New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez released his legislative priorities after holding two law enforcement summits earlier this year.

Torrez sent a letter to legislative leaders.

“We urge the governor and members of the legislature to make crime reduction a top priority in the upcoming legislative session and to carefully examine the recommendations of front line professionals who work every day to make our communities safer,” Torrez said in a press release. “Police officers and treatment providers in our state described the need to take a comprehensive, un-siloed approach to public safety that both makes enforcement swift and certain, and streamlines accessibility to upstream treatment and support services that address root causes of crime.”  

The two summits revealed eight priorities to improve New Mexico’s public safety:

• Effective juvenile justice interventions for youth with guns 
• Swift, certain, and proportional consequences for gun crimes  
• Recruiting, retention, recognition and respect for the public service of law enforcement and prosecutors  
• Eliminate illogical legal and bureaucratic frameworks  
• Establish coherent and reliable funding mechanisms  
• Expand treatment for behavioral health and substance use disorders  
• Develop a coherent strategy for delivering essential services  
• Integrate the delivery of services with the criminal justice system 

The first summit was held in September and was geared toward law enforcement needs and potential remedies to gun violence in New Mexico. The second summit in November dealt with behavioral health issues.

“While our best and brightest frontline people confirmed the depth of the collective challenges before us by describing how New Mexico is not performing well either in public safety or preventative services, the summits generated optimism and hope,” the letter to legislators said. “Both law enforcement and treatment providers hit upon remarkably similar solutions, revealing the vast common ground to address public safety from both enforcement and preventative service perspectives. The summit participants offered opportunities for decisive actions, which, if taken, have the promise of significantly improving the lives of all New Mexicans.”The summits began shortly after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham’s controversial executive order concerning gun violence was unveiled in September.