{"id":36082,"date":"2023-01-27T13:56:18","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T20:56:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-governor-vows-bipartisan-effort-to-fight-crime\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:29:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:29:05","slug":"new-mexico-governor-vows-bipartisan-effort-to-fight-crime","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/new-mexico-governor-vows-bipartisan-effort-to-fight-crime\/","title":{"rendered":"New Mexico governor vows bipartisan effort to fight crime"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"New
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks during public safety news conference, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, at the State Capitol in Santa Fe. (Javier Gallegos\/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)<\/span>Javier Gallegos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

ALBUQUERQUE \u2013 Democratic Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham vowed Wednesday to work with state lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to address New Mexico\u2019s crime problems, a situation she described as untenable.<\/p>\n

The state\u2019s largest city has had back-to-back years of record homicides and some residents in Albuquerque and elsewhere have complained about not feeling safe in their communities. Retail crime also has been on the rise, with businesses losing millions of dollars to smash-and-grab schemes.<\/p>\n

Pointing to the recent mass shootings in California and past shootings in New Mexico, Lujan Grisham said no one should be fearful about sending their children to school or about going to work. She did not specifically mention the recent drive-by shootings targeting the homes of Democratic politicians in Albuquerque.<\/p>\n

The governor, who is starting her second term, was flanked by state lawmakers and law enforcement officials during a news conference at the state Capitol as she outlined her public safety priorities.<\/p>\n

\"New
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and state Senate Majority leader Peter Wirth, left, share a laugh during a public safety news conference on Jan. 25, at the State Capitol in Santa Fe. (Javier Gallegos\/Santa Fe New Mexican)<\/span>Javier Gallegos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

\u201cWe are building a public safety investment strategy for the short term and the long term in this state,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s going to take every single one of us every single day in a number of ways. And we\u2019re going to work collectively to get as many of the best ideas up here as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her comments came just days after a judge ordered Solomon Pe\u00f1a held without bond<\/a> pending trial on charges that he allegedly orchestrated a series of shootings at four Democratic officials\u2019 homes following his unsuccessful GOP bid for the state house in November. A political newcomer, Pe\u00f1a\u2019s has a criminal history that includes felony burglary and larceny convictions.<\/p>\n

No one was hurt in the shootings, but the case has reignited the debate over pretrial detention.<\/p>\n

Gun control legislation will be among the most debated, with Democratic lawmakers calling for tough penalties for parents and others who let guns fall into the hands of children. Just last week, the governor in her State of the State address also called for a ban on the sale of assault weapons<\/a> \u2013 without defining what weapons would be included \u2013 and legislation that would allow victims of gun violence to bring lawsuits against gun manufacturers.<\/p>\n

Republican lawmakers have urged caution against passing legislation that would violate the New Mexico Constitution, which is even broader than the U.S. Constitution when it comes to the right to bear arms.<\/p>\n

House Minority Leader Ryan Lane said fellow GOP lawmakers are focused on legislation aimed at stopping felons from buying firearms, ensuring that career criminals are not released prematurely and targeting retail crime and other schemes that fund crime syndicates.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an all-hands-on-deck approach,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is one area where I think we need to seriously say, \u2018Put politics aside, let\u2019s evaluate each idea, each proposal. If it\u2019s a good idea that fixes a problem, let\u2019s get it done.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Joseph Cervantes, a Democrat who chairs the Senate Judiciary Committee, said one of the Legislature\u2019s tasks will be looking at laws already passed to see if they\u2019re working. He said the solution isn\u2019t always passing more laws.<\/p>\n

An effort to tighten requirements for pretrial release of people charged with violent crimes had failed last year despite growing public discontent about what has been perceived as a \u201crevolving door\u201d in the criminal justice system.<\/p>\n

Sen. Linda Lopez, an Albuquerque Democrat, is supporting a bill that would apply \u201ca better filter\u201d for determining which defendants are most dangerous and should remain behind bars pending trial. She said defendants accused of murder, human trafficking, sexual exploitation of a child and crimes committed with a firearm would be on the list.<\/p>\n

\"New
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham listens a school shooting survivor give her testimony about her experience during a public safety news conference, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, at the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M. (Javier Gallegos\/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)<\/span>Javier Gallegos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"New
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham speaks during public safety news conference, Wednesday, Jan. 25, 2023, at the State Capitol in Santa Fe, N.M. (Javier Gallegos\/Santa Fe New Mexican via AP)<\/span>Javier Gallegos<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
\"From
From left, House Min. Leader Ryan Lane, R-Aztec, Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, Sen. Joseph Cervantes, D-Las Cruces, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, and Sen. Maj. Leader Peter Wirth, D-Santa Fe, hold a news conference to talk about legislative ideas for controlling crime in New Mexico. This was in the Governor's Office on Jan. 25. (Eddie Moore\/The Albuquerque Journal)<\/span>Eddie Moore<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Albuquerque has had back-to-back years of record homicides<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":36083,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-36082","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36082","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=36082"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36082\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83229,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36082\/revisions\/83229"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/36083"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=36082"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=36082"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=36082"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=36082"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}