Law enforcement honored for helping children in time of need
One night a couple of months ago, a report of an injured child sent Lisa Moore and Arlene Quintana to a local hospital. The child welfare workers expected the check to last 20 minutes. Instead, Moore said, it escalated into an emergency situation that took more than six hours to resolve.
Accompanying them that night was Officer Keith Kuenstler of the Santa Fe Police Department. He stayed by their side and helped the women long after his shift was set to end.
“Having him there made the whole night go a lot easier,” Moore told a crowd of law enforcement officers, state officials and social workers who gathered Wednesday morning at the state Children, Youth and Families Department’s Santa Fe County office for an annual Law Enforcement Appreciation Day.
Kuenstler was one of six officers from four agencies honored for their efforts to help protect the county’s most vulnerable children. “The work you do keeps us safe and makes our work easier, too,” Moore said.
Matt Esquibel, the manager of the CYFD county office, said he saw a need for more collaboration with law enforcement when he stepped into the job. He said he began the appreciation day in 2006 to show officers that, “we can’t do our job alone without you guys.” Since then, the office’s Protective Services Division staff has honored 58 state, county, city and tribal officers.
Along with Kuenstler, the newest honorees are Sgt. Jon Lopez of the Pojoaque Pueblo Tribal Police; Detective Jordan Barela of the Santa Fe County Sheriff ’s Office; Detective Anthony Guerrero of the Santa Fe Police Department’s Crimes Against Children Unit; Officer Joshua Silva of the New Mexico State Police; and sherGov.
iff ’s office Detective Adrienne Ames, who received her third award from the agency.
Kurt Smith, an investigations supervisor with the CYFD county office, told Ames, “You’re not only a detective with the law enforcement, but you’re a social worker, too.”
He recalled Ames’ reaction following an interview with a teen boy who had been shuffled among relatives after the death of his mother. The boy had recently moved in with his father, a man he barely knew. Ames said she noticed the boy seemed to push people away.
“He’s acting out, and his dad doesn’t know how to act,” she told Smith. Together