Our people: Longtime law enforcer

May 20—Clovis Police Captain Robbie Telles often serves as a spokesperson for the department but his job also, includes intense investigative work, plus administrative duties.

He has 30 years with the Clovis Police Department, not counting his time as a university police officer in Vermont.

During his career with Clovis PD, he has served on the Special Weapons and Tactics (SWAT) team, taught firearms classes and served as a certified motorcycle officer.

And once while serving as a police officer, he got hired to be a hit man, which ended well for everyone but the woman who hired him.

The News talked to Telles on Wednesday.

What follows is our questions and his responses.

Q. How long have you been in law enforcement?

A. I'm into my 30th year in law enforcement. I started with the Clovis Police Department in September 1991. I spent most of my carreer with the Clovis Police Department.

In the late 1990's, I became a police officer with the University of Vermont police force in Burlington, Vt. I spent 3- 1/2 years , from September 1997 to Jan. 1, 2001, there, and I came back to Clovis to help my parents, who were aging.

Except for that period, I've been with the Clovis police.

I was promoted to captain in 2020.

Q. What made you decide you wanted a career in law enforcement?

A. As a young student in junior high school and high school, I had an older sister who was married to a gent who had been a police officer, and then became the police chief in Hobart, Okla., and that kind of inspired me.

Q. What was it about police work that inspired you.?

A. I was born and raised in Clovis. I graduated from Clovis High School in 1986. My interests in high school were in farming and ranching. I was heavily involved in FFA in high school.

But then, I just wanted to get up and do something different. I wanted to do good for the community, and I wanted to do something that felt like I was helping others. And this is kind of an intriguing and interesting career field.

I decided one day to take the plunge and become a police officer.

Now, I have an associate's degree from Clovis Community College in criminal justice and I'm working on a bachelor's degree in criminal justice and sociology at Eastern New Mexico University.

Q. You mentioned classes you've attended in police staffing and command. What were those about?

A. I have attended police staff and command classes at Midwestern University in Nashville, Tenn., and Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill. The Northwestern class was 10 weeks and was memorable because I was the president of the class, and I made a lot of good friends, including the organizer of the class, and we have kept in touch.

Q. Has your police career fulfilled your hopes?

A. It has definitely been a ride. It's had its rewarding moments. And there has been a significant number of incidents that have been less than desirable.

Q. What is your favorite part of the job?

A. Dealing with the public. I like getting out and visiting with people.

I focus now on investigations — Intense, time-consuming investigations. I really enjoy that kind of work.

Q. What are some highlights of your career?

A. One of the highlights of career was being hired as a hit man. I was contacted a number of years ago by a friend who knew a lady in Bovina, Texas. She was a chiropractor who was looking for a hit man. I spent just over three months logging recorded phone calls and collecting details of exactly how she wanted me to do the job. Over three months I acquired over 18 hours of recorded phone calls, and I was hired to go to Washington state, which was where the gentleman she wanted me to take care of lived. She gave me lots of information of how she wanted it done and why. It ended up being a federal case. The FBI took it over and used my information, and she was convicted.

I also served 20 years on the SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team. When I retired from SWAT, I was the team commander.

I'm also a motor officer, and I still have a motorcycle assigned to me that I use for special events and whenever there is a need for a motorcycle.

Q. What is your least favorite part of the job?

A. Any time you're dealing with families of those who have been involved in some kind of violent crime, especially crimes against children. Those are not fun to work. Those force us to find answers and find justice for the victims. Those sit with you. They live with you.

Most people see crime in black and white. They see suspect and victim. They don't see the bigger picture of all the people who are actually affected.

Q. What is the biggest issue facing law enforcement today?

A. The biggest thing affecting the police force is lack of interest. It's very difficult to find qualified people to bring on board. There's no lure into law enforcement now. It was an honorable and glorified profession when I came into it 30 years ago. Today it's not the same. It's very, very difficult to find qualified individuals. It's very difficult to fill the empty spots, although we're doing a pretty good job of playing catch-up. It's difficult to find people who are interested in doing this.

Q. Why do you think that's happening?

A. I don't know. A piece of it is, it isn't as glorious a job as it was. When I was a child we looked up to the police, and we saw them as great people. Events have taken place over the years, like the invention of social media. Social media allows people to get everything put out there immediately. As a result, there are issues in police work as there are in any other career field. They have shone a less-than-favorable light on law enforcement.

We work very, very hard at keeping this profession honorable and bringing a lot pf people into this profession. It's not one that is going away. We want to make it appealing. We really do, so we work very, very hard to make sure we're bringing the right folks into the field and getting that attraction back to law enforcement.

Q. How has legalizing cannabis affected your job?

A. Legalization of cannabis is challenging. It has changed law enforcement.

For the past 29 eyars we have been actively enforcing laws related to cannabis, now we've had to put the brakes on and stop it. And so it's hard to just turn that mechanism off in your brain.

There are some challenges. like some of this hasn't been tested enough, I don't believe, to determine where the lines of impairment are. Of course, I'm not an expert, but there are people getting training. I think we're going to make our way through those challenges, but right now it's still new enough that we're trying to figure it out. It's going to take a little bit of adjustment. And like with any other change, we'll make that adjustment.

Q. What about kids getting cannabis products?

A. It's just like dealing with kids taking and consuming alcohol. Possession of marijuana or cannabis has not been a major issue. From time to time, we see kids having vape pens at the schools in violation of school policy and we get called in.

Q. What do you do when you're off-duty?

A. I do a number of things. I own my own business teaching concealed-carry and firearms safety classes. I can train people for concealed carry permits because I am certified though the state as a law enforcement firearms instructor.

I am also a road-bicycle rider. I rode 16 miles on Monday and 17 miles yesterday. I like to get out on a road bike and pedal around. I try to attend at least one event a year where we do a 100-mile "century" ride, like the "Hotter than Hell 100" in Wichita Falls, Texas. Last year they had 15,000 start, and about 8,000 signed up for the century.

I also do obedience training for dogs. I mess around with that. I am amazed at what people ask me to do for their dogs.

And I serve on the civil aviation board. I dabble in flying, but I'm not a certified pilot yet.

And my wife and I like to RV.

Q. And what about family?

A. My wonderful wife is Vicki Hobbs , and we're both within a couple years of retirement. She's the best part of my life...Between the two of us, we have six kids who range in age from 25 to 38.