City’s top cop a finalist to be chief in Las Cruces
Mayor of state’s second largest city ‘very impressed’ after meeting with Gallagher
Santa Fe’s top cop may migrate south. Police Chief Patrick Gallagher is in the running for the position of police chief in the city of Las Cruces.
“He is one of the finalists,” Las Cruces city spokesman Udell Vigil said Thursday.
Gallagher’s exploration of job prospects comes as Santa Fe prepares to elect a new full-time mayor with increased authority over city operations beginning in March. His wife, Lynn, is secretary of the state Department of Health in the administration of Gov. Susana Martinez, who will leave office at the end of next year.
Las Cruces Mayor Ken Miyagishima said he met Gallagher for breakfast Saturday in Las Cruces and was “very impressed.” Gallagher traveled to Las Cruces, the second largest city in the state, as part of the job interview last week.
“According to the city manager, he said [Gallagher] did pretty well in his discussion with the community groups,” Miyagishima said.
Gallagher, 54, has headed Santa Fe’s police department for a little over two years. The Brooklyn native worked for 23 years at the New York City Police Department, climbing the ranks from patrol officer to deputy inspector.
In 2009, he became the police chief in Truth or Consequences, where his wife has family, before moving to Santa Fe in 2012 to oversee the police department’s Internal
Affairs Division. He left the job in September 2014 but was rehired by the city two months later to work in the Human Resources Department as a training and development specialist.
In July 2015, Gallagher was named interim police chief after the abrupt departure of Eric Garcia, who stepped down as chief after only 13 months overseeing a department beset by infighting and accusations by four lieutenants that Garcia tolerated wrongdoing and practiced cronyism. In January 2016, Gallagher was appointed chief on a fulltime basis.
“He’s got, of course, big city experience from New York. He’s got New Mexico experience from both T or C and Santa Fe, and he seems like a very nice gentleman,” the Las Cruces mayor said. “Police work has changed, and I think he knows that. You’ve got to be both fair and firm but transparent, and the public demands it and expects it.” Just a few weeks ago, Gallagher told
he wanted to continue to be Santa Fe’s police chief after a new mayor is elected in March but that he had other options on the table.
“I understand that somebody taking over, they might want their own team, and I totally understand it,” said Gallagher, whose salary is about $108,000 a year. “If they ask me to leave, not a problem. I will do what I can to make sure whoever takes my place has a seamless and successful transition.”
On Thursday, Gallagher called the police chief job in Las Cruces “an interesting career opportunity.”
“I felt I would throw my hat in the ring and see what happens,” he said.
The Las Cruces Police Department, which has about 191 commissioned officers and 83 civilian employees, is slightly larger than Santa Fe’s, which is authorized for 177 officers. Currently, Santa Fe has 167 officers, including 11 who are at the law enforcement academy going through training, and 48 civilian employees out of 52 authorized positions.
Gallagher said his wife’s family in Truth or Consequences made him aware of the job in Las Cruces, which opened up after the announcement that Jamie Montoya, a 26-year veteran of the Las Cruces Police Department who has served as chief since December 2013, would retire Dec. 23.
“That’s part of the attraction to Las Cruces,” he said. “It’s much closer to our family down there.”
Gallagher said his wife’s mother and her brothers and sisters and their children live in Truth or Consequences.
“It would allows us to go to Sunday dinner a lot easier than we can now. Let’s put it that way,” he said. “My mother-in-law makes some awesome tacos and enchiladas and great stuff that I don’t get to have enough.”
City Manager Brian Snyder said Gallagher had informed him he was interviewing for the job.
“I understand in these times of transition, exempt employees are going to look and explore,” he said. “He and I had a conversation that he was exploring there because it was an opportunity within New Mexico, and he loves New Mexico. He just wanted to give me a heads up that he was going down there to interview, and I’m 100 percent supportive of that.”
Snyder said Gallagher has brought stability, calmness and an open mind to the job in Santa Fe.
“I will miss Chief Gallagher if he went and moved on,” said Snyder, adding that the chief deserves a high performance rating. “I think he’s an excellent chief. I think he’s good for this community.”
Gallagher, who also applied for an out-of-state job that he declined to discuss, said he thinks he did well in his job interview in Las Cruces but noted there are no guarantees.
“It doesn’t mean they’ll offer it to me. It doesn’t mean I would accept it if offered,” he said. “My understanding is I’m still a viable candidate.”