New Mexico Gets $5.4M for Public Safety, Mental Health

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(TNS) – Thirteen public safety projects throughout New Mexico are getting $5.4 million in federal dollars, with projects in Santa Fe receiving more than a quarter of it.

The funds, which were approved by Congress in March as part of an appropriations bill and were recently disbursed by the U.S. Department of Justice, include money for programs in Santa Fe that help people in mental health crises and $500,000 for a state forensic crime laboratory that opened earlier this year. Officials hope the funds will increase the ability to process evidence.

The biggest single appropriation on the list — $1.15 million — is to buy machines that will be installed in four cities that can capture three-dimensional images of bullet casings to help build a database that tracks guns used in crimes.

The Santa Fe appropriations include $300,000 requested by U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich for the city’s Mobile Integrated Health Office, which will be spent on a specialty vehicle designed to accommodate the city’s Alternative Response Unit, Assistant Fire Chief Sten Johnson wrote in an email Wednesday. The program, which is run by the city’s fire department, responds to mental health crises and other such emergency calls in place of police officers.

“The most noticeable difference will be to provide a climate controlled, comfortable sitting space for client interactions and navigation,” Johnson wrote. “The funds will also allow us to update our mobile laptop equipment for Case Managers.”

Another appropriation of $339,000 that was requested by U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján will go toward Santa Fe County’s Law Enforcement Assisted Diversion program, which provides mobile case management to people suffering with addiction and mental health problems. The funding will be used “to continue operations and program expansion, while adding a contract case manager to address anticipated capacity issues as a result of added referral sources,” according to a database from the U.S. Justice Department.

Members of the state’s congressional delegation, who requested the various grants, hailed the disbursement of the funds in a news release earlier this week.

“I fought for these investments to keep New Mexicans safe, help law enforcement hold dangerous criminals accountable, deliver justice and support for survivors, and make would-be criminals think twice before hurting their communities,” Heinrich said. “A safer New Mexico depends on ensuring that crimes are solved and survivors are supported, and I will keep fighting hard to deliver the resources we need for both.”

Another sizable appropriation is $963,000 for the CASA Program Crime Victim Trauma Intervention Project in Chaves County, which was requested by Lujan and U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández.

“In 2023, I invited CarrieLeigh Cloutier, CEO of the Chaves County Court Appointed Special Advocates, as my guest to the President’s State of the Union speech because of the incredible work she and her organization does to support abused and neglected children,” Leger Fernández said in a statement. “Today, we secured funding for CASA to help even more children and other incredible organizations that will protect the most vulnerable and change lives.”

The four gun-tracing machines, which will be installed in law enforcement offices in Farmington, Gallup, Las Cruces and Roswell, will be used to gather data from shell casings and firearms recovered by law enforcement agencies for addition to the National Integrated Ballistic Information Network. The machines will also feed data into the state Department of Justice’s Crime Gun Intelligence Center, which spokeswoman Lauren Rodriguez said will “enable real-time information sharing on investigative leads, provide stronger evidence in support of prosecutions, and reveal patterns of gun crimes and gun trafficking across jurisdictional boundaries.”

Rodriguez wrote the personnel costs for the department’s crime gun initiative will be covered by a “one-time special appropriation” from the state Legislature, but the department plans to request increases to its budget nest year’ in order to permanently fund the program.