Border Community Police Granted Expanded Powers to Tackle Crime

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In an effort to enhance public safety and streamline law enforcement operations, police officers in a community adjacent to the Mexican border have been granted new powers to extend their reach beyond city boundaries. This recent development comes as a significant boost for the Sunland Park Police Department, allowing them to pursue criminals and assist in rescue operations throughout the county.

On Wednesday, Doña Ana County Sheriff Kim Stewart officially cross-commissioned 24 officers from the Sunland Park Police Department. This decision empowers them to exert their authority in unincorporated areas and follow through on criminal investigations that may start in Sunland Park but extend into other parts of the county.

Sunland Park Acting Police Chief Andres Morales expressed optimism about the change, stating, “This has been a work in progress so we can provide a safer, expedited response to the community.” Morales highlighted past limitations, noting the numerous occasions when his department had to halt pursuits due to jurisdictional boundaries. With this new authority, those restrictions are now lifted.

The move is expected to have an immediate and positive impact, particularly in addressing the persistent issues of illegal target and leisure shooting in an area known as “The Wall,” which has been troubling the nearby community of Santa Teresa. According to Morales, this enhancement will also enable faster response times to incidents when a sheriff’s deputy is not readily available, thereby improving overall public safety and service quality.

“Everybody is aware of ‘The Wall.’ We can assist Doña Ana deputies in entering that area and enforcing the trespassing and firing in that area,” the police chief said. “The citizens of Santa Teresa, the communities of Valencia and Sunland Park itself, they’ve all voiced their concerns and that is one of the reasons we did the cross commissioning, so we can provide a safer community.”

KTSM reported last month that stray bullets struck homes in Santa Teresa. One resident said the bullets struck a part of the home where he tends to his dogs and could’ve been struck. The bullets also have strayed onto the Doña Ana County Jetport, occasionally damaging property or striking parked aircraft.

Sunland Park until very recently had been plagued by constant migrant smuggling incidents and injuries to people coming over the border wall or a mountain with Mexico on the other side. Although immigration enforcement is a federal matter, cross commissioning empowers local police to assist in migrant rescues in the desert just beyond city limits, Stewart said.

“This is a force multiplier to be able to now bring the southern part of the county into alliance all the way to the north,” Stewart said. “Here we have a situation in which people live in the city but often are calling about a situation that’s happening in unincorporated areas. […] Now Sunland Park can respond immediately to where they believe the problem is and then alert our patrol with just a phone call.”

Morales said his officers didn’t need additional training because they already met peace officer’s qualifications to match those of sheriff’s deputies.