New State Police Sgt. Mitchell Maestas suited up in uniform Aug. 23 for the first time in five years.
Maestas, 37, was promoted this month from a criminal agent to sergeant on the uniform side at the District 7 office in Española, which provides police coverage in Rio Arriba and northern Santa Fe counties. He replaces former sergeant Joe Madrid, who was sworn in as a new Rio Arriba County Magistrate Court judge Aug. 12.
Maestas was a uniform State Police officer for seven years before transferring to the investigations section in 2003, he said. Maestas will be stationed at the Chimayó State Police substation, where he will be supervising five officers. He will continue to finish casework and testify on his ongoing criminal investigations, he said. In his new position, Maestas will be doing both administrative and field work.
“I’ll have the ability to bring a lot of knowledge to the officers in uniform that I was afforded to learn in criminal,” Maestas said Monday.
Maestas, of the Española Valley, served in the U.S. Navy as an aviation mechanic before State Police, during Operation Desert Storm.
State Police officer Abraham Baca is temporarily working in Maestas’ old position in the criminal section, he confirmed Monday. Having found his job as a patrolman satisfying, Baca said he isn’t certain whether he wants to give that up to do investigations full-time.
Although Sgt. Chris Valdez, who is in charge of the criminal investigation section in Española, and Maestas’ other colleagues are sorry to see him leave, Valdez said he believes State Police will benefit.
“I think he’ll be an asset to us over there,” Valdez said.
Maestas was the lead investigator on several cases including the still unresolved murder of Helen Valdez, an Española grandmother who was killed in December 2004. State Police arrested one of her grandsons in connection with the case, but the case fell apart amid a disagreement between State Police and the District Attorney’s office.