm as the Democratically run caucus was? How many showed up at 7 or 8 am and then never returned?

The Democratic Party needs to seriously take a look at the pro's and cons of the February caucus vs the June Primary. I feel the time has come to go back to a state run primary.

Busy days in New Mexico National Politics

2008-01-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

The last few days have been very busy as National Politics settles into Santa Fe County. We have had several days of planning for visits by President Bill Clinton, Senator Barack Obama, and a possible weekend visit by Senator Hillary Clinton. In the 2004 election cycle we had visits by all the candidates and while the security concerns were high it does seem as though the candidates this year are receiving security usually seen by actual presidents.

With the short notice and quick planning for all these visits we have had to be on our toes and deal with ever changing plans. President Bill Clinton arrived yesterday and after attending fundraisers in Santa Fe he arrived at 2 am into his hotel room at the Eldorado Hotel. By 8 am he was having breakfast and preparing to leave. Thats when I met with him and what I thought would be a quick meet and photo op turned into a short conversation over COPS funding as well as law enforcement funding as a whole. I brought along a couple of 8x10's from the last time I met him and had a photo op and asked him to sign them for me. He graciously signed them both and as he did I complimented him on the fact that during his administration we enjoyed the best funding for law enforcement that we in law enforcement have ever seen from the federal government. I told him about how much we have been hurting under the Bush administration.

He told me that Hillary would work to balance the federal budget and put the country in a position to restore COPS program funding. He said she fought the cuts that have been put in place over the last few years and would continue to do so. I really appreciated that and I will be meeting with Senator Obama tomorrow and intend to let him know as well how much we need to restore law enforcement funding.

President Clinton and myself, ( I'm the short one) LOL

The last time I met with President Clinton it was on the tarmac at the Santa Fe Airport. There was no time for more than a quick hello and a photo. This time I was happy that we actually had a short conversation. For those who read my last blog post you know I endorsed Senator Hillary Clinton for the New Mexico Caucus. I will however fully support Senator Obama should he win the Democratic Nomination. I do feel this is the Democrats year and we have the best candidates and we are on our way to the White House. Regardless of who you support make sure you vote on Tuesday in the Democratic Caucus. If you are one of the few Republicans in Santa Fe County your primary is in June. I urge Republicans to vote in their primary and then in November I urge you to vote for the Democratic nominee and help get this country back on track.

	2008	2007	%Change
Total Fatalities	64	110	-42%
Gunfire	25	43	-42%
Traffic Incidents	32	50	-36%
Other Causes	7	17	-59%


Texas	7	Ohio	3
California	5	Oklahoma	3
Florida	4	Several	2
Georgia	4
Federal Agencies			4