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

RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; PROVIDING CRISIS INTERVENTION SERVICES FOR LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS; ENACTING A NEW SECTION OF THE NMSA 1978.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:

Section 1. A new section of Chapter 27, Article 1 NMSA 1978 is enacted to read:

"[NEW MATERIAL] The secretary of public safety shall establish and maintain, on a twenty-four-hour daily basis, a toll-free crisis intervention telephone hotline. The hotline shall receive and respond to calls from law enforcement officers who have been involved in any event or incident that has produced personal or job-related depression, anxiety, stress or other psychological or emotional tension, trauma or disorder for the law enforcement officer. The operators of the hotline shall seek to provide those law enforcement officers requiring further debriefing or counseling services with referrals for those services. As used in this section, "law enforcement officer" means an employee of a police or sheriff's department that is part of or administered by the state or a political subdivision of the state who is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime and the enforcement of the penal, traffic or highway laws of the state or a political subdivision of the state."