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Las Cruces City Council Debates Proposed Law Enforcement Regulation Bill

The Las Cruces City Council debated whether to oppose a bill in the New Mexico State Legislature, aimed at providing further law enforcement regulation, during Tuesday’s city council meeting.

In a 4-3 vote, the council struck down a resolution to oppose New Mexico Senate Bill 227. City Attorney Jennifer Vega-Brown outlined how the bill calls for increased law enforcement regulation.

“It enhances reporting for police officer-involved injuries or death,” Vega-Brown said. “It amends the crime of justifiable homicide by a police officer or public employee and enacts the Law Enforcement Procedures Act. It establishes the duty of officers to intervene, and it requires use of force policies.”

Mayor Ken Miyagishima voiced his strong opposition to Senate Bill 227, saying it is likely to put police officers’ lives at risk. He cited the actions of the Las Cruces Police Department officers in early February who worked to detain a suspect in the killing of a New Mexico State Police Officer. The suspect was killed after opening fire on the officers.  

“I can't get over the video in my head where that brave Las Cruces Police Officer stopped that cop killer in his truck and moved him back,” Miyagishima said. “No sooner did that truck stop, the bad guy stops, comes out and starts shooting at our police officer. Under this law, it says he has to stop and try to do de-escalation first. At least, that’s the way I’m reading it.”

Councilor Tessa Abeyta-Stuve voted with the mayor to oppose Senate Bill 227. She stressed she supports transparency and improvement with policing, but that the language of the bill is too vague.

“From what I’ve been reading of SB-227, it does have really great pieces, some of which we already do,” Abeyta-Stuve said. “We talked about the banning of certain types of chokeholds. But a lot of the language is vague on how to respond and seems like it still allows for variations on that response and de-escalation.”

Peter Simonson, the executive director of the American Civil Liberties Union in New Mexico, says the state has one of the highest rates of lethal officer-involved shootings in the nation—ranking one or two for the last four years. He pointed to the statistic as a reason to support the legislation.

“We have done polling here in the state of New Mexico to actually look at how New Mexicans think about these issues,” Simonson said. “And while we find that New Mexicans strongly support their law enforcement, we also find a strong majority of New Mexicans that support a bill that would aim to reduce the use of deadly force by police.”

Councilor Johana Bencomo, along with Councilors Gabe Vasquez, Gill Sorg and Yvonne Flores voted against condemning the bill. Bencomo says she is very appreciative of law enforcement but recognizes that reform is needed.

“There is no doubt in my mind or in my heart that the jobs of police officers are incredibly difficult and dangerous,” Bencomo said. “It’s also really important that I acknowledge what I have learned in the one year of being an elected official, and that is it is very politically unpopular to speak about police accountability. And I think it's because too often, people in positions like ours, have created and repeated a narrative that says if you're critical of police, and if you want accountability, then you are anti-police automatically.”

Bencomo says the breakdown of trust between law enforcement and minority communities must be addressed, but that doing so does not undermine the critical service police officers bring to the community.

“I think that either/or sentiment is really dangerous and really irresponsible. And this conversation should actually be a both/and. We both acknowledge how difficult this job is, and want serious accountability and transparency and good ethics,” Bencomo said. “I think it's important that we acknowledge all of this, and that we acknowledge that when power is misused and abused there is a loss of trust. And this is where we find ourselves right now as a country, as a state, and certainly as a city.”

Madison Staten was a Multimedia Reporter for KRWG Public Media from 2020-2022.