Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham will be in Albuquerque Monday night for the second of three public safety town hall meetings.
Following an anticlimactic special legislative session earlier this month aimed at combating crime in the state, Lujan Grisham announced a string of town halls across the state focused on public safety.
The first town hall was in Las Cruces last week, where the governor discussed issues related to mental health and crime. Monday’s town hall will be at Central New Mexico’s Smith Brasher Hall on University Boulevard at 5:30 p.m. The third meeting will be in Española on Tuesday.
“Public safety is a challenging, complex problem,” Lujan Grisham said. “It’s not a single solution, it’s a lot of different things all at once. So it really creates an opportunity to talk to people and meet them where they are, and I think that’s proving to be already — with just one in the books — very useful.”
The governor spoke to City Desk ABQ Monday afternoon, ahead of the Albuquerque town hall.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
City Desk ABQ: Why did you choose these three cities?
Lujan Grisham: They’re the biggest cities with the most issues. Competency is a real problem for us in our own programs. There are no accountability measures for assisted outpatient treatment, so people don’t stay in, even though it could be very successful. [Las Cruces has] seen a 68% rise in the last year in violent crime. So we know that those pressure points exist. Same thing now in Santa Fe that you’re seeing a rapid growth in unhoused populations and people who are dismissed from court with no place to go. So you end up with this really high-risk environment in your neighborhoods and in the business communities, and we can’t even provide effective health care to folks who are unhoused, who are looking for shelter, support, navigation, permanent housing, health care. They’re caught in this overwhelming, spilling out all over situation that the state is suffering from. And the same is true in Española. There you’ve got real tension with sovereign nations who are having any number of problems because there’s no real plan. So this allows for awareness, planning, understanding and gives me a sense of how I can continue to work on something that provides action and attention to all of the above.
Have you recently been personally impacted by crime in New Mexico?
I was approached twice in Albuquerque, once on foot, by a guy with a machete. A second time in the car by a man with a crowbar who was chasing cars. Then I’ve witnessed multiple times in Albuquerque and Santa Fe retail theft. We’ve actually engaged in detaining someone once in Santa Fe until the police could come. You know, we don’t do that. We don’t do the day-to-day policing for obvious, good reasons. But I’m impacted all the time. I’ve had family members directly impacted. I get calls, concerns, complaints, requests for assistance for families and businesses that, quite frankly, are going through hell. They can’t commit a 19-year-old for substance abuse treatment. They’re being robbed and assaulted by their own family members. Businesses are seeing repeat offenses over and over and over again — they can’t be insured. I hear about it all day, every day, and I feel terrible for New Mexicans. We have to do everything that provides the tools and opportunities for everyone to be safe and for people who want and need treatment to get it.
What can Albuquerque do to solve this problem?
Albuquerque is impacted by the fact that 16,000 cases since 2017 have been dismissed for competency. These are cases that go before the court system 30 or 40 times a year. This represents about 3,300 unique individuals who are committing serious felonies. If [the Albuquerque Police Department] is chasing — and they are — all these calls over and over and over again, you can’t do preventative community policing. It interrupts your ability to do patrolling. It’s creating road rage. I mean, the kind of just basic disregard for public safety and your own personal safety now in communities like Albuquerque, is making it impossible for a city or a county to do it by themselves, unless there are more tools available. That’s why we’ve got state police in Albuquerque. We need to get more shelters up. But remember, far too many people won’t seek treatment on their own, or if they are getting treatment and support, don’t stay in it long enough and it’s creating this kind of permissive environment. We are seeing open fentanyl use on our streets, drug dealing, solicitation, human trafficking. Go to any corner, broad daylight — God help you if you’re out there at night. It’s horrific and we can’t get in front of it unless you have the tools on the back end. That’s what the city needs, which is why city councilors support the measures I brought before the Legislature. It is why the mayor stands with us, the district attorney, the sheriff, the police.
What are the chances you call another special session before January?
You know, I’ve got to have a better special session than the last one. Legislators need to decide that, but I am giving them real information in a very timely manner. They have these opportunities to hear from not only their own constituents in their districts, but constituents across an entire city or county. I think it’s very powerful what people are saying and how frustrated they are. I think it provides a new awareness for the Legislature. I mean, look, it was hard for me to get this data, because we don’t keep this data in a meaningful way. We don’t talk to each other. Policing and courts and corrections and probation and jails and juvenile detention officers, nobody coordinates or talks to anybody else. This is creating a real opportunity for their education and awareness as well, and I think that’s going to be a powerful tool for change.
There has been a lot of talk about crime on the national level, how does your push for an increase in public safety play into national politics?
I hope that it encourages people to believe that their local elected folks will do the work they need them to do. I mean, what voters want is for your elected leaders to be responsive, responsible and accountable. I think this helps.
HOW TO PARTICIPATE:
WHAT: Michelle Lujan Grisham’s Public Safety Townhall
WHEN: 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. July 29
WHERE: CNM Main Campus-Smith Brasher Hall 717 University Blvd. SE