Trying to reduce skyrocketing burglaries, the Valencia County Sheriff’s Department will begin a new program in 2010 to advise people one-on-one about how to protect their homes and businesses from crime.

During 2009, burglaries were up more than 71 percent throughout the county.

Late last year Sheriff Rene Rivera hired three new deputies who have been tasked with targeting criminals in Highland Meadows, Meadow Lake and El Cerro Mission, and Jarales and Rio Communities.

“We have three deputies with one supervisor, and we have determined patrol grids within the county,” said Captain Don Donges.

The county has been engaging these deputies in partnerships with community groups, churches and schools, to offer better protection in the targeted areas.

“We have set a realistic goal of reducing burglary crimes in this county by 10 percent in 2010,” he said.

Now Rivera plans to use those same officers patrolling those communities to speak with residents about anti-crime tactics, partly to develop relationships with residents and business owners.

“Those three officers are still out there patrolling, but they are also making contact with the individuals, with the people out there, to gain their trust,” Rivera said, adding, “We’re trying to be proactive, not reactive.”

Residents and business owners will be able to call the sheriff’s department and set up an appointment for a deputy or another department employee to conduct a security assessment of the property and discuss low-cost, common sense measures a person can take to protect it.

Commissioners expressed some concern that deputies would be too overwhelmed with these surveys and not be spending enough time patrolling and stopping crime.

“This could take a lot of time. I hope you’re prepared to address it,” said Commission Chairman Don Holliday.

Holliday was concerned the department was taking valuable time away from deputies who could be patrolling, instead placing them at individual residences and businesses conducting assessments.

Commissioner Ron Gentry said the department appeared to be turning deputies into public relations spokespersons.

“We’ve had complaints in our communities that there weren’t enough officers on patrol, so this commission funded three officers and a supervisor to put them on patrol,” Gentry said.

Donges said the department needs to help people protect their homes and businesses while developing positive relationships throughout the county, which will in the long run help reduce the crime rate.

“Our next step in our process is our five-year strategic plan where there is going to be a decentralization of services, and we are going to become more proactive and form more partnerships with our communities,” he said.

Commissioner Pedro Rael said there’s no difference between a deputy driving up and down a street and being parked and walking residences and businesses with their owners.

“I don’t see any difference between the two because they’re out there doing their jobs in the community like they’re supposed to be anyway,” he said.

The sheriff’s department will continue to move forward with the program.

Other than burglaries, crime rates in other areas have mostly dropped, with the exception of rape.

Overall, crime is down nine percent when compared to 2008. The homicide rate is down six percent.

Rape, which in New Mexico is referred to as criminal sexual contact or penetration, is up 44 percent.

“Generally people would say, ‘Oh my god, there’s a rapist running around Valencia County.’ That’s not true.” Donges said, noting that most sex crimes are committed within families and among friends.

Assaults decreased nine percent. Armed robbery is down 38 percent, larceny is down more than 70 percent, and auto thefts are down 51 percent.

Donges said citizens who criticized the department during the last year complained most about deputies’ conduct when responding to a call and about the use of force.

“It’s the sheriff’s policy that every complaint we receive either verbally or in writing will be investigated by a supervisor,” he said.

The Valencia County Detention Center continues to operate at nearly double the number of inmates it was built to hold, according to a report provided to the county commission last night by the detention center’s director.

“We’ve been operating at peaks of 180, and last week we were in excess of 200 inmates,” said County Manager Eric Zamora. “I visited one day, and at one given time there were as many as a dozen inmates being held in the holding cells at the intake area.”

The main detention center building, constructed approximately 10 years ago, was built to hold 98 inmates.

There’s also a separate detention section with additional space used to house female inmates. The female section is referred to as “the dungeon” because of its condition and old-fashioned cells.

Overflow inmates are being held in Cibola and Santa Fe counties, at a cost of $60 per inmate, not including transportation and medical expenses.

Commissioner Ron Gentry said part of the solution to the overcrowding could be limiting who can place detainees in the detention center. He said the State of New Mexico houses some inmates there without reimbursement of costs.

“I think we’ve fallen into the Ellis Island philosophy, that we just take everybody,” he said.

Each of the county’s municipalities and the Pueblo of Isleta also house inmates at the detention center.

Gentry asked for more details on housing costs. He also wants to know when the county can say its facility has no vacancy.

