Town hall should alert lawmakers

If the town hall meeting on public safety called by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham last week was intended to demonstrate the public’s concern about crime, it was a huge success.

They expected it to draw about 200 people and take two hours to complete. Instead, a crowd of more than 500 packed the convention center ballroom for a discussion that lasted long into the night.

There were a couple of clear takeaways. The first is a growing belief among residents that Las Cruces is no longer the safe community that it once was. When a man asked how many in the audience had been victims of crime in the past year, it looked like about two-thirds of the hands went up. People are frustrated and concerned.

The second takeaway is that most residents have faith in Police Chief Jeremy Story, who was at the meeting. While there was anger at the police for failing to respond to low-level crimes, there was strong support for Story, who has been chief since December.

To her credit, Lujan Grisham stayed until everyone who wanted to speak had the opportunity to. And she took a personal interest in many of the problems that were expressed. Much of the night involved her taking down phone numbers and promising to have the right person get back in touch.

It was a terrific display of retail politics. But if the intention was to pressure the state Legislature, which refused to consider a series of public safety bills sought by the governor during a recent special session, that didn’t happen.

Most of them weren’t there. And with the primary election now over, the governor doesn’t have a lot of leverage. Obviously, she’s not going to support Republicans running against Democrats who disagree with her.

One of the few legislators who did attend the meeting was Sen. Joseph Cervantes, who is chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Cervantes and Rep. Joanne Ferrary were guests on the community radio show I co-hosted the day before, as was Benjamin Baker from the governor’s staff. Cervantes explained why the remedies Lujan Grisham is seeking - mandatory treatment for those found to be incompetent to stand trial and a prohibition on panhandling from street corners - were too complicated to be addressed in a special session.

Local leaders who brushed off the town hall as “a distraction” aren't listening to their constituents. While it’s true that we need to address the root causes of crime, we also need to deal with the criminals.

To that end, Chief Story has announced a new initiative named in honor of fallen LCPD Officer Jonah Hernandez. I look forward to hearing more about the details in the coming weeks.

Finding the right balance on issues like pretrial detention, mandatory treatment for those found incompetent to stand trial and aggressive panhandling isn’t easy, and we’re not the only ones grappling with it.

But there were far too many testimonials at the town hall from frustrated store owners and homeowners who said they routinely see crimes being committed, but have given up reporting them to police because they often don’t respond, and when they do it doesn’t result in arrest and incarceration,

That has to change.

Walter Rubel can be reached at waltrubel@gmail.com.