A violent threat by a disgruntled water customer that put Española’s city hall on lock-down has the city hurrying to implement security procedures.
Currently, city employees have no training to deal with emergency situations or threats from members of the public. Security doors were installed post-9/11 but fell out of use after a few years. An employee entrance near the back parking lot is unsecured during the day.
“Anyone can just park back there and walk in,” interim city manager Joe Duran said.
Beefing up security at city hall had been discussed in the past, but no plans were ever put into practice, Duran said.
Now the city is bringing its security doors back into use, the employee entrance will be secured, panic buttons will be installed and employees will receive training on how to deal with an escalating situation or threat to their safety, Duran said. Depending on the cost, installing cameras around city hall might also be an option, he said.
Police chief Eric Garcia is heading up the training effort. About five years ago, when Garcia was working for State Police, he wrote up a safety plan for city, county, state and federal buildings in New Mexico. With help from the Department of Homeland Security, Garcia said, the plan was implemented across the state. Garcia said he believes the city of Española adopted the plan but it fell out of practice within a few years.
“We as a municipality were weak in addressing this, unfortunately,” he said. “It’s a training issue. We drop the ball sometimes and this is one of those situations.”
Garcia said the safety plan and training will be customized, taking into consideration city hall’s size and layout. Employees will be trained in how to react to and document an emergency situation and how to assist visitors to safety.
The April 7 incident wasn’t the first time that city employees had been threatened. Duran said that he’s been threatened many times over his 36-year career with the city. The first was when he was working as a meter reader, he said.
“One time I was confronted in a city vehicle. The gentleman didn’t like for us to drive up his street. He stopped me and pointed a .30-06 right at my head,” Duran said. “The only chance I had was to get on the radio, call in, and sure enough state police and city police arrived immediately.”
Duran said ensuring that new city vehicles are properly equipped is also part of the city’s plan to ensure employee safety.
“In the last year new vehicle purchases have come without radios,” Duran said. “We need to make sure that they have them.”
The city can’t plan for everything, but giving employees the confidence that they are safe and can handle an emergency is important, he said.
“Of course we’re not going to satisfy (all of the public). Someone’s going to be dissatisfied with the operations, the politics or some thing or another,” Duran said. “I just want to make sure that our employees have a safe environment to work in and provide public service.”