Santa Clara Police Chief Paul Jasso is returning to his old job after four months of unpaid leave -- a period in which the southern New Mexico police department lost all eight of its officers, the Silver City Sun-News reported.

Jasso left the department in mid-February to rejoin the National Guard and to participate as an undercover agent in a multi-jurisdictional drug and homicide operation in an undisclosed location, the Sun-News reported.

"It was up north," Jasso told the Sun-News. "I was asked to come to work with this task force on unsolved homicides and narcotics. There was success in that operation."

Jasso also spent part of the four months in National Guard training, and on Monday, he was finishing up paperwork to sign on as a non-deployable Guard member and will be headed back later this year to serve as a drill sergeant, the Sun-News said.

"Part of it had to do with retirement," Jasso said of his unpaid leave. "Santa Clara has no retirement and no benefits. With my re-enlistment I get those benefits back."

Since Jasso's departure in February, the town just east of Silver City has lost all of its police force, which once included eight officers, the Sun-News reported.

"Crime has increased," Jasso told the paper. "Especially graffiti and vandalism. The drug crime and speeding have also seen a rise."

Jasso said the department will train those who wish to join the force as officers, and if they have not gone through a certified police academy, the town will pay their tuition to the Western New Mexico University Police Academy contingent on their signing a two-year contract to work in Santa Clara, the Sun-News said. 

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