News Flash

To our Community of Roswell,

As the Roswell Police Department and Roswell’s citizens strive to work together to make our community a better place and thriving city, I ask for your help in two very important ways.

The first request asks our residents who can do so to take a direct and active role in our crime-prevention and crime-response efforts by joining our team of professionals dedicated to making a positive difference by protecting and serving our community. Anyone soon to turn 21 can apply to become an officer recruit.

The hiring process is stringent and thorough, but let me encourage anyone wanting to help change our city for the better by protecting our families, our homes and our community to find out more about becoming a Roswell police officer. You can call our recruiting officer at (575) 624-6770 ext. 108. You can also go to the RPD Benefits page to learn about the benefits offered to our police officers. Additional information and a link to apply is found by clicking on “Join the Force.” We want you! We need you!

My second request is made to everyone who wants to help us reduce crime in our community. We need your voice to be heard by our state legislators, so they will realize the importance of instituting tougher penalties for repeat criminal offenders. It is up to our lawmakers to pass sentencing laws that include mandatory longer prison terms for repeat offenders so the criminals, and their crimes, stay off our streets for significant amounts of time. And it is up to all citizens to express to our legislators our desire for New Mexico to put more teeth in sentencing laws.

The RPD Records Division recently selected a random sampling of 100 arrests from the past year. We found 73 of those arrests were of repeat offenders. Imagine the difference for our community if nearly 75 percent of local criminals remained locked up longer so they could not commit more crimes in our neighborhoods and our business districts.

Please write to the state legislators who represent Roswell and Chaves County. The mailing addresses and email addresses for Sen. William Burt, Sen. Stuart Ingle, Sen. Gay Kernan, Sen. Cliff Pirtle, Rep. Bob Wooley, Rep. Candy Spence Ezell, Rep. Greg Nibert and Rep. James Townsend can be found at the New Mexico Legislature website. Their offices can also be reached by phone during the current session in Santa Fe by calling the Capitol switchboard at (505) 986-4300. Ask our lawmakers to keep career criminals in prison and out of our community.

Thanks to Roswell’s citizens for supporting RPD as we serve you.

Phil Smith

RPD Chief