Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office reviewing use-of-force policy

Mar. 7—The Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office is seeking public input as it reviews its current use-of-force policy with an eye to replacing it with a more modern version.

The office announced last week that it will be seeking public comment on the use-of-force policy from March 1 until March 20. As of Thursday, the office had received eight comments, spokesman Juan Rios said.

"Law enforcement depends on the partnership with the community, not only in reference to instances for the use of force ... but also we depend on that partner partnership to solve crime to keep neighborhoods safe," Sheriff Adan Mendoza said. "So it only makes sense to get the community involved."

Mendoza said the current use-of-force policy in the Sheriff's Office is outdated and based on reactive control strategies. A lot of law enforcement agencies across the state have moved away from these types of policies.

Reactive control is when a law enforcement officer bases his or her use of force on the actions of the suspect, Mendoza said. The officer would react to the suspect based on the resistance or force he or she was using.

However, more modern use-of-force policies have gravitated toward de-escalation techniques, Mendoza said. Such policies are based on case law from Supreme Court rulings.

These rulings outline when force should be used and regulate the amount of force based on the totality of the circumstances, he said.

With the current climate, and calls for change in law enforcement practices in New Mexico and across the nation, Mendoza said it was time to update the policy to combine some of the national requirements. In addition, he said he's anticipating changes from the state legislature concerning use of force.

State Sen. Linda Lopez, D-Albuquerque, sponsored a bill this legislative session that would require officers to fully exhaust de-escalation methods before they could consider using force, according to previous reporting. The bill is currently in the Senate Judiciary Committee and would ban chokeholds, rubber bullets, tear gas and no-knock warrants.

"Officers are making split-second decisions, sometimes in life or death situations, and we want officers to be able to use the amount of force that is reasonable under those circumstances," Mendoza said.

He said officers sometimes don't have the luxury of time to make their decisions. Mendoza said he wants to have a balance between public safety, the suspect's safety and the officer's safety.

Depending on what the final policy is, Mendoza said that, if additional officer training is needed, the sheriff's office would retrain officers on the new policy.

Mendoza said he anticipates the new policy taking effect in the next few months.

Anyone who would like to provide input on the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office use-of-force policy can email: SFSOPolicyinput@santafecountynm.gov.