To: News Coalition Group
From: Walter W. Beall, NMCOPSS, Founder
Date: May 9, 2008
Yesterday I received a Certified Letter, Return Receipt Requested from the
RLD. Means I had to sign twice for it and the sender receives the Receipt
confirming I received it.
The letter was in response to an email I sent to our Governor and the
complaint I raised about the current regulations and about one board member
who has now resigned. Also, the letter addresses the phone conversation I
had with the board on April 29th.
Here are a few highlights and quotes from this letter.
“We are very much aware of industry concern regarding the required 24 hours
of training; including the cost and turning away potential employees. As we
discussed, the department has made an administrative decision to be flexible
with current in-house security guard training. A company wishing to hire
security guard can submit the in-house training they currently use and the
department will approve it temporarily until the final rules are adopted,
properly filed and published.”
“Also, keep in mind that the statue grants the department, specifically the
Superintendent, the authority to approve an in-house training program
provided by a licensed private patrol company; or any other department-
approved educational institution using a curriculum approved by the
department and complying with department standards set forth in department
rules. Even after the new rules take affect the department maintains this
authority since it is granted in the statute. The cost of in-house training
programs will likely vary and depend on the business strategy in providing
the training.”
“We are also cognizant of the cost for a business to provide 24 hours of in-
house training. The industry has made it clear that 24 hours is not
necessary to protect the public and is too costly. With the assistance of
industry experts, including non-board members, we are developing a training
outline closer to 8 hours requirement prior to the first day on post and
then graduated training for Level 2 security guards with an endorsement to
carry specific arms. It’s all still in the drafting stage, but please know
that public recommendations are impacting the development of curriculum
requirements.”
“Our communication effort surrounding the implementation of the rules and
the new application process has not been very successful. You can help us
turn this around. Please let your peers know that RLD is working with the
industry and public in order to make the training requirements relevant and
cost effective for small and large businesses. We want input!”
NMCOPSS Notes:
Here are a few problem areas we won’t be able to get around in the Private
Investigations Act:
· 61-27A-6.9. Security Guard – Level One Registration Requirements
B. (6) is employed by a private patrol company under the direct supervision
of a licensed private patrol operator, a level three security guard or a
private patrol operations manager . . .
· 61-27A-6.11. Security Guard – Level Three Registration Requirements
B. (8) beginning on July 1, 2009, has successfully passed a psychological
evaluation as prescribed by the department to determine suitability for
carrying firearms . . .
· 61-27A-9. Display of License – Notification of Changes
D. A security guard shall wear the registration card on the outside of the
guard's uniform so that the card is visible to others.
Some other laws of interest:
· 30-22-2. Refusing to aid an officer. Refusing to aid an officer
consists of refusing to assist any peace officer in the preservation of the
peace when called upon by such officer in the name of the United States or
the state of New Mexico. Whoever commits refusing to aid an officer is
guilty of a petty misdemeanor.
· 31-4-14. Arrest without a warrant. The arrest of a person may be
lawfully made also by any peace officer or a private person without a
warrant upon reasonable information that the accused stands charged in the
courts of a state with a crime punishable by death or imprisonment for a
term exceeding one year, but when so arrested the accused must be taken
before a judge or magistrate with all practicable speed and complaint must
be made against him under oath setting forth the ground for the arrest as in
the preceding section [31-4-13 NMSA 1978]; and thereafter his answer shall
be heard as if he had been arrested on a warrant.
· 30-21-3. Detention or arrest of trespassers upon restricted areas.
Any peace officer or person employed as a watchman, guard or in a
supervisory capacity on premises utilized in the manufacture, transportation
or storage of any product in the preparation of the United States or of any
of the states for defense or for war, or the manufacture, transportation,
distribution or storage of gas, oil, coal, electricity or water or of any
public utility, may stop any person found on such premises to which entry
without permission is forbidden and where such premises are clearly posted
with signs prohibiting entry, and may detain such person for the purpose of
demanding the name, address and the individual's business in such place. If
such peace officer or employee has reason to believe from the answers or
conduct of the person so interrogated that the person detained has no right
to be in such destricted [restricted] area, he shall forthwith either
release such person, or may arrest the individual without a warrant on the
charge of committing the crime of criminal trespass. In the event such peace
officer or employee shall arrest such person found in the restricted area he
shall forthwith turn the individual over to a peace officer who may arrest
the individual without a warrant on the charge of committing criminal
trespass.
· 66-8-124. Arresting officer to be in uniform.
A. No person shall be arrested for violating the Motor Vehicle Code [66-1-1
NMSA 1978] or other law relating to motor vehicles punishable as a
misdemeanor except by a commissioned, salaried peace officer who, at the
time of arrest, is wearing a uniform clearly indicating the peace officer's
official status.
B. Notwithstanding the provisions of Subsection A of this section, a
municipality may provide by ordinance that uniformed private security guards
may be commissioned by the local police agency to issue parking citations
for violations of clearly and properly marked fire zones and access zones
for persons with significant mobility limitation. Prior to the commissioning
of any security guard, the employer of the security guard shall agree in
writing with the local police agency to the commissioning of the employer's
security guard. The employer of any security guard commissioned under the
provisions of this section shall be liable for the actions of that security
guard in carrying out the security guard's duties pursuant to that
commission. Notwithstanding the provisions of the Tort Claims Act [41-4-1
NMSA 1978], private security guards commissioned under this section shall
not be deemed public employees under that act.
· 30-27-2.1. Impersonating a peace officer.
A. Impersonating a peace officer consists of:
(1) without due authority exercising or attempting to exercise the
functions of a peace officer; or
(2) pretending to be a peace officer with the intent to deceive another
person.
B. Whoever commits impersonating a peace officer is guilty of a misdemeanor.
Upon a second or subsequent conviction, the offender is guilty of a fourth
degree felony.
C. As used in this section, "peace officer" means any public official or
public officer vested by law with a duty to maintain public order or to make
arrests for crime, whether that duty extends to all crimes or is limited to
specific crimes.
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