Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart recently hosted a series of six public meetings throughout the county, the “Hits & Misses Community Listening Tour,” providing residents an opportunity to share feedback with the sheriff. Scott Brocato spoke with Sheriff Stewart about the listening tour, the responses she received, and other issues on the eve of her retirement later this year.
Scott Brocato:
Sheriff Stewart, you recently finished your "Hits & Misses Community Listening Tour.” Why did you decide to embark on that?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
When I entered office, I was not given any briefing or any information. In fact, the sheriff then had left. When June had rolled around, he was pretty much gone from office. And there was no one there other than various people in the command to tell me, “What do we do? What are we interested in? What's our focus?” Blah, blah, blah. And I just thought, wouldn't it be interesting to not only give him or her my perspective, a new incoming sheriff, but let the staff give input through a survey, anonymous survey. Let the public speak to this, let the public say, “This is what we liked, this is what we want to see more of. ”And so it has just kind of grown because the idea really caught on.
Scott Brocato:
How was the turnout and what did you learn?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
The turnout early on was nothing, the first two, to be blunt. I think word had traveled by then. We didn't give a whole lot of notice for this. So by the next four, we started getting more and more.
And here's the interesting thing: we did them all over the county, and I'd done these before in the past for different things. So the county has very different opinions depending on where you are, obviously. If you're way up north, you have very different opinions than way down south. And so it was pretty much what I always suspected: traffic, traffic control, traffic enforcement is always up there.
The other thing, when I go to the south especially: a lot of the comments I got from the public where we could do better don't involve the sheriff. They involve the state and other jurisdictional entities. So we took note of them. So our report now will have “other.” And it will include information going to the state and going to the county at large about things that need to be done.
So we took all the information. In the North, we learned that Placitas has no problems, but they told us that Hatch has no fire and no police presence, and I did not know that. Their police force was down to three officers. So the next day, we began providing additional service to Hatch, which I had no idea that had happened.
Scott Brocato:
Well, how would you describe your own “hits and misses” if you were honest with yourself?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
Well, first of all, let's look at what I was about. I was about bringing our department from a 1980s model to the 21st century. I think we're at about 2010. (Laughs)
Scott Brocato:
So how do you describe a 1980s model?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
1980s would be not a lot of internal procedures outlined, very much aligned with old models of doing business, old narcotics models of how we enforce narcotics, pre-technology, that kind of thing. Which of the edges of the country had already embraced. So those were things I came in to do. So I came in to, for instance, have actual policies and procedures, be accredited nationally, and we have succeeded at that.
Where it isn't so much, I think, that I've “missed, ”it's that I had to focus a lot internally, maybe more than I even wanted to as a sheriff. Ideally, the sheriff probably should be more outward-looking, and I had to be more inward-looking in order to change a culture that was very much rooted in what I call the “friends and family plan:” depends on who you knew as to where you got in the department. That had to end. Those cultural changes take a lot of effort. And so the public, I think rightly, said to me in these meetings, the sheriff needs to be more public, more out.
Scott Brocato:
And what do you think would be the top priorities, or should be, for the next sheriff?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
I think we're going to have to look at AI and the use of AI, whether it be in reporting...because there's a lot of, of course, sales from vendors to police agencies to use AI. I have kind of mixed feelings about that. Right now, it's being used internally, personally internally, by various parts of my command and my staff--not to good success. So I'm very concerned about how we embrace that.
Real-Time Crime Center: we embarked on looking at that. I'm glad we didn't get beyond the talking part because that might be legislated against here in this session with crackdown on flock cameras. So I think the next sheriff is going to have to look more closely at flock. We have cameras, I support flock cameras, but a real-time crime center is nothing more than those cameras.
Scott Brocato:
Let's talk about a few other topics. First of all, what is your opinion of the Las Cruces Police Department's approach to repeat offenders and juvenile crime?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
Well, repeat offenders, I think there definitely has to be stronger legislation so that the courts can enforce some of this. Let's face it, we're not in the business of prosecution. So to me, that also should be taken up by DAs across the state and really pushed, because that's the crux of a lot of this.
Yes, I think repeat offenders have not been adequately looked at. But look at our state. We're a very defense-oriented state. Look at something simple as traffic violations. Do you know over the years they've gone down? If you commit a minor traffic violation, the bail for that, or the fee for that, has actually gone down. No wonder we have people committing traffic violations right and left. There's no penalty! So I take that all the way to repeat offenders.
