Geraldine Yazza Martinez discusses campaign for Otero County Sheriff

Susan Morée: 
The first question is, tell us about how your background has prepared you to serve in this office? 
 
Geraldine Yazza Martinez: 
Well, I have 23 1/2 years of law enforcement experience. I came into law enforcement back in 2002, sort of fell into it, and God has pushed me from one entity to another. I served as a SRO starting out at Mescalero Apache Tribe, and worked my way up to Otero County as a sergeant, a HIDTA commander, served as a chief of police for conservation, and ended up with the district attorney's office where I learned the rule of law and how victim services are. And I ended up at the Lincoln County Sheriff's Office as the undersheriff. I served there for a little over four years, and I'm currently serving as the chief of police in Tularosa. So everywhere God has sent me, I have learned, I've grown. I have the experience that it takes to, you know, do this job. 
 
Susan Morée: 
Next question. Why are you running for this office? 
 
Geraldine Yazza Martinez: 
Well, there's a lot of struggles going on in Otero County, actually a lot of law enforcement. You know, I am working, like I said, as the chief of police in Tularosa, and I served as the Lincoln County undersheriff. And when this race came up, everybody advised me that I have the experience and the willpower and the fortitude to get it done, and I prayed on it, and this is where God wants me to be, so I'm charging forward, and I'm going to make it happen and serve my community the best that I can. And that's me. I've always been a trailblazer, and I work for the best of the community and honor my oath. 
 
Susan Morée: 
Next question. What are the top issues in your district for this office? 
 
Geraldine Yazza Martinez: 
All right, well, the first one is to restore interagency cooperation. You know, there's a breakdown in cooperation with the agencies, with [unintelligible] and Alamogordo Police Department stepping out. They don't serve the, you know, the jails like they should. And it's my understanding that that's the responsibility of the sheriff per state statute. I want to establish public trust. The sheriff's office is currently null and void, and they should be in contact with the people, even with the hard questions. I want to establish a PIO, public information office, and be open to the public. And I want to ensure countywide coverage. When I left the sheriff's office years ago, there were 34 deputies. Now they have 60 plus, but they just hired six more. And we should be covering and serving. 
 
Susan Morée: 
How would you successfully address those issues? 
 
Geraldine Yazza Martinez: 
Well, restoring interagency cooperation, one of the first things I will be doing is reaching out to Alamogordo Police Department and listen to him, honestly listen to Chief Cooney here or whoever is serving at that time. And we would figure out what the problems are and always keep those lines of communications open. As far as establishing the public trust, I'm going to have an open door policy, not only for the deputies, but for the community. And I'm going to listen and be diligent in doing it. And as far as ensuring the countywide coverage, I'm going to take a hard look at what we have there and I'm going to redistrict and reassign and I'm going to make sure that we have coverage throughout our county. That's our job. We need to be serving them. If we need more deputies, then I'm going to respectfully fight with the county commission and I'm going to make it happen. 
 
Susan Morée: 
Last question. What else do you think is important for voters to know about your campaign? 
 
Geraldine Yazza Martinez: 
Well, if you want to talk about years of experience and what I've done, I lead with integrity and my military led me into what the true value of honor, service and commitment is. As I grew in my law enforcement career, I've learned what integrity, courage, strength, resilience and humility and compassion for the people that we serve. I understand what, you know, as far as the deputies go, their mental health, and I want to make sure that that their needs are cared for as well by working with the association, the Sheriff's Association. And I want to strengthen the community policing and engagement. We should know who other people in our communities are. We should know who their animals names are and their families. I was raised in a community policing environment, and I am a strong believer in that.