Stressing the importance of dealing with the issue, Commissioner Pedro Rael said at one point Isleta was having overcrowding issues and had to decide whether or not to keep criminals locked in police cars or set them free.

Zamora said the issue could become serious because a Santa Fe law firm has been evaluating and taking legal action against detention centers, including Bernalillo, Santa Fe and Dona Ana counties.

“After their investigations and legal action, those facilities have seen as much as a 1,100-percent increase in their detention costs,” he said.

While the legal action was related to medical care, the Valencia County Detention Center has another problem. Ten years after opening, it continues to have around only 30 officers to monitor a growing number of prisoners.

“We have a serious shortage of officers,” Rael said.

Commission Chairman Don Holliday said the problem is systemic and people need to think outside of the box.

“We keep throwing money at it, but the problems are not solved,” he said.

Valencia County Sheriff Rene Rivera this week touted falling crime rates throughout the county that he says is a result of having newly hired deputies more active throughout the county.

In late October, Rivera hired three new deputies.

“The burglaries and so on have dropped quite a bit,” he said. “It’s working really good.”

As a part of Rivera’s plan for better law enforcement in the county, the deputies have been placed full-time in the Meadow Lake and El Cerro Mission areas, the Rio Communities and Jarales areas, and in Highland Meadows. The deputies have spent their first month and a half getting acquainted with residents.

“They’re getting to know the community really good,” Rivera said.

He said his plan has produced positive results. While he hasn’t made the hard numbers public yet, he said he’ll soon be presenting that information to the county commission.

“I will be giving the commission what’s been happening out there — how the crime has been dropping since I placed those deputies out there,” he said.

Community members supportive of the sheriff department’s effort are saying they’ve been impressed with the deputies assigned to their areas, including the new deputy in Rio Communities.

“I find her effective, very responsive,” said Sue Moran, who works in Rio Communities and lives just south of there. “She’s been out in the community a number of times. She’s been very helpful.”

Belen police investigate the gray Chevy Trailblazer.

A 21-year-old man was arrested yesterday at Anna Becker Park in Belen after allegedly using his vehicle to run over another man.

Belen Police Department Detective-Sergeant Joe Portio said the man, whose name hasn’t being released, got into a verbal altercation at the park with the other male.

The other male and a blonde female walked away together from the altercation.

Moments later, however, the 21-year-old allegedly used a gray Chevrolet Trailblazer to hit the other male, according to police and witnesses. While doing so, the Trailblazer drove onto a sidewalk and crashed through a chain link fence of a home immediately north of the park.

“This guy in the Trailblazer ran off the road and hit this guy, or tried hitting him. He just went up the curb and hit him,” said Jesse Lopez, who lives at the residence.

“He almost ran over a little blonde girl that was with him. She was hanging off the side of the car and dragged all over the place,” said the homeowner, who didn’t want to be identified.

While the victims appeared to have been unharmed, the girl was taken to an Albuquerque hospital by her guardian to be checked out.

The alleged aggravated battery suspect in a police car.

The driver of the Trailblazer was detained by police, according to Portio, and will be charged with aggravated battery with a deadly weapon — the vehicle.

The 21-year-old will also be charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor. He had a minor with him at the time. Police allege both had been drinking.

Portio is still working to identify what role the victims might have played prior to the crash, if any.

Bosque Farms Police Department Det. Ron Haley told the Peralta Town Council tonight that theft is down in Peralta.

“Due to a number of arrests, I have seen a decrease in the last month, I believe, in the number of burglaries,” he said.

Haley said an increase in viable neighborhood watches are helping, too. He cautioned that burglaries will likely increase during the next couple of months.

“Holidays are coming and a lot of people do ‘window shopping’ at that time,” he said.

Haley is urging Peralta residents to keep their gates and doors locked and their lights on during the holiday season.

“As we get into the Christmas season, there is a spike in burglaries,” he said.

Haley said he’s identified no unusual trends in local crime but highlighted a “small incident” involving gunfire in a drug store parking lot near Peralta Elementary School on Tuesday, which spurred a lockdown of the school.

“Protocol was followed. The elementary school was on lockdown for about 15 minutes,” he said. “We did apprehend the people that did the shooting. We cleaned up the scene with the Isleta Police Department helping us.”

