Española and Rio Arriba County are under a state of emergency for a “surge in violent crime, drug trafficking, and public safety threats” that Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said is overwhelming local resources.
Lujan Grisham declared a similar state of emergency in Albuquerque in April and signed an executive order, where national guard troops were readied to deploy.
“The emergency declaration comes as police calls in Española and surrounding areas have more than doubled in the past two years,” Lujan Grisham spokesperson Jodi McGinnis Porter wrote in a press release. “Police dispatches to businesses in the area have quadrupled in the same period. Rio Arriba County currently has the highest overdose death rate in the state, with residents struggling with addiction to fentanyl and other illicit substances.”
The executive order is essentially a $750,000 grant to the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to “ coordinate response efforts and provide resources to affected communities.”
“The surge in criminal activity has contributed to increased homelessness, family instability and fatal drug overdoses, placing extraordinary strain on local governments and police departments that have requested immediate state assistance,” McGinnis Porter wrote.
The emergency declaration will either expire when it’s no longer needed or when the $750,000 runs out.
Unlike in Albuquerque, the state of emergency is not coming with the deployment of National Guard troops, yet. While the press release makes no mention of the National Guard, the executive order demands the ordering into service of National Guard “elements” to support “civil authorities.”
In a text message, Sheriff Lorenzo Aguilar wrote that he is grateful for the state of emergency and extra funding.
“We look forward to working together with local agencies and her (Lujan Grisham’s) office to address the pressing challenges our community is currently facing,” he wrote.
Aguilar wrote he had been briefed about the declaration before it was declared and a meeting is scheduled for the week of Aug. 18 to discuss what to do.
The executive order notes that police calls to businesses in Santa Clara have quadrupled in the past two years, compared to the doubling of police calls in Española.
Opioid and alcohol addictions are fueling fatal overdoses, leaving Rio Arriba County with the highest fatal overdose rate in the state, according to the order.
Officials from Española, Santa Clara, Ohkay Owingeh and Rio Arriba County all submitted letters asking for the extra resources.
In am undated letter to the governor, Española Mayor Pro Tem Peggy Sue Martinez wrote that the city needs “support” for behavioral health and substance abuse treatment, in addition to things like more license plate readers and “enhanced support for intergovernmental cooperation.”
The executive order states that the $750,000 will be used “to avoid or minimize economic or physical harm until the situation becomes stabilized” for things like lodging, shelter, health care, food, transportation or “shipping.”
Anyone asking for money or for a reimbursement from the Department of Homeland Security and Emergency Management will need to show that the ”action” exceeds their available resources.