N.M. Stat. § 9-6-17 — NM Code / Chapter 9 / Article 6 / Section 9-6-17
§ 9-6-17. Law enforcement workforce capacity building fund; law enforcement workforce capacity building fund committee; administration; distribution of funds; grant criteria
Status: in_force

A. The “law enforcement workforce capacity building fund” is created in the state treasury to support efforts to increase the available workforce of law enforcement officers, including initiatives to recruit and retain high-quality law enforcement officers. The fund consists of appropriations, gifts, grants and donations. Money in the fund is subject to appropriation by the legislature. Any unexpended or unencumbered balance remaining in the fund at the end of a fiscal year shall revert to the general fund unless an appropriation provides a different period for expenditure.

B. The department of finance and administration shall administer the fund to:

(1) provide grant disbursements pursuant to Subsection J of this section; and

(2) fund administrative costs necessary to carry out the provisions of this section, including such administrative costs that are necessary to evaluate the efficacy of initiatives implemented by grantees to increase the available workforce of law enforcement officers and such administrative costs that are determined, in consultation with the committee, to be necessary to conduct workload studies, the results of which shall be used by the committee to improve the structure and criteria of the provisions of this section and to develop recommendations from the committee for policy or program measures to be considered by the legislature; provided that the amount expended for administrative costs shall not exceed three percent of the total appropriations to the fund.

C. Disbursements from the fund shall be made on warrants drawn by the secretary of finance and administration pursuant to vouchers signed by the chair of the committee.

D. The “law enforcement workforce capacity building fund committee” is created and is administratively attached to the department of finance and administration. The committee consists of the following four voting members:

(1) one member who is employed by the department of public safety, to be appointed by the secretary of public safety;

(2) one member who is employed by a municipal police department in the state, to be appointed by the New Mexico municipal league;

(3) one member who is employed by a county sheriff's office in the state, to be appointed by the New Mexico association of counties; and

(4) one member who is employed by the department of finance and administration, to be appointed by the secretary of finance and administration.

E. The committee shall elect a chair from among its membership.

F. The committee shall:

(1) conduct meetings once per year or more often as necessary to carry out its duties at the times and locations that the committee designates;

(2) develop criteria for the awarding of grants as provided in Subsection N of this section;

(3) periodically review the award criteria and recommend any amendments to the criteria based on the results of any workload studies or evaluations of grantee initiatives;

(4) award grants to law enforcement agencies as provided in Subsections J through M of this section;

(5) collect information about initiative expenditures from grantees as provided in Subsection Q of this section;

(6) report applicant and grantee information as provided in Subsection R of this section; and

(7) disseminate information regarding the program and application process to all eligible entities.

G. A majority of the members of the committee constitutes a quorum for the transaction of business.

H. A member of the committee shall not review or vote on a proposal made by an applicant with whom the member is employed. An employee of the department of public safety who is not employed by the New Mexico state police division of that department is not considered an employee of the New Mexico state police division of that department for purposes of this subsection.

I. Administrative and other necessary support shall be provided to the committee by the department of finance and administration.

J. The committee may allocate:

(1) up to twenty-five percent of the money in the fund, less administrative costs as provided in Paragraph (2) of Subsection B of this section, for grants awarded to entities whose primary jurisdiction is within a county with a population of at least five hundred thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census;

(2) up to thirty-five percent of the money in the fund, less administrative costs as provided in Paragraph (2) of Subsection B of this section, for grants awarded to entities whose primary jurisdiction is within a county with a population of at least one hundred thousand but less than five hundred thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census; and

(3) any amount of available money remaining in the fund for grants awarded to entities whose primary jurisdiction is within a county with a population of less than one hundred thousand according to the most recent federal decennial census.

K. For purposes of Subsection J of this section, if applicants whose primary jurisdictions are within different counties apply jointly for a grant, the applicants, if awarded a grant, would each receive an award amount based on that individual applicant's county.

L. Any local law enforcement agency is eligible to apply for a grant; provided that the agency is in compliance with applicable statutory reporting requirements, including those described in Subsection C of Section 29-3-11 NMSA 1978 and Sections 29-7-7.2 , 29-7C-7 and 29-7C-8 NMSA 1978 .

