On Friday the Las Cruces Police Department released body camera footage of the stabbing that led to the death of LCPD Officer Jonah Hernandez.
After broadcasting footage of the February 11 incident to the press and community members in the city’s council chambers, LCPD Chief Jeremy Story laid out a series of short-term goals for the department in the wake of Officer Hernandez’s death. The goals include filling current vacancies in the department, discussing new city ordinances, and establishing a real-time crime center.
“The real-time crime center will allow us to integrate a lot of the resources and technology we already have, such as our camera trailers [downtown.] It will allow us to live view those, so when [potential suspects] are at a business and something is happening, we can then deal with it right away instead of after the fact.”
Chief Story also laid out a series of long-term goals, which focused on the importance of bail reform at the state level, as well as dealing with fentanyl and meth within the Las Cruces community.
“The problem is we went from keeping potentially too many people in jail to keeping almost nobody in jail. It’s not working for us. It’s broken.”
Chief Story said it’s important for the community to unite to effect real change, and take measured steps in order to make the city safer for everyone.
