Recommendations from the Report Stem from AG Torrez’s Recently Hosted Law Enforcement and Treatment Practitioner Summits
Santa Fe, NM – New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez recently convened two public safety summits that hosted frontline practitioners from both law enforcement and behavioral health service sectors. Legislative leaders in our state’s capital have now received the recommendations from these stakeholders which aim to reduce crime and build a system where healthcare and law enforcement are no longer siloed.
“We urge the Governor and members of the legislature to make crime reduction a top priority in the upcoming legislative session and to carefully examine the recommendations of front line professionals who work every day to make our communities safer,” said AG Torrez. “Police officers and treatment providers in our state described the need to take a comprehensive, un-siloed approach to public safety that both makes enforcement swift and certain, and streamlines accessibility to upstream treatment and support services that address root causes of crime.”
The Attorney General’s Law Enforcement and Behavioral Health Summits yielded eight specific priorities to guide legislation and improve public safety in New Mexico, including:
1. Effective Juvenile Justice Interventions for Youth with Guns 2. Swift, Certain, and Proportional Consequences for Gun Crimes 3. Recruiting, Retention, Recognition, and Respect for the Public Service of Law Enforcement and Prosecutors 4. Eliminate Illogical Legal and Bureaucratic Frameworks 5. Establish Coherent and Reliable Funding Mechanisms
6. Expand Treatment for Behavioral Health and Substance Use Disorders 7. Develop a Coherent Strategy For Delivering Essential Services 8. Integrate the Delivery of Services with the Criminal Justice System These recommendations reflect the fact that front line professionals continue to struggle with the challenges presented by fragmented and under resourced initiatives, but they also indicate that there is broad consensus regarding a number of potential solutions to our public safety challenges. The Attorney General’s Office has provided these recommendations in the hopes of developing a blueprint for legislative action and has offered to assist policy makers develop concrete solutions during the upcoming legislative session.