M. The New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety and all of its offices are eligible to apply for a grant; provided that:

(1) the application for a grant proposes to undertake initiatives in collaboration with a local law enforcement agency;

(2) the New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety is in compliance with applicable statutory reporting requirements, including those described in Subsection C of Section 29-3-11 NMSA 1978 and Sections 29-7-7.2 , 29-7C-7 and 29-7C-8 NMSA 1978; and

(3) for purposes of Subsection J of this section, the primary jurisdiction of the New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety shall be based on the primary jurisdiction of the local law enforcement agency with which the division or the division's office has proposed to collaborate.

N. The committee shall develop grant criteria to guide its determination for the awarding of a grant, and the criteria shall:

(1) take into consideration an applicant's law enforcement officer vacancy rate;

(2) take into consideration cost of living and comparable market compensation for an applicant's locality;

(3) take into consideration crime rates in an applicant's locality;

(4) prioritize, in its consideration, an applicant's proposal for initiatives that target the recruitment of candidates who are experienced law enforcement officers not currently employed by a law enforcement agency within the state;

(5) prioritize, in its consideration, an applicant's proposal for initiatives to be undertaken in collaboration between local law enforcement agencies with overlapping jurisdiction;

(6) prioritize, in its consideration, law enforcement agency applicants that use or intend to use community-oriented policing or other evidence-based forms of policing; and

(7) prioritize, in its consideration, initiatives intended to increase agency investigative capacity, including initiatives to recruit or retain investigative personnel and initiatives to train existing personnel to serve as investigators.

O. A grantee may use a grant award to:

(1) provide a recruitment differential disbursement to newly hired law enforcement officers, including a recruitment differential disbursement for relocation expenses; provided that the law enforcement officer remains employed as a law enforcement officer with that same law enforcement agency for one additional year;

(2) provide a retention differential disbursement to law enforcement officers already employed by the applicant for the purpose of retention; provided that the law enforcement officer remains employed as a law enforcement officer with that same law enforcement agency for one additional year;

(3) implement professional development initiatives designed to recruit, train and retain law enforcement officers, including training in community-oriented policing or other evidence-based forms of policing; and

(4) implement campaigns to recruit in-state and out-of-state candidates.

P. A grantee shall not use a grant:

(1) for recurring initiatives, except the grantee may use a grant for a recurring initiative if the grantee has provided a plan to replace nonrecurring funds with recurring funds to fund that initiative; or

(2) to create new law enforcement officer positions or fund the base salary of existing law enforcement officer positions.

Q. A grantee shall provide to the committee within ninety days of receiving a grant, and then every ninety days thereafter until the earliest of either the completion of the grantee's initiative or all funds are expended, a report of the grantee's expenditures for the grantee's initiative. Any unexpended money remaining after the completion of the grantee's initiative shall revert to the fund within sixty days of completion of the initiative.

R. The committee shall provide at least one annual report by November 1 of each fiscal year to the department of finance and administration and the legislative finance committee that contains:

(1) applicant information, including information about the applicant agency, the grant amount requested and the title and description of the applicant's proposed initiative;

(2) individual grantee information, including information about the grantee's agency, the grant amount awarded and the title and description of the grantee's initiative;

(3) data collected and evaluations made by the department of finance and administration about the efficacy of the initiatives of prior award recipients; and

(4) the status of any ongoing workload studies and the results of any workload studies completed since the time of the prior report.

S. As used in this section:

(1) “ committee ” means the law enforcement workforce capacity building fund committee;

(2) “ fund ” means the law enforcement workforce capacity building fund;

(3) “ law enforcement agency ” means a municipal police department, a county sheriff's office or the New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety;

(4) “ law enforcement officer ” means a certified full- or part-time salaried public employee of a municipal police department, a county sheriff's office or the New Mexico state police division of the department of public safety; and

(5) “ local law enforcement agency ” means a municipal police department or county sheriff's office.