Scott Brocato:
What about the legislative session? What are your priorities there?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
Training. To update training that goes back to bringing the whole state into a 21st century model. It is grossly inadequate. I support that. I'm sorry, I don't know the number of it, but that's to increase the curriculum for training. The chief is really promoting those enhanced penalties for assaults on law enforcement officers. I'm kind of old school on making new laws. My attitude is, enforce the ones we have.
Scott Brocato:
And what has been the sheriff's office experience with ICE and other federal agencies?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
Well, the reality is we have always worked with federal agencies to one extent or another. Of course, we're a border community. However, we've never worked with ICE. Historically, ICE are corrections officers for detention centers. They're not street people. They have ERO (Enforcement and Removal Operations), which is likened to their SWAT teams. They have served warrants over the years.
Border Patrol has been a part of us for years. So we interact now. Do we interact with ICE and picking up individuals off the street? Absolutely not. Do we cross-commission, 287G, as they call it? Absolutely not. That's a lane we should not in local law enforcement cross. We should not be in that business. For one thing, think of the dampening, chilling effect on reporting of crime. It will just decimate community relations.
Scott Brocato:
I've been, forgive me, I've been trolling your Facebook page...
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
Yes! (Laughs)
Scott Brocato:
And a post stood out where you stated, “In both Luna County and Doña Ana County, commissioners and county managers have conspired over many years to take all of our power, despite the fact statutes exist to ensure the power of the sheriff.” So how do you feel the DAC commissioners and the county managers have conspired to take away your power?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
“Conspire” might be a strange word to use, but it's been an effort over many years. And let me, in a nutshell--and listen, candidates for sheriff, listen up: you are not the be-all-end-all power, despite what you may have been told.
We have what's called a merit-based employment system in our county. That means the sheriff cannot hire, fire, promote, demote, or discipline. If we as sheriffs don't have those powers--which would be what, 90% of issues or personnel--we have zero power. The sheriff of Luna (County) and I are experiencing this same takeover. So what's happened is they say, “Well sheriff, you can't do all of these functions, so oh, by the way, you can't also do X. ”So who do we complain to?
So in October, I went to the Attorney General. I had a meeting with him, and I said, “Sir, for the other 32 sheriffs in our state, you need to render an opinion as to the power of the sheriffs. And I am going to submit that question.” And I did, and he agreed to accept it.
Now, statutorily, we should have these powers, but counties across the country--excuse me, across the state--have gotten by with this: “No, we're merit-based, so therefore, sheriffs, you have no say.” By the way, that's true of the clerk, the assessor, and the treasurer.
Scott Brocato:
Along those same lines, there's been that ongoing audit of the sheriff's office for several months that followed a dispute with you and the county officials over the commissioning of new deputies. So what is the current status of that audit?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
That was a gift to me, not just because they wanted to audit the sheriff's office, but we're interoperable with all of the other county of finance and HR and legal. So you couldn't very well take us on without taking on all of these other departments. And I was thrilled when the state auditor, Mr. Maestas, agreed. I contacted him and said, come on down--and by the way, take a look at all of this. And I was told in December, it was so voluminous that they had to extend the projected date to bring in the report. And I believe it's in March. And that is going to be a fantastic, and much needed, objective look at operations countywide, not just with us.
Scott Brocato:
Well, final question, and let's end it on a kind of a light note. What's the story behind--I think his nickname is “Data Center Derek”--Derek Pacheco, the local activist who was removed recently from the (Board of County Commission) chambers. What's the story behind that?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
Well, we were called by someone down in the BOC chambers. To this day, I have no idea. We were told the PD would not respond. I later found out they never called the PD. So the undersheriff and I, we're in a budget finance meeting because we're under the gun, and we go down there thinking, let's ask this gentleman just to step out and talk to us. Well, I had no idea about this gentleman's past or anything he had done, and I was handed a letter of trespass by the county attorney, and he had been warned, and he had acknowledged he had been warned.
So we asked him a couple of times if he would step out. It was getting more contentious at that point, and we did arrest him for disorderly conduct. And we also arrested under trespass, but bear in mind, that's something the county has to support. So it was kind of an unfortunate thing. I understand that he certainly...the public has a right to speak up, though it can be upsetting. And I think he had a problem in there before. a week or two earlier, with one of the assistant county managers.
Scott Brocato:
Dona Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart, thank you for joining us today. Good luck on your upcoming retirement. What are your plans?
Sheriff Kim Stewart:
I'm hoping to do some policy work for the University of Virginia. I'm hoping to do a little policy work for the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center in Quantico.
