Crimes at home here in Española and far away in Georgia beg the question: Why aren’t criminals or suspected criminals kept in jail?
We are not talking about men and women who run a red light or get caught speeding.
In Espanola, Carmela Moreno was killed after apparently being run over by a truck on Friday night. The suspect in the case, Stephanie Salazar, has turned herself in and is in jail. How long will she be there?
According to published reports: “Online records indicate Salazar pleaded guilty to a felony drug possession charge in 2020 and has a pending charge of battery and vehicle theft stemming from an incident in July. She also has a long list of past misdemeanor charges, though not all of them resulted in convictions.”
Despite this record, Salazar was back in Española, a free woman, and now allegedly the driver of the truck that mowed down Moreno.
Over a year ago, a young man was gunned down while working the night shift at Española’s Westside Lotaburger. The alleged assailant had a rap sheet as long as a trip to the moon but is accused of a short reign of terror in our city because he had been set free.
In Georgia, an illegal immigrant is charged with brutally maiming and killing a young nursing student last week. Records and published reports indicate that he should have been deported. Failing that, he should have been in jail.
Adding to this gloom, as former mayor and Rio Grande Sun columnist Javier Sanchez has written in this week’s paper, local government destroyed a homeless encampment near Walmart only to move the residents to a spot along the Rio Grande.
What are these people – government officials, law enforcement, and those running our courts – thinking?
They are not.
Law and order?
There is no law and no order. We have a city, county, state, and country whirling out of control. Outlaws appear to have more freedom and rights that law-abiding citizens. The problems of illegal immigration and a border that is porous and out of control boggle the mind. We elect officials to remedy situations such as this. Police are expected to arrest lawbreakers. Judges are charged with keeping convicted criminals in jail.
Easy to write and say. Harder to accomplish.
One way to start fixing these problems is old-fashioned. tough-minded leadership. We need those in charge of keeping us safe to be bold, to do the right thing without fear of criticism or repercussions at the polls in the next election.
It is difficult to see any semblance of a centralized and coordinated group of community leaders in Española. We are not talking only about judges and other public officials in this sense. We are talking about citizens, about leaders of business, education and civic institutions uniting to demand good government and effective law enforcement. If we do not get this at the local level how can we expect it on a national level?
Stop the chaos. Close the revolving doors of justice. Demand better of ourselves.