By PETE SHEEHEYThere has been a long-standing debate about the role of the Sheriff in Los Alamos. The present Sheriff, Marco Lucero, was elected in 2010 and re-elected in 2014, stressing the importance of the Sheriff’s role in Los Alamos. County Councils, not including myself, have worked to minimize that role, drastically cutting his budget and ultimately calling an election last November to eliminate the office. After a contentious campaign, our citizens voted to keep an elected Sheriff.
It’s time to settle this debate. I will present at the June 6 Council meeting a Resolution that clearly defines the roles of the Sheriff and Police Department, and returns a reasonable but limited set of duties to the Sheriff’s Office. Council and the Sheriff need to come to an agreement at that meeting, so that we can all move on to the many other challenges our county faces.
The traditional role of the Sheriff’s Office in Los Alamos has been mostly civil law duties: process service, lien enforcement, and in the past, court security and transportation of prisoners. In addition, the Sheriff administers the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act. These duties are assigned to Sheriffs by New Mexico state law, although the County Charter, as interpreted by the 1976 New Mexico District Court decision “Vaughn vs. Incorporated County of Los Alamos,” allows some such duties to be performed by the Police Department. Sheriff Lucero has expressed the opinion that he retains the duty of Sheriffs “to investigate all violations of the criminal laws of the state which are called to (his) attention…(and) to cooperate with and assist the attorney general, district attorney or other prosecutor” (NMSA 29–1-1). In practice, the Sheriff has handed off most routine investigations to the Police Department.
The County Charter assigns “keeping of the peace” (i.e. criminal law enforcement) duties to the Police Department. The present Sheriff, a retired Santa Fe County Sheriff’s deputy, has retained New Mexico certification as a law enforcement officer. Because of this certification and his status as a salaried employee of the County, the Sheriff is covered by the County’s law enforcement liability insurance when performing his job. When the present Sheriff has had deputies who were part-time or casual employees, their status regarding liability insurance has been less clear.
Over the years, County Councils have defined the jobs of the Police Department and Sheriff in a series of Resolutions. The most recent Resolution No. 16-10, passed May 24, 2016, added to the previous Police Department functions (“conserving the peace and enforcing the laws of the State and the ordinances of the County; responding to calls for service; investigating crimes and accidents; emergency management; consolidated dispatch; detention; and animal control”) the civil duties done formerly by the Sheriff (“service and execution of all process directed to the department from probate, magistrate, municipal or district court; service of orders and criminal process from those courts; service of civil writs, subpoenas or process; and, collecting, in advance, legally authorized fees for the service of process”). In accompanying agenda documentation, the Sheriff was told to “continue to monitor sex offenders as delegated by statute.” The Sheriff’s Office budget for deputies was zeroed out, and his administrative assistant was transferred to the Police Department.
I support returning a reasonable set of duties to the Sheriff’s Office: process and writ serving, sex offenders tracking, court security, and some transportation of prisoners. It makes sense to assign enough duties to the Sheriff’s Office to justify a full-time deputy Sheriff. When the Sheriff had part-time deputies, he would hire the best-trained individuals available, usually with previous related experience and sometimes certification in the New Mexico Mounted Patrol, who are also trained by the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy. However, it is difficult to find and retain people with full New Mexico law enforcement certification who are willing to work part-time.
I agree with those who argue that even these limited traditional duties involve some risk: that is another reason why we should insist that the duties be performed only by a Sheriff or deputies who are fully trained and certified by the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy. If a certified Sheriff or deputy is not available to perform these duties, the Sheriff can deputize Los Alamos Police Department officers to fill in temporarily. We are already spending the money to do these jobs in other departments, so that money could be transferred to the Sheriff’s Office if the jobs are done there. With an elected Sheriff, full-time deputy and administrative assistant, Los Alamos will have the functional and properly trained Sheriff’s Office that the majority of our citizens want.
