45th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2001

REQUESTING THE NEW MEXICO SUPREME COURT TO ESTABLISH RULES FOR EXPEDITING THE RELEASE OF NEW MEXICO STATE POLICE OFFICERS' COURT APPEARANCES.

WHEREAS, the public safety depends on New Mexico state police officers' availability to enforce laws and respond to emergency calls; and

WHEREAS, police officers sometimes wait in court eight hours on a trailing docket and at times they are not even heard; and

WHEREAS, in some courts there is little cooperation in scheduling police officers on working days; and

WHEREAS, some magistrates have scheduled police officers for court hearings on the officers' day off; and

WHEREAS, districts lose numerous man hours of patrol because police officers are waiting for the court to hear their cases; and

WHEREAS, the trailing docket system needs to be improved whereby the courts work with police officers in scheduling its court appearances on their working days; and

WHEREAS, in order for the New Mexico state police to utilize the officer duty schedule program, it is necessary for its court liaison officer to spend several hours per week entering police officers' duty schedules into the database in court offices, and there is no compatible software application program; and

WHEREAS, police officers are frequently scheduled for multiple court cases at the same time, on different floors and different courtrooms; and

WHEREAS, frequently, court clerks fail to notify police officers for appearances, and cases get dismissed on the officers' absences, being recorded as the officers' failures to appear; and

WHEREAS, occasionally notices arrive late and the police officers cannot appear, and the cases are dismissed and recorded as failures to appear; and

WHEREAS, many times when a case is continued the court fails to notify the appropriate police officer or his office of the continuance and needlessly takes the officer off patrol duty;

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico supreme court be requested to develop rules for courts to cooperate with the New Mexico state police in scheduling police officers' appearances in court so that cases are not dismissed unnecessarily and patrol time by officers is not unnecessarily reduced; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this memorial be transmitted to the New Mexico supreme court.