By Marty Mayfield
KRTN Multi-Media –
A neighborhood watch meeting was held at City Hall Thursday, Jan. 14th to a packed house with spill over into the lobby of city hall with topics of conversation on drug deals, loose dogs and vandalism.
As the conversation began concerning drug deals in town Raton Police Chief John Garcia explained to the crowd what the police department needs to build a case or start additional surveillance of a residence or location. Garcia noted that his department is short staffed so all the information they can get is helpful. He requested basic information about the vehicles in the area with make, model, color and license plate info if possible, as well as time of day, day of the week in order to establish a pattern. 8th Judicial District Attorney Donald Gallegos echoed that, saying he usually wants to see at least three different police reports also to establish a pattern or to have enough evidence to build a solid case to take to court.
Both Garcia and Gallegos told residents to take pictures. So many people have camera phones these days so use them to show officers what you saw. The question of will photos stand up in court was asked? There are certain rules of evidence that need to be followed for pictures to be used in court. However if there is enough other evidence to build a strong case the photos someone takes with their camera phone may not be needed in court.
The topic of security cameras was also discussed with City Manager Scott Berry noting that the city has several cameras in place but that many need to be upgraded to newer technology. He has begun the process to do that and also to add more cameras around town in high activity areas. Laura Brewer told the crowd that there will be a meeting in the future to specifically discuss security cameras.
When asked about prosecuting someone found on your property if they are not supposed to be there it was noted that a no trespassing sign is important simply to let people know they are not wanted on your property. Even though it is private property a person has to know that it is private and they are not wanted there to make a strong enough case to prosecute. The comment was made that police have been called about trespassing but they only warned the person to leave and not arrested or cited the person for the violation. That is where the no trespassing sign makes the difference in that the person was warned by the sign before they entered the property.
Graffiti and vandalism was another issue that was touched on, once again make note of where, when and even take a picture of the graffiti to show police. Often times the graffiti is specific to a group or individual that officers may already be aware of. While the city is understaffed in public works as well the neighborhood watch group is considering creating a group to paint over the graffiti to help city workers out. If the graffiti is on private property the group could offer to paint over it to help out the owners. The concern is to keep Raton clean and looking good. Chief Garcia noted that officers have talked to a subject about shooting windows with a BB gun and so far that vandalism has stopped. However they don’t have enough evidence yet or a witness to take the case to the DA for prosecution.
Loose dogs and the danger they pose was another topic of discussion. Once again it was noted to write down information about the dog including where the dog lives and who might be the owner. Take a picture of the dog and call for the dog catcher. There was some concern raised that dogs are not being picked up if they didn’t have a collar. Garcia noted that was not the case and often times the shelter is also full and may not have room for another dog. There are also times when a dog is not licensed or chipped and it is hard to determine who the owner is to cite them for a dog at large. Brewer noted that what they want to see is a community where there are no loose dogs much like Springfield or Greeley Colorado.
Other ways for a neighborhood watch group to get the word out that they are watching is to create a Facebook page and post where certain activities are being seen and what to keep an eye out for. It was noted that the bad guys are also watching social media.
Another subject that was touched on was, does Raton have a lot of repeat offenders? Donald Gallegos told the crowd simply, Yes. He also noted that his office is seeing the grandkids and kids of people they have prosecuted in the past for similar crimes. He also went into an explanation of why cases may be dismissed. He noted that police and the district attorney’s office have 10 days to get a case to court for a preliminary hearing. Sometimes that short timeline is hard to meet since officers are still interviewing witnesses and building the case or they are waiting on evidence to be processed.
There are two other deadlines that have to be met to keep a case from being dismissed. One is 30 days and another at 60 days. 8th District Judge Emilio Chavez noted that once those deadlines are met he tries to get a case scheduled on the docket within six to seven months. It was also noted that the Vigil Maldonado Detention Center is often at capacity which is 60 prisoners.
The main theme promoted during the meeting is for Raton residents to write down what they see take photos if possible and to call police so they too have a record of the incident or suspicious activity. For more information on the North I-25 neighborhood watch program contact Laura Brewer at lauralee1341@msn.com or by calling 575-445-8000
Thank you, Marty, for the excellent article about the Neighborhood Watch meeting. We have scheduled the next city-wide Neighborhood Watch meeting for March 25th at the convention center at 6:30 p.m. We will have several security systems vendors on hand to show and discuss their particular system.