New Mexico governor vetoes include police oversight reforms
Associated Press 1 day ago
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham has vetoed a bill to overhaul oversight of police training and misconduct reviews
The governor said in a veto message Friday that the bill would have changed the composition of the New Mexico Law Enforcement Academy Board and eliminated two citizen members unaffiliated with law enforcement.
“Eliminating these members would insulate the board from any civilian oversight, a necessary accountability measure,” Lujan Grisham wrote.
The veto strikes down a bill that also included an increase in financial payouts to relatives of officers killed in the line of duty. The governor voiced no objection to that provision.
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Local law enforcement officials are sounding off about what some call a âterribleâ bill circulating its way through the state Legislature.
If signed into law, Senate Bill 227, introduced by Sen. Linda Lopez (D-Bernalillo), would establish a standard use-of-force policy for law enforcement agencies across New Mexico.
SB 227 would prohibit police officers and deputies from using physical force until theyâve exhausted de-escalation tactics and techniques and, even then, force must be proportionate to the situation.
It also forbids law enforcement from using deadly force against someone who is a threat only to themselves, restricts the ability to shoot at moving vehicles and bans the use of chokeholds, tear gas, rubber bullets and âshall not direct a dog to bite a person.â
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Former Santa Fe County sheriff’s deputy Tai Chan waits in the courtroom for his trial to beign in Las Cruces in May 2016. He was accused of fatally shooting a fellow deputy. (Andres Leighton/For the Albuquerque Journal)
LAS CRUCES – A former Las Cruces police officer who was arrested in 2019 on drunk driving charges and then fired from the department, accepted a 36-month suspension of her law enforcement credentials last week.
In 2019, Stephanie Carabajal, then 26, was charged with one count of aggravated driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs and one count of blocking traffic after she fell asleep at the wheel of her personal vehicle while it was still running on Highway 70 near the Mesa Grande Drive exit.