Peralta Councilor Leon Otero owns the business where the shooting occurred. He said he was impressed with the response time of the police.

“I want to commend the police force for that,” he said.

Bosque Farms provides police protection for Peralta, with Peralta providing some financial support to Bosque Farms.

The Valencia County Sheriff’s Department is investigating what it’s calling a clear case of vandalism at the law office of James L. Sanchez, the attorney for the plaintiffs in the Valencia County hospital lawsuit.

“It’s clearly an act of vandalism and criminal damage to property,” said Valencia County Deputy Chris Trujillo, the department’s public information officer.

It remains unclear what may have motivated the vandal or vandals and whether or not this is connected to a specific client or case.

Sometime before 7:00am Tuesday morning, approximately 30 gallons of oil were dumped in the driveway of Sanchez’s law office.

Deputies responded after receiving a call from Sanchez, according to Trujillo.

“He arrived at his place of business to find some buckets in the driveway of his business,” Trujillo said. “When he got down from his vehicle, he noticed that in those buckets was oil, and all over his driveway and partially on his business that oil was thrown.”

The sheriff’s department has obtained surveillance video showing a vehicle entering the driveway.

“We’re in the process of trying to identify that vehicle, see if we can locate the suspects and have them charged,” he said.

The New Mexico Department of Transportation (DOT) was called out to help with the cleanup because some of the oil had been spilled on the right of way of a nearby highway.

“DOT did respond out there, remove the contaminated soil and replaced it with fresh dirt,” he said.

If the vandalism turns out to be related to the hospital issue, it wouldn’t be the first time the issue has motivated criminal behavior.

In April, signs expressing opposition to building a hospital and showing support for agriculture in Tome were sprayed with paint.

SODA students prepare to pick up trash near Tome Hill.

Students from the School of Dreams Academy (SODA) who were picking up trash during a school project stumbled across a meth lab hidden in brush, using the experience to help inspire a cleaner Valencia County.

“It was just disgusting. It was also a huge health hazard,” said Stormie Sanchez, a SODA student. “It’s so sad to see something that was once beautiful being used like that. There were about 200 diapers, old furniture, carpets, old containers, glass and so much more.”

The students spent weeks working to rid an area near the University of New Mexico Valencia Campus — the site of their school — of illegally dumped garbage, picking up everything from kitty litter boxes and barbed wire to a box spring mattress.

A SODA student carries a box spring.

The unexpected discovery of a makeshift, mobile meth lab, however, forced a halt to the clean-up work, with the Valencia County Sheriff’s Department investigating.

“We are no longer allowed to go back to that site because of that,” said Emilie Carpenter, a SODA seventh grader.

SODA used the incident to teach students a lesson about drug abuse, with guest speakers, including a mother from Mothers Against Methamphetamine.

“She told us what was in it and how it worked,” said Faith Lucero, a SODA student. “Did you know that doing meth is like drinking a bottle of Drano? That’s how bad it is.”

Romero said the service-learning project was geared toward teaching students about community involvement, with the students not only picking up trash but also writing letters about their experience, with some addressed to the governor, the Valencia County Commission and the “litter bugs in the county.”

In those letters, the students denounced illegal dumping. They wondered why Valencia County has few treatment options for meth addicts. They questioned why it’s so difficult to legally dump hazardous waste. They asked if the Land of Enchantment might become the “Land of Entrashment.”

“It stirred a lot in the minds of our students,” Romero said.

The learning will extend beyond the community service and guest speakers, he said.

One of the educational benefits of the project to come later in the school year is “found object art,” where some of the items found during the clean-up will be made into artwork.

Sheriff Rene Rivera said last night that he plans to hire three new deputies, placing them in Rio Communities, El Cerro Mission and Jarales.

“The commission gave me permission to hire three more deputies,” he said to applause at a Rio Communities Association meeting.

While Rivera has been gradually increasing the size of his police force since he started as sheriff three years ago, he’s been working to secure these three new deputies, and another for Highland Meadows, since at least March, when he asked the county commission to support hiring more deputies.

He will be introducing the deputies to each community shortly after they’re hired during the next month.

“I want to make sure you all get to know this deputy on a first name basis,” he told his Rio Communities audience, saying the Rio Communities deputy will be stationed in the area by early November.

Rivera said he’s tried to focus on building up his base of deputies for years. When he began working as sheriff, the department had only 13 deputies.

