State police chiefs association issue no-confidence vote on leader of law enforcement board

A group of police chiefs across New Mexico issued a no-confidence vote on Friday for the leader of the board tasked with certifying or decertifying law enforcement and investigating misconduct.

Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe, president of the New Mexico Association of Chiefs of Police, said the group issued “a unanimous no-confidence vote” on Joshua Calder, the chief executive officer of the state Law Enforcement Certification Board.

“Our vote reflects deep concern about LECB’s weaponization of its own statute and rules,” Hebbe wrote in a letter to Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and submitted to the State Ethics Commission.

Hebbe told the Journal more than 50 chiefs attended the meeting.

The vote centered around Calder’s handling of a citizen complaint of misconduct filed last week against state Public Safety Secretary Jason Bowie. In the letter, Hebbe said Calder violated Bowie’s due process rights by calling a LECB meeting on the complaint without “substantive notice” to Bowie.

Furthermore, he said, citizens cannot file such complaints by law and allowing the LECB to hear the complaint could set a precedent for “unlawful complaints by any disgruntled or politically-motivated individual.”

In response to a request for comment, a spokesman for the Governor’s Office said, “We received the letter and believe the LECB received it as well. The Board will make any decision related to his employment.”

Calder did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

In his letter to Lujan Grisham, Hebbe said “in addition to legal violation” Calder committed several ethical ones over the past several months, referring to disagreements Calder had with Bowie over his role with LECB and relationship to the Department of Public Safety.

Those disagreements spilled into public view, first when an email leaked last month of Calder airing grievances against DPS, then last week, when Bowie blasted Calder in a public statement after the misconduct complaint against him showed up on an LECB agenda.

Hebbe, in his letter, said the LECB was designed to oversee “properly filed” misconduct complaints, not “address the CEO’s personal and professional grievances,” calling it a “weaponization of the board.”

“If Calder can wield his perceived power and authority against one of the highest ranked law enforcement officials in the state... rank-and-file officers of our state do not stand a chance,” Hebbe said.

Hebbe told the Journal that Calder’s actions have yet to affect officer recruitment and retention in the state, “but it will if something isn’t done.”

Hebbe and many other police chiefs supported the legislation that created the independent board several years ago, but he said it had not played out as intended.

“The potential for how this could be used could not be more alarming,” Hebbe said.