N.M. Law Enforcement Officials Urges Lawmakers to Address Repeat Offender Problem

Local law enforcement leaders appeared at the Roundhouse on Wednesday to decry what they see as the primary driver of crime in the state's capital city: repeat offenders.

Santa Fe police Chief Paul Joye and Santa Fe County Sheriff Adan Mendoza spoke before the legislative Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, requesting policy changes related to pretrial detention and heavier investments in behavioral health treatment statewide.

Public safety promises to be a focus for lawmakers and the governor during the upcoming 2025 legislative session as New Mexico residents become increasingly frustrated with what they see as rising levels of homelessness and some types of crime.

Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham, irked with lawmakers at the end of the 2024 regular legislative session over a lack of progress on public safety bills she supported, said she was considering convening a special session. She called a two-day special session in July with an ambitious package of public safety proposals; it ended quickly with little action by the Legislature.

Joye and Mendoza spoke about a pretrial detention system and a court risk assessment that fail to ensure habitual criminal offenders remain incarcerated.

"This is no longer a law enforcement problem, this is a state problem," Joye told lawmakers. "This is a problem with the courts. ... Our biggest driver of crime is repeat offenders."

He and Mendoza named people in their jurisdictions who have been arrested and charged over and over in recent years.

Hector Rascon, 46, was picked up by deputies Oct. 1 with 3,900 fentanyl pills, Mendoza alleged, and on Oct. 30 he was arrested by police on suspicion of having 15,000 pills in his possession.

Sean Gallegos, 34, has been arrested by Santa Fe police 54 times since 2009, Joye said, while Billy Ray Spencer, 31, has been arrested 11 times since 2019.

Mendoza said statistics on repeat offenders indicate "a lack of consequences or accountability for criminals in the criminal justice system."

Joye also raised concerns about the " Arnold Tool," an assessment that offers guidance on the level of pretrial supervision necessary for each suspect by weighing factors such as prior convictions and prior failures to appear in court.

He said the tool, also called a public safety risk assessment, is "not working" for communities where it has been implemented, including Santa Fe. "Repeat offenders," he said, were "not considered dangerous enough to be held under the current guidelines."

Joye has publicly opined about the public safety threat of repeat offenders in response to two high-profile shootings that rocked Santa Fe over the summer: a carjacking and fatal shooting in the parking lot of a busy Zafarano Drive shopping center and a near-fatal shooting at a Sonic Drive-in restaurant on Cerrillos Road.

Senate Majority Leader Peter Wirth, D- Santa Fe, noted there was public outcry and demands for action from lawmakers when the suspect in the Zafarano shooting, Zachary Babitz, was accused of a violent crime spree across the state. Babitz had been released from prison just months before the incident in Santa Fe.

The Arnold Tool has come under scrutiny when people are released from jail after being charged with violent crimes, especially those involving firearms.

Officials at the state Administrative Office of the Courts pushed back against criticism of the risk assessment, however, arguing the tool does not make a recommendation on whether someone is released or held in jail after an arrest. Such a decision is made by a judge in response to a prosecutor's request for a hearing to determine if a suspect accused of a violent crime should be jailed until their trial.

Wirth, who sits on the Courts, Corrections and Justice Committee, questioned whether the public safety issues Joye and Mendoza described could be attributed to problems with the state's pretrial detention law.

He asked them both to report back with details on five repeat offender-related cases. He said they were focusing on pretrial detention as a core problem, while the issue could lie within another aspect of the criminal justice system.

Joye also called for state funding for mental health treatment treatment facilities, where he said many who are homeless and have regular interactions with police would be "better served" than behind bars.

"We really need to work on building a robust behavioral health system," Joye said. "It does directly impact the work we do on our end."

For many of the people involved in situations that lead to a police response, Joye said, "the behavior they're exhibiting appears criminal, but the underlying factor is not."

He said a crisis of behavioral health seen by officers is "getting worse, not better."

Wirth said legislators would be working on a public safety package of bills during the coming session that would include a significant amount of recurring funding for behavioral health treatment as well as money for building facilities.

He said he would consider increasing penalties for people convicted of dealing fentanyl, "but that's different from those who are addicted to fentanyl."

"We're not going to incarcerate our way out of the fentanyl crisis for those who are addicted," Wirth said. "We're not going to be able to lock those folks up and think that will solve the problem."

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