Mar. 31—An ongoing statewide initiative to clear outstanding warrants — particularly relating to violent felony charges — has gotten off to a slow start in the Santa Fe area.

In July 2023, after passing an annual appropriations bill with millions dedicated to warrant roundup operations, Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham touted the measure, saying in a news release, “If you’re abusing the pretrial system in New Mexico: Your time is up.”

The implementation of the program in Santa Fe and surrounding counties, however, has delivered modest results: Two have been arrested so far in warrant roundup operations funded by the appropriation, with the ongoing program set to end in June.

The Legislature last year appropriated $10 million to boost efforts to clear the state’s roughly 5,000 outstanding warrants, money that was made available to district attorneys around the state for the first time in the current fiscal year, which began in July 2023 and ends in June.

Half the funding was allocated to the Albuquerque-area Second District Attorney’s office, and $1 million was allocated to Northern New Mexico’s First Judicial District.

So far, in the First District — which includes Santa Fe, Los Alamos and Rio Arriba Counties — the appropriation has funded three warrant roundup operations that resulted in just two arrests, the District Attorney’s Office and the sheriff’s office confirmed.

As of September 2023, there was a backlog of 502 felony arrest and bench warrants throughout the district, according to an agreement between the District Attorney’s Office and the Santa Fe and Rio Arriba county sheriff’s offices signed in early January. That number did not include 161 probation violation warrants and 13 warrants for competency proceedings.

The District Attorney’s Office program set aside aside a maximum of $600,000 to cover overtime for warrant roundup operations for the two agencies through June. The District Attorney’s Office sets priorities for warrants and approves the plans for each operation as well as covering the overtime, the agreement shows. The office agreed to pay $100 per hour for personnel involved in planning and executing the operations.

District Attorney’s Office spokesman Nathan Lederman noted in an email the operations with Santa Fe County also resulted in the seizure of illicit drugs and guns.

“There have also been unsuccessful efforts to locate many defendants with outstanding warrants,” he wrote.

The program, Lederman wrote, is “but a part of our agency’s efforts to clear the warrant backlog, and the [District Attorney’s Office] will continue to pursue our efforts,” including an upcoming “safe surrender” event planned for April 26 and 27 that is open to anyone with a warrant in the First District and is being coordinated with the courts and other partners.

Lederman wrote the District Attorney’s Office is prioritizing warrants “tied to viable violent crimes, [drunken driving], and probation violations.” He declined to answer whether the office is on track to meet its goals for warrant operations before the program ends in June. He did not say whether the office has a specific goal for reducing the warrant backlog over the next few months.

The sheriff’s offices both said they were leaning on the District Attorney’s Office for guidance in warrant roundup operations, including for prioritizing suspects. A roundup operation requires planning and execution in order to be successful and safe for the officers, said Lt. Brian Brandle, head of the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office’s Criminal Investigations Division.

Brandle is in charge of planning warrant roundup operations along with District Attorney’s Office staff. Before setting out on an operation, Brandle said his team research the suspects in question, particularly to find out if they have a history of violent behavior. Much of the backlog, he said, is due to suspects who have moved out of the area or potentially died, as well as new warrants being issued all the time.

Participation in the operations is voluntary and up to individual deputies, Brandle said.

In Rio Arriba County, the program has gotten off to an even slower start. Maj. Lorenzo Aguilar said the agency assigned one deputy to begin filtering through a list of warrants they received from the District Attorney’s Office, checking warrants against a database from the National Crime Information Center to ensure they are still viable. The work began on March 6, he said, and the office has used seven overtime hours total on the project so far.

Police departments in Santa Fe and Española are not part of the program, but each department executes its own warrant roundup operations.

Española Police Chief Mizel Garcia said his agency has not executed any warrant operations in 2024, but completed three such operations in 2023 in collaboration with Rio Arriba County sheriff’s deputies and New Mexico State Police.

Warrant operations can be difficult to schedule and budget along with daily patrols, Garcia said, especially when the agency is not fully staffed. They often require overtime, which can strain the agency’s budget. He hopes to plan more warrant operations soon, since he has recently seen a boost in staffing levels.

Garcia noted his agency often clears outstanding warrants with arrests during day-to-day patrols. On Thursday, for example, officers answered a call a “suspicious van” and the driver had multiple felony warrants, he said.

In planning the agency’s operations, Garcia said he often prioritizes property crime charges like burglary, reasoning that suspects with burglary charges are likely to continue committing such crimes until they are arrested.

In Santa Fe, the police department’s Criminal Intelligence and Analysis Unit is dedicated to warrant operations. It prioritizes warrants issued from the agency’s officers, particularly for violent charges, said Deputy Chief Ben Valdez.

“That’s one of the primary focuses of our intel unit,” Valdez said. “They’re looking for repeat offenders, people who pose a safety risk to our community — that’s what they do day in and day out.”

The unit typically prioritizes suspects wanted for a crime like robbery or homicide, Valdez said. If there are no such pressing warrants, they move on to property crimes, focusing on burglaries and commercial burglaries. The work is typically budgeted from regular labor hours, he said, with occasional overtime depending on need.

The warrant backlog can fluctuate due to a variety of factors, Valdez said, independently of law enforcement efforts.

“You can still be putting forth efforts to apprehend people, but if you can’t find them, you can’t clear that backlog,” he said.