Acting S.F. police chief gets hired full time
City also hires new land use director from Arizona
Santa Fe’s next police chief will come from within, a Marine Corps veteran with 18 years of experience on the city force.
Andrew Padilla, who has led the Santa Fe Police Department as acting chief since former Chief Patrick Gallagher resigned last fall, emerged from a field of three finalists. The Webber administration announced his hiring Tuesday.
An Española native who worked his way up the chain of command, Padilla, 39, said in a statement that the Santa Fe force “will continue to focus on community policing, training around crisis intervention and intelligence-driven policing that reduces home and auto burglaries.”
“I’ve built a strong working relationship with Mayor [Alan] Webber and Chief [Erik] Litzenberg over the last several months,” Padilla added, referring to Webber’s acting city manager. “We’re all pulling in the same direction with the same goals in mind for our community’s police department.”
In an interview Tuesday, Padilla said his immediate priorities would be to increase “proactive patrols” to cut down on burglaries and become more involved in shepherding possible new cadets through the application and academy processes.
He said he would encourage his officers to “get out of that patrol car, introduce yourself to the business owner, the resident, and build that rapport.”
About two months ago, Padilla said his officers began issuing pamphlets in English and Spanish with tips for burglary deterrence and where to call about burnt-out street lights, overgrown weeds and other neighborhood concerns.
“It’s a way to let them know, ‘Hey, look, we’re here as a community caretaker,’ ” he said. “We’ll help anyone out. Doesn’t matter what side of town you live on, home or apartment complex. We’re just trying to get everybody on board and let them know, you know, we’re humans, too.”
Padilla’s hire could provide stability at a police department where he is the third chief since 2014 — after Gallagher, who served almost two years before leaving to take the chief ’s position at the Las Cruces Police Department, and former Chief Eric Garcia, who led the department for 13 months.
The Santa Fe police union welcomed the move. Tony Trujillo, president of the Santa Fe Police Officers Association, said the union had endorsed Padilla’s promotion from acting to full-time chief.
Padilla’s familiarity with officers, he said, was a significant point in his favor.
“I’m not bad-mouthing Chief Gallagher, but he didn’t know the personnel,” Trujillo said. “He didn’t understand who the people were who were working for him. He depended a lot on his deputy chiefs to address that. Not a lot of people worked with him, not a lot of people knew him.
“On the other hand, Chief Padilla is in a position where he knows the personnel in this department; he knows the retention issues; he knows the morale issue,” Trujillo added.
“He has worked with almost everybody in this department at one point or another. That makes a big difference.”
Webber said in a statement that Padilla had earned the job.
“He’s shown dedication to a police department that fits Santa Fe, is committed to community policing and understands the challenges we face, especially when it comes to opioid addiction and the kinds of crime that stem from it,” Webber said.
The department, with 142 sworn officers and a dozen-plus command staff, has faced a recurring officer-shortage problem in recent years. There were 17 officer vacancies as of Tuesday, Trujillo said, and the Santa Fe Police Department is persistently at risk of seeing officers leap at postings elsewhere.
“We lost a couple recently to the Attorney General’s Office,” Trujillo said. “I think we’re losing one to Sandoval County. They run the gamut. It’s not just Albuquerque. It’s any other agency that pays more than we do, which is a lot of agencies.”
Padilla said he wants the department to help applicants better prepare for the physical and written exams.
“We know the vacancy rate is always an issue with our police department,” he said. “The administration at City Hall understands that eventually we are going to have to become a little bit more competitive.”
There were at least seven applicants for the chief position, including several from elsewhere in New Mexico. The city did not provide the names of the two other finalists said to have been interviewed in person.
Also hired Tuesday was Carol Johnson as the city land use director. She has been the planning and development director of Maricopa County, Ariz., where Phoenix is located.
Johnson, who also worked in planning and development in Berkeley, Calif., will replace Lisa Martinez, who was not retained by Webber’s administration.
“The future of this city will run through the land use department,” Webber said at a recent event, referring to the office’s role in planning and housing development.
In Arizona, Johnson headed a 100-person organization developing and implementing land use policy and processing development applications in the fourthmost populous county in the U.S.
“I’m excited to live in a place that values its difference, and to be part of finding solutions to the challenges so many cities are facing: The need for affordable housing, the importance of sustainability and the critical importance of maintaining Santa Fe’s special history and culture,” Johnson, 58, said in a statement.
Johnson earned an undergraduate degree in geology from Washington State University and a master’s degree in urban planning from the University of Washington.
Johnson’s hire adds to the roster of women Webber’s administration has named to top management roles. The City Hall organization chart this month, so far, have seen the additions of Finance Director Mary McCoy, Public Works Director Regina Wheeler and Human Resources Director Bernadette Salazar.