Milan Police Department Use Old Policing to Solve Crimes

MILAN, NM – Over the last few months Milan has had multiple break-ins involving businesses and residential buildings/ To combat these break-ins and to find the stolen items, Milan Police Department has been relying on old policing practices such as door-todoor questioning and latenight patrolling to find the stolen items and to identify subjects involved.

Milan Police Chief Carl Ustupski said that the department decided to go back to the basics to solve some of these recent crimes and to prevent further crimes. He said, “We went back to the basic’s mentality… foot patrol, going door-to-door talking to our public; traffic stops, which led to search warrants of vehicles, which led to gathering intel through search warrants. Walking around late at night just kind of putting ourselves in the mindset of ‘If I was a criminal where would I go, where would I hide, what looks like a good hiding spot, what looks appealing or a vulnerable area or an easy target.’” Ustupski said the department has successfully used this tactic to gain some valuable information and led to the recovery of stolen items and the identification of subjects.

According to Ustupski the hardest part about using the old policing practices was the fact that they are a small department and that they are not fully staffed, and it is difficult to balance his duties as police chief. He said, “As a chief I can’t sit in my office all day and work am eight to four and take off. So, balancing all of my duties, I handle calls, I take crash reports and make DWI arrests, while working as chief I [also] have meetings, purchasing budgets. Balancing that and still finding the time to come out and work at night late… that’s been the hardest part because we are small.”

Ustupski said it’s also been difficult for other officers who are also working to find the balance between work and their families. “But we still have a job to do for our community.”

During this time of doing foot patrols late at night, the officers got into two, foot pursuits with separate individuals. Ustupski said, “Foot pursuits can be scary because you know chasing somebody you don’t know what kind of weapons they have. Some of these individuals we’re kind of in their playground, maybe they have a set route of where they are running or where they are going to hide, you know to a weapons stash.” Ustupski said that the two recent foot percents were necessary in apprehending an individual with a warrant and also finding stolen property.

The officers have also throughout 2023 been working on bringing up their traffic stops. Ustupski said, “Stat wise from 2022 compared to 2023, we tripled our traffic stops. That’s attributed to the guys being proactive, you know it is their job to pull cars over. But with our traffic stops, I say it all the time, our goal is not necessarily the citations and hammering somebody with fines, it’s education, kind of a don’t let it happen again, if you do it again, you’re going to get a ticket.” Ustupski said that not only is conducting more traffic stops to educate the public but also to gain more intelligence for the officers. With more traffic stops officers can be aware of what kind of vehicles individuals in the community are driving which will make it easier to identify a subject who is involved in another crime.

Ustupski also said that through the late nigh foot patrols they have been able to find what areas are more vulnerable than others and many of the business owners were highly aware of people around their businesses. He said, “We were out late at night just walking residentials and businesses, and we are going to continue this, but several owners of businesses caught us on their video surveillance, or we triggered their alarms.” Ustupski said through this they have found that most business owners have been doing great on keeping their property well lit and armed with security and surveillance, and that they have notified other businesses that they believe are more vulnerable.

Due to the officers going back to the basics, they were able to find subjects for many of the recent robberies and break-ins which include, Laura’s Laundry break in where $1,100 cash was stolen and $1,900 of coins was stolen, officers now have one subject identified for this break in and charges are currently pending. Laura’s Laundry armed robbery, two subjects were identified for the robbery and charges are currently pending. The NAPA break in where tens of thousands of dollars of products were stolen, four subjects were identified, and charges are currently pending. Four residential breakins, two subjects were identified, and charges are currently pending.

Officers have also recovered a lot of stolen property from these break-ins by conducting search warrants of both vehicles and residences. Officers conducted three search warrants on cars and two search warrants on residences with NMSP assisting with one search warrant that was outside of MPD’s jurisdiction. In these search warrants officers were able to find Fentanyl and Meth that individuals had possessed, 11 stolen guns from Milan, Grants, Albuquerque and Pima, Arizona, and a lot of stolen property which included some of the stolen tools from NAPA, a grandfather clock, safes, a fireplace, and speakers.

When speaking about why it’s important to go to the basics sometimes Ustupski said, “You know with all the new technology that has been very beneficial, but a lot of times we forget what’s been successful for how many years. Sir Robert Peel, that we learned about, they call him the father of policing, what did he have, a whistle, a baton and foot patrols, that’s how they got things done back in the day. Just sometimes we’re not thinking outside the box enough and it’s not a bad thing to go back in time and say look this is what they used to do.” Ustupski said that possibly this idea could not have worked but it’s important to try things and to get out into the community.