[HISTORY: Adopted by the Mayor and Council of the City of
Española as Ch. 62, Art. II, of the Code of Ordinances. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Personnel policies — See Ch. 86.
The purpose of this chapter is to provide the City with an alert
and well-trained police force, free from any and all political control
or domination, and to provide tenure and an adequate wage scale for
the members of the Police Department.
[Amended 11-12-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09]
There is hereby created a department of the City which shall
be known as the "Police Department."
[Amended 11-12-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09]
The City Police Department shall be composed of the Police Chief
and such number of police officers as may be established from time
to time.
[Added 11-12-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09[1]]
No person shall assume or exercise the functions, powers, duties
and privileges incident or belonging to the office of the Española
Police Department without first having received his/her appointment,
in writing, known as his/her "commission," from the governing body.
The advice of the Chief of Police shall be obtained in the employment
and commissioning of all police officers of the Department.
[Added 11-12-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09]
A.
Pursuant
to NMSA 1978 § 3-13-2 , the police officers of the City
of Española shall:
(1)
Execute
and return all writs and process as directed by the municipal judge
of the municipality employing the police officer;
(2)
Execute
and return all criminal process as directed by the municipal judge
of any incorporated municipality in the state if the criminal process
arises out of a charge of violation of a municipal ordinance prohibiting
driving while under the influence of intoxicating liquor or drugs;
(4)
Within
the municipality:
(a)
Suppress
all riots, disturbances and breaches of the peace;
(b)
Apprehend
all disorderly persons;
(c)
Pursue
and arrest any person fleeing from justice; and
(d)
Apprehend
any person in the act of violating the laws of the state or the ordinances
of the municipality and bring him before competent authority for examination
and trial.
B.
In the discharge
of his proper duties, a police officer shall have the same powers
and be subject to the same responsibilities as sheriffs in similar
cases.
[Amended 11-12-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-09]
A.
There shall
be held and conducted at such times as may be prescribed by the Police
Chief, with the approval of the City Manager and governing body, either
internally sponsored or externally sponsored, subject to funding availability,
schools for training in modern police methods and practices. The schools
for training and the checking of the qualifications and general fitness
of applicants for positions in the Police Department shall be under
the direction and supervision of the Police Chief.
B.
All members
of the Police Department shall take such examinations as may be prescribed.
C.
In the taking
of all written examinations, there shall be assigned to each applicant
a number which shall be endorsed on his examination papers, and the
grading of the examinations shall be by number only.
D.
Except as
otherwise provided, no member shall be retained in the Police Department
and no applicant shall be appointed to the Police Department unless
such member or applicant, after taking the prescribed training courses,
has successfully passed the prescribed examinations, written and oral.
