(The Center Square) – New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham announced the re–establishment of the Governor’s Organized Crime Commission this week.
The commission, initially created during the 1970s, has not been put to much use in recent years, according to the governor’s office. It is a seven-member commission with picks appointed by the governor and approved by the state senate.
“These seven individuals have among them well over a century of expertise in law enforcement and the judicial system. This commission will serve as a powerful tool to hit organized crime where it hurts the most,” Governor Lujan Grisham said in a press release issued by her office. “We must do more to interrupt organized crime operations in our state, and these are sophisticated groups that take a sophisticated approach. That’s what I am tasking this group to do.”
The seven members of the commission include: Commission Chair Sam Bregman, District Attorney of Bernalillo County; Sheriff John Allen, Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department; Secretary Jason Bowie, Department of Public Safety; Sonya K. Chavez, United States Marshal, New Mexico; Chief Eddie Flores, Western New Mexico University Police Department; Marcus Montoya, Eighth Judicial District Attorney; and Honorable Judith K. Nakamura, former Chief Justice, New Mexico Supreme Court.
The commission plans to rely on the expertise of these individuals, as well as New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez and the Business Advisory Council for Crime Reduction.
“We will work with all law enforcement to assess and evaluate the activities and problems involving organized crime and develop a comprehensive plan to suppress and fight organized crime by the cartels, their affiliates, and other criminal organizations,” Bregman said, according to the release. “It is a long road to get a handle on crime and public safety issues we face every day, but everyone on this commission is committed to executing this crucial first step.”
Chavez called the commission a “cutting-edge opportunity.
“We already have a cadre of resources across the state, and we will do our best to coordinate them and bring them together to focus on what is hurting New Mexico,” Chavez said, according to the release.
And Nakamura said she sees the commission as a way to prevent crime.
“I look at this commission as an extension of the work I did as a judge,” she said, according to the release. “At the end of the day, the job of a judge is to prevent crime. It was difficult to achieve alone but when we work together, we can lessen the caseload and make New Mexico a safer place to live.”
This article First appeared in the center square