By Mary Alice Murphy

The first speaker for the Thursday, Aug. 4, monthly luncheon of the Silver City-Grant County Chamber of Commerce was Silver City Police Department Chief Ed Reynolds.

"I've been in the department since 1979," Reynolds said. "I retired in 2001, came back in 2004 and became chief in 2005, so I've spent 33 years in the department."

The SCPD has 35 members in three divisions'field services, administration and investigation, which includes regular investigation and narcotics.

"We are also part of the Southwest Task Force," Reynolds said. "We have the main area of responsibility for narcotics in Silver City and Grant County."

He noted that personnel numbers were slightly down, with two out sick and three out for other reasons. "We recently received 12 applicants for positions, selected four, washed out one on background extensive and hired one."

In New Mexico, he said a law enforcement person could work for 12 months without being certified. "It depends on when we can get them into the academy. We have trainings of various lengths of time, but we want to get them into the academy as quickly as we can."

"We're having a rough time getting police officers," Reynolds said. "We're not the only ones. It's also a problem nationally. I think everyone in this room realizes law enforcement is going through a paradigm shift. A year from now, it may look different. We are always looking to hire more quality people. We even advertise out of state occasionally."

 

He said often the problem is that they lose people to bigger and better departments. "Our budget is allocated for 30 people. We do have five civilians, including four secretaries and an animal control officer."

Western New Mexico University President Joseph Shepard said he recognizes how difficult it is to get good officers and that quality can suffer. "I want to say thank you. You pull over a car and you never know what you are going to encounter. What's been happening makes you second-guess yourself. Can you explain community policing?"

"One of the things we've found in hiring is that it costs us money," Reynolds said. "One of the issues of trying to get law enforcement officers is that money is one of the issues in trying to get law enforcement personnel. You are often hiring people with no law enforcement experience. It takes a long time to train an officer. The program costs almost $100,000.

"Take a look at the trend in the media to sensationalize some of it," he said. "They don't know what happens at the scene. It's a double edge. The public wants the information, but it is paramount that it be factual. We have to investigate. Sometimes, we see things on Facebook that are not facts. We try to put out information as quickly as we can."

To address community policing, Reynolds said the officers walk in downtown and in neighborhoods. "I see forms from people who have had contact with the officers. Pretty much people know what's going on. Many of the contacts are traffic issues."

He noted Silver City had a spike in burglaries during July, with 17 burglaries and breaking-and-enterings. "We target specific areas. We do crime analysis to determine the next places. We put together an impact team into these areas and try to be pro-active. We have bike patrols downtown. They go into businesses and talk to the owners about issues. We check doors to make sure they are locked. The town of Silver City is made up of two districts. Sometimes we find vehicles unlocked at dealerships."

Paul Leetmae of Lawley Toyota said he appreciates the calls about unlocked vehicles. Several others in the audience said they had received late night calls about business doors unlocked.

Bruce Ashburn, of the chamber board, serving as moderator, said he knows the level of pay for officers causes the department to face retention problems.

"The union has a lot to do with that," Reynolds said. "We've done pretty good at increasing pay to increase retention. A lot were going to the state police, but recently we have lost only one."

Sunny McFarren, who was the second speaker, said she has three sons who live all over the country. "When they come to visit Silver City, they say they have never seen so many police cars."

Reynolds said his officers have three shifts with six to eight officers on duty. "We also have the county sheriff's officers traveling through town, so that's probably 10 going through. Then you have the state police. Silver City is a hub for the Grant County area, so yes, you will see a lot of law enforcement. Also the Forest Service has law enforcement officers. We can be on highway 90 or 180 at any time."

Ted Presler of the Silver City Community Theater and Western Institute of Lifelong Learning asked if the state police, when they are in Silver City, "do they communicate with you?"

Reynolds said the state police can do traffic stops at any time, but on combined operations, they will communicate or "if we have a crime trend, we have good communication."

McFarren spoke next. She used to be the Gila Regional Medical Center marketing director. She said she would talk about real marketing.

"I was the marketing director for two 500-bed hospitals," McFarren said. "I came here to semi-retire."

She noted that marketing is about the target audience and what differentiates a business' product from another similar product.

McFarren showed a list of comparative statistics of GRMC over the years she was the marketing director. "What did we do to increase patient numbers? We regularly sent out news releases to keep the hospital top of mind. We did customer service training among the staff. We worked to make employees happy, using soft things like working with massage therapists." She said the hospital also added more artwork from local artists, instead of having blank walls. "We improved signage to make it easier to get around the hospital."

She said she knew within a couple of days what the hospital needed to market. It was the rehabilitation center, which, at first allowed employees only to utilize it, in addition to the rehab services. When it was opened to the public, it soon had 900 members.

McFarren also mentioned the price comparison between print newspapers and the Grant Count Beat, and how the Beat was the better deal.

Anita Williams was the third speaker. As board member of the Grant County Rolling Stones, she promoted the upcoming Gem and Mineral Show, which will be a three-day event over Labor Day weekend, taking place at the WNMU Intramural Gymnasium.

"It's a big show and amazing that the club is able to pull it off," Williams said. "Last year was my first show and it was impressive. It's a great family event on Saturday, Sunday and Monday. Vendors come from all over the U.S. and some from Mexico. It's free, so there's no excuse not to come. You might bring a few dollars though because there are things to buy."

The show features daily tours and field trips, more than 30 vendors, with rocks, minerals, fossils, jewelry, beads and lapidary, as well as equipment and books. A silent auction also takes place.

"The artisans are fantastic," Williams said. "A lot of local people participate. The Lions' Club will do hot dogs, hamburgers and chile. We hope to see you there."

The next chamber luncheon will take place on the first Thursday, Sept. 1.

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