OPINION: Governor wants to throw money at Rio Arriba problems without a solution

Probably, as with most Rio Arribans, when it was announced the governor wanted to make it rain on law enforcement here to the tune of $750,000, alarm bells rang. Rio Arriba County is an excellent place to make money disappear, sure of no return for it and without accountability.

The Journal’s Sept. 8 story drove that point home. Law enforcement is not lacking here. Historically, training of law enforcement officers is the major problem, followed by poor leadership, followed by not enforcing rules, regulations and due diligence. Giving that leadership money will not address any increase in crime, real or imagined.

The first thing officials here want addressed is their archaic and lacking E-911 service. This department hasn’t been properly funded, nor managed, for decades. Naturally, they’d like the state to upgrade the department’s equipment and give dispatchers a raise. That’s a nice early Christmas gift but will do nothing to lower the crime rate in Española or the county.

Another large part of E-911’s problem is the ignorant public at large. One of the statistics the county used in asking for help was a drastic increase in 911 calls. I spent a good part of my adult life reading those logs and past editors of mine can testify to the public’s gross misuse of the system. Without wasting valuable print space I’ll give you a slice of a dispatcher’s shift. Calls for:

• A man walking down the street.
• Drunk men/women fighting (a favorite).
• I smell smoke.
• Someone is using drugs at (pick a location).
• Barking dogs.
• Aliens are trying to get me.
• A lot of cars at (pick a location).

These aren’t isolated, they’re the average call. In short, the system is abused and management has never tried to engage the public to educate them on the appropriate use of E-911. While the calls are a heavy load on dispatchers, it doesn’t affect street cops because they don’t respond to a majority of the wacky or noncriminal calls. I’ve been told by former city cops they don’t even respond to shots fired calls after midnight. It’s too dangerous.

Which brings us to the street cops/deputies. Keep in mind to become an Española city cop you must be of age, pass a background check, and written, physical and psychological exams. Most people with a ninth grade education and no felonies, who eschew donuts and don’t talk to trees can be a city cop for a year. We’ve got a lot of those. They require an immense amount of supervision and training, which does not happen.

Why does it take six cops in three cars to pull over a 60-year-old woman for burning a yellow light? You’d think she was Ma Barker, the matriarch of the 1930s Barker–Karpis Gang.

Why were there four cops in four cars at 120 N. Railroad on Sept. 7 with an ambulance and firetruck? Clearly it was a medical emergency. Was there even a cop on patrol in the city while these guys stood around?

Why can I pass a city cop on Riverside doing 45 in a 35?

Just for fun last spring I turned left on a red arrow in front of two city cops on opposite sides of the intersection. They stayed on their phones. That’s the problem, not more money.

The county deputy pool is no better and probably worse as that’s where most folks end up after getting tossed from State Police (another huge, mismanaged problem) and/or the sundry pueblo police departments. Those I can’t tell you about because they release no information to the public regarding anything.

If the city and county would spend half that money on training officers/deputies, hiring qualified supervisors and teaching all of them about how to deal with the public and enforce the law, I would be for it.

This is another one of the governor’s ideas of throwing money at a problem, which may or may not exist. If it does, it requires finesse, leadership, education, strategy and proper implementation.

As with every other problem in Rio Arriba County, it is the fault of everyone in the county who either doesn’t vote, votes for unqualified friends or family, or votes for someone who will return the favor at taxpayers’ expense. The Rio Arriba County Commission and Española City Council are prime examples. You get what you vote for and Rio Arriba voter roles are replete with ignorant voters.