The following proposed Resolution 17-08 would amend Resolution 16-10 Section 7 to return a well-defined set of duties to the Sheriff’s Office:
INCORPORATED COUNTY OF LOS ALAMOS RESOLUTION NO. 17-08
A RESOLUTION AMENDING CERTAIN PARTS OF RESOLUTION 16-10 REGARDING
THE DUTIES OF THE LOS ALAMOS COUNTY POLICE DEPARTMENT AND
THE DUTIES OF THE LOS ALAMOS COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT
WHEREAS, Article 10, Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of New Mexico provides that the Charter of an Incorporated County shall provide for the form and organization of the incorporated county government and shall designate those officers which shall be elected, and those officers and employees which shall perform the duties assigned by law to county officers;
WHEREAS, pursuant to Article 10, Section 5 of the Constitution of the State of New Mexico, the Incorporated County of Los Alamos adopted a charter that designated those officers which shall be elected as well as identifying those officers and employees who shall perform the duties assigned by law to county officers;
WHEREAS, Article 303, Subpart 303.1 provides, in relevant part, that no function assigned by the Charter to a particular department is subject to change by Council;
WHEREAS, Article 304, Subpart 304.4, Duties of the Sheriff, Police Department, and Police Officers identifies certain officers and employees of the County who shall perform duties assigned by law to county officers; requires Council to establish as a department of the County, a Police Department, to be charged with conserving the peace and enforcing the laws of the State and the Ordinances of the County; provides that the Sheriff shall have those powers and duties assigned to sheriffs by state statutes, including the power of a peace officer, but prohibits the Sheriff from duplicating or performing those duties assigned by the Charter, by ordinance or by resolution to the County’s Police Department;
WHEREAS, on May 24, 2016 Council adopted Ordinance No. 16-10 establishing the duties of various departments of the county including the Police Department and Sheriff’s Department;
WHEREAS, Council finds that good cause exists to amend certain elements of Ordinance No. 16-10 that address the duties of the County’s Police Department and the County’s Sheriff’s Department;
THE COUNCIL OF THE INCORPORATED COUNTY OF LOS ALAMOS HEREBY RESOLVES THAT:
I. Effective June 6, 2017 Section 7 of Ordinance No. 16-10 is hereby amended in its entirety to read as follows:
7. The Police Department duties are to conserve the peace, to investigate all violations of the criminal laws of the state as well as violations of the ordinances of the County; to cooperate and assist the attorney general, the district attorney, or other prosecutor in the investigation and prosecution of violations of the criminal laws of the state as well as violations of the ordinances of the County; to respond to calls for service to protect and serve the citizenry; to investigate injuries to persons and property; to provide emergency management services; to provide a consolidated dispatch system for all county emergency services; to provide detention services including the operation of the county jail; and to provide for animal control services.
The Sheriff’s Department duties are to provide civil process service (including but not limited to service of summons, writs, and subpoenas) within the Incorporated County of Los Alamos as directed or requested by the municipal court as well as the courts of the State of New Mexico; to collect lawful fees from the provision of said civil process; to provide for building security at the Justice Center; to provide courtroom security at the Justice Center, to assist with transportation of prisoners; and to maintain the Sex Offender Registry.
If a citizen is elected Sheriff who is not certified as a law enforcement officer by the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board, then that Sheriff may only perform administrative, ceremonial, and political activities in support of the prescribed duties of the County’s Sheriff’s Department. Any Undersheriff, or Deputy Sheriff employed or deputized by the County’s Sheriff’s Department shall be certified as a law enforcement officer by the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board. If an employee of the County’s Sheriff’s Department is not certified as a law enforcement officer by the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board, then that employee may only perform administrative duties in support of the prescribed duties of the County’s Sheriff’s Department. If the County’s Sheriff’s Department needs additional certified law enforcement officers to carry out its prescribed duties, certified law enforcement officers of the County’s Police Department may be cross-deputized by the Sheriff, but only with the written consent of the Police Chief.
If a certified law enforcement officer employed by the County’s Sheriff’s Department, or a Sheriff who is a certified law enforcement officer, encounters criminal activity or an emergency situation, then that certified law enforcement officer may take appropriate action to preserve public safety, and shall immediately contact and summon the County’s Police Department.
If the County’s Sheriff’s Department reasonably believes that the integrity of a criminal investigation would be compromised if carried out by the County’s Police Department, or the County’s Sheriff’s Department is advised by a state or federal law enforcement agency that the integrity of a criminal investigation would be compromised if carried out by the County’s Police Department, then the County’s Sheriff’s Department may conduct the criminal investigation, or co-operate with and assist the state or federal law enforcement agency in conducting that criminal investigation.
II. All other provisions of Ordinance No. 16-10 not amended here remain in full force and effect.