“It was very hard to run from El Cerro Mission to Rio Communities,” he said.

He said the department now has 37 deputies.

“With the help of the commissioners, we’ve been able to beef up the number of deputies here,” he said.

He pointed out he still doesn’t have enough. The national standard is one deputy for every 1,000 people. With Valencia County around 100,000 residents, he should have around 100 deputies.

“Everything’s growing except the sheriff’s department,” he said, adding, “Money is tight right now, therefore we can’t do it. The new budget’s going to be coming in next year and we’re going to get with the commissioners to hire more deputies.”

Because of the lack of deputies, the department continues to stress the role the public can play in thwarting crime by reporting suspicious activity quickly and accurately.

“I get a lot of people telling me they don’t want to report it because the department’s shorthanded,” Deputy Jorge Trujillo said. “It’s so important that you call and report activities prior to it happening. You’ll have people who report it after the fact. It so sad to take a report and people’s belongings and personal items have been taken that maybe their grandparents gave them.”

He said the department won’t get upset if someone calls multiple times, which had Claudine Montano, who owns a local business and lives in Rio Communities, jumping in with an example.

“Let me tell you, they don’t get upset,” she said. “Last Christmas, I called six times because someone stole my snowman from my front yard — and six times they came out. So they don’t get upset.”

Trujillo said no one should approach people involved in suspicious activity.

“Times are too dangerous now,” he said, making a veiled mention of the Luke Sanchez case, where Sanchez followed two suspected burglars, which ended in one suspected burglar being shot and killed.

Residents observing the activity should keep their distance and be inconspicuous, he said.

“The best thing you can arm yourself with is not a pistol or a rifle, but binoculars,” Trujillo said, “That’s so important. This way you can get as much information as you can and you don’t want them to be aware you’re watching them or jotting down information.”

Trujillo said he’s responsible for giving residents the tools for neighborhood watches and is willing to help build new support for any neighborhood’s watch program.

The Los Lunas Police Department has established a new patrol for drugs passing through village highways, part of a new grant the department received.

“One of the things I’ve learned in my first seven months as police chief is that the crime rate’s too high, the violent crime rate’s too high and our traffic accidents are too high,” Police Chief Roy Melnick said. “Based on our population, I think we can do better.”

The chief is concentrating the new anti-drug program on Highway 6, Highway 314 and Interstate 25.

“If it’s drug’s coming north or money going south, that’s basically the route,” Melnick said. “There’s only one main route to get to Mexico from here.”

Officers will be present during intermittent hours, making legal traffic stops and determining if the driver is hauling drugs.

The department is receiving a $10,000 grant for the two-man drug patrols. The village will have 45 shifts through December looking for drugs.

“Who knows. Maybe we’ll get lucky and grab a couple of tractor trailers full of money or marijuana, or get a major seizure,” Melnick said. “If nothing else, there’s more presence in the community that we didn’t pay for.”

He has been working through a reorganization of his department, now focusing on drugs coming into and passing through the village.

The village is also adding a K-9 unit to the force in January 2010. The department is searching for a dog appropriate to the task.

“The most desirable canine attributes that we’ll be looking for will include cross-training for drug searches, building searches, tracking for lost persons, suspect tracking, a friendly disposition for community events, supporting both the patrol operations and criminal investigations divisions,” he said.

An officer who lives in the village has been selected to form the unit.

“This will be the first K-9 in the village that I’m aware of,” Melnick said.

Bosque Farms Police Chief Joe Stidham is being accused of embezzling $2,500 from an Albuquerque security firm, according to KRQE.

KRQE says:

Detectives also alleged Joe Stidham, currently the police chief of Bosque Farms, also stole $2,500 from the business by signing over company checks to himself.

Neither Baca nor Stidham has been charged with a crime.

The case is currently in the hands of District Attorney Kari Brandenburg whose office had questions about the investigation and sent it back to detectives for a follow up.

“It’s a white-collar crime,” Brandenburg said. “Labor-intensive, lots of documents, a paper trail.”

The final version of the case is set to go to a grand jury for possible charges, which could take more months.

Valencia! was only able to get a voicemail recording at the Bosque Farms Police Department when seeking comments.

Former Los Lunas Police Chief Nick Balido this year pleaded no contest and was sentenced to 18 months probation for a similar crime.