{"id":26023,"date":"2024-08-23T18:07:02","date_gmt":"2024-08-23T18:07:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/n-m-public-safety-officials-discuss-crime-in-farmington\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T05:31:41","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T05:31:41","slug":"n-m-public-safety-officials-discuss-crime-in-farmington","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/n-m-public-safety-officials-discuss-crime-in-farmington\/","title":{"rendered":"N.M. Public Safety officials discuss crime in Farmington"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"A
A panel of state and local law enforcement and government officials spoke at an Aug. 21 Department of Public Safety Town Hall at the Farmington Civic Center. (Debra Mayeux\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

A question about the Broken Windows Theory<\/em><\/a> led state and local law enforcement officials into a discussion about violent crime, police recruitment and police safety, during the Department of Public Safety Town Hall Aug. 21 at the Farmington Civic Center.<\/p>\n

The town hall occurred two days after Fernando Silva, 40, of Farmington, allegedly opened fire on New Mexico State Police Officer Andrew Blea during a routine traffic stop. Silva reportedly used an AR-15-style rifle to shoot 50 rounds at the officer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis guy should be sitting in jail for the longest time. He should not see the light of day for many moons,\u201d Farmington Police Chief Steve Hebbe said about the shooting.<\/p>\n

\u201cRecruiting police officers is a difficult business \u2013 we still are fumbling around when somebody steps out of a car and fires 50 rounds at a cop. He should be in jail for a long, long time \u2013 see ya,\u201d Hebbe said.<\/p>\n

Farmington resident Donny Ortiz started the conversation by asking whether the Broken Windows Theory<\/em> was correct in that having police \u201caddress the smaller things\u201d leads to a decrease in violent crime in the region.<\/p>\n

The Broken Windows Theory<\/em> was proposed in 1982 by James Q. Wilson and George Kelling. It used broken windows as a metaphor for criminal activity in neighborhoods making a link between incivility and serious crime.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere actually is true evil in society. Some people absolutely belong in jail and should be there for a very long time,\u201d Hebbe said, adding that it is important to \u201cget to the foundational levels for the smaller crimes we see.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are two issues at play: the revolving door of the jail and the low number of police officers and law enforcement recruits statewide.<\/p>\n

\"New
New Mexico Department of Public Safety Secretary Jason Bowie speaks at a town hall Aug. 21 at the Farmington Civic Center. (Debra Mayeux\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

New Mexico Department of Public Safety Secretary Jason Bowie said the calls for service are high and the number of officers is low.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the things that is really important is to try to get back to a place to address issues in the community to address quality of life,\u201d Bowie said. \u201cWe are taking calls for service and going from call to call to call.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie said \u201cpriority one calls\u201d come first, because they \u201cputting life and limb in jeopardy. As long as these police officers are addressing that, they don\u2019t have the time to address the other issues.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bowie said he has strong feelings \u201cthat when you pick up and call for emergency services \u2026 you should get it in short order.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, Bowie said \u201cthese law enforcement officers are arresting the same people over and over. We are not sending a strong message to anyone in the community that we will address crime.\u201d<\/p>\n

Part of the issue has been legislation previously passed to keep people out of jail, while awaiting trial, and many of these alleged offenders are violent criminals.<\/p>\n

Hebbe spoke about Jordan Keith Armijo, 53, of Farmington, who was arrested for allegedly stabbing someone, was let out of jail and stabbed two more people nearly killing one of them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to get legislation to keep hardened criminals off of our streets,\u201d Bowie said.<\/p>\n

New Mexico State Police Chief Troy Weisler said it is as if a pendulum has swung so far that there has not been accountability for illegal activity.<\/p>\n

When he began his law enforcement career it was, \u201cIf you take care of the little problems and address the little things and have low tolerance or zero tolerance the bigger things never happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"New
New Mexico Senior Public Safety Adviser Benjamin Baker moderates a Department of Public Safety Town Hall on Aug. 21 at the Farmington Civic Center. (Debra Mayeux\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

However today, \u201cthe root cause is extreme violence,\u201d said Benjamin Baker, senior public safety adviser in Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham\u2019s office.<\/p>\n

Baker added that the frequency of felons being charged with having handguns in their possession has gone up 30%.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe little things are a big thing,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are having to deal with a person getting out of their car with a rifle and shooting at a police officer.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hebbe added, \u201cLet\u2019s hold that guy (Silva) in jail for 25 years for shooting 50 rounds at a cop on the streets of Farmington.\u201d<\/p>\n

The San Juan County District Attorney\u2019s Office filed a motion to keep Silva in jail until his trial, and his case was transferred to the 11th Judicial District Court. Judge Curtis Gurley will consider that motion at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 28 in his Aztec courtroom.<\/p>\n

Hebbe said being a police officer is a \u201cdemanding profession,\u201d and they are significantly held accountable. \u201cWe scrutinize the heck out of our officers, we also need to support them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker said part of the issue is that some state legislators don\u2019t understand what it is to be a police officer. He brought up a recent debate with a legislator, who implied people don\u2019t want to get in law enforcement because of police corruption.<\/p>\n

\"Farmington
Farmington Police officers listened to state and local officials and the public and an Aug. 21 New Mexico Department of Public Safety town hall at the Farmington Civic Center. (Debra Mayeux\/Tri-City Record)<\/span>cca<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cEvery law enforcement officer in this rooms does not do it for the money,\u201d Baker said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s some of the mentality in Santa Fe right now \u2013 for one of our elected leaders to be talking about the reason I can\u2019t hire police officers is because of the culture of corruption, it is indescribably ignorant,\u201d Hebbe said.<\/p>\n

He added that some people \u201cbad-mouth the police in the worst way\u201d and then want to \u201cthrow a bunch of money at\u201d them as a solution.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou do policing for public service to protect your country, to protect your community,\u201d Hebbe said. \u201cThey don\u2019t understand the fundamental reason you become a cop.\u201d<\/p>\n

San Juan County Sheriff Shane Ferrari echoed Hebbe\u2019s sentiments.<\/p>\n

\u201cEmboldened criminals paint us as the bad guy. They peg us against people who are doing wrong,\u201d he said. \u201cThe difficulty of recruiting is something like I\u2019ve never seen before.\u201d<\/p>\n

Retention bonuses and higher pay for officers, while nice, is really just \u201cthrowing money at the problem,\u201d instead of fixing the public perception and holding law breakers accountable. Ferrari said.<\/p>\n

Baker said the question needs to be asked, \u201cWhat does accountability look like?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHesitation equals danger for the officer, for the community, for the recruits,\u201d he said., adding he \u201ccan think of 50 felons in possession who have murdered people in a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baker also encouraged both law enforcement and the community to be active in voicing their concerns. \u201cWhen we start to see those legislative initiatives \u2013 anything that might have a negative impact on the recruitment of law enforcement \u2013 speak out against it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Violent crime, police recruitment and retention discussed at town hall<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":26024,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-26023","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26023","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26023"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26023\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79191,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26023\/revisions\/79191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26024"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26023"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26023"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26023"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=26023"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}