Are we safe? Deming police work through officer shortage

DEMING – Safety of its citizens in a top priority for the City of Deming Government. City officials want to ensure the public that it has the best interest of its’ police force in delegating to protect and serve.

The Deming Police Department is currently in a recruiting phase, with incentives to bring the department’s personnel to full capacity. That capacity includes 36 sworn officers and five civilian employees.

The department is down six officers and is prepared to offer new recruits $20.59/hour and an annual salary of $42,827.

DPD Chief Clint Hogan has adjusted work schedules to compensate for the shortage of personnel and has told city officials the department is not at a critical stage.

“In a sense, we are still not shorting the city as far of services and whatever else,” he said. “We have enough to cover our city, but eventually, more is always better.”

The department has adjusted work schedules from three 10.5-hour shifts to two 12-hour shifts. This is to ensure there are adequate officers always patrolling the city.

Morale comes into question, but Chief Hogan has been keeping an ear to the ground in regard to the morale. “I had a sergeant tell me that the adjustment in work detail was actually better,” Hogan said. “He said he almost feels like he is home a lot more than at work.”

The scheduled allows for seven days of work in each pay-period and 14 to 15 days a month.

City officials have cited incentives offered by the New Mexico State Police in their retention bonus plans. It has lured away law enforcement candidates statewide. “We just can’t compete with them in terms of recruiting personnel for our department,” Massey said. “We have to find other ways to bring officers in.”

“One of the things we are excited about here at the city this coming fiscal year is the excise tax we are anticipating from marijuana sales tax,” said Tyler Massey, City of Deming Public Information Officer. “We will create a public safety fund that will really help us retain and keep that for public safety needs.

Massey and city officials are unsure what the new revenue will look like. “We are a little hesitant because we don’t know where that will put us. There is such a huge hype around it. We are cautious on how we will budget for that in terms of dollars and cents,” Massey said.

As it stands now, the city is not measuring the anticipated sales tax from the New Mexico marijuana industry.

“This may be something we can see for long-term use, but we will just have to wait and see,” Massey added. “In the meantime, we have some capital outlay projects that will help with a training center and a new shooting range for them.”

The city has also created a new position designed to free up duty officers on patrol and investigators working cases. “The creation of an evidence clerk has freed up detectives in the department. This position is responsible for cataloguing evidence into the evidence room and keeping track of cases on file,” Massey explained. “It’s a huge responsibility that will free up our detectives working on cases.”

Gabriel Andujo has spent five months on the force and will assume the duties as Evidence Clerk for the department.

The city recently approved three new positions for the new budget year that will increase the department’s personnel to 39 officers.

If you are 18 and over, there is an application process followed by a physical test developed by standards for the state police academy. “The physical requirements necessary can be repeated until you pass the test,” Chief Hogan said. “This will get you into the academy. Next, an aptitude test is administered at the New Mexico Workforce Solutions office. It’s basically, reading, writing and arithmetic.

“Following a personal integrity questionnaire and a background check, the candidates are brought in for in-person interviews. At that point they may be offered a position with our department.”

New recruits will start at the detective level to become familiar with how the headquarters operates and its daily routines. They are given instruction on search warrants, arrest warrants, basic court paperwork, and handgun qualifying before they are ready for field training.

“We have two who have just graduated from the academy and will be ready for shadow phase with our officers,” Hogan said. “Two more are at the academy and we have two who plan to attend the academy in mid-July.

The academy training is a fourth-month program in Santa Fe. Chief Hogan said the field training is immensely important prior to attending the academy. “It helped me greatly,” he said. “I was taught at the academy things I already knew.”

Chief Hogan said a few of his former officers have left the department based on trending national news regarding negative reports on law enforcement and the public’s perception of the public safety servants.

Chief Hogan has promoted three officers into the detective case work. They are: Ashley Standridge, 10 years with the department; Gerardo Rico, 9 years; and Amanda Chavez, 5 years.

To learn more about the Deming Police Department job opportunities, call the City of Deming at 575-546-8848 or visit: www.cityofdeming.org.

Bill Armendariz can be reached at 575-494-5059 or biarmendariz@demingheadlight.com.

This article originally appeared on Deming Headlight: Are we safe? Deming police work through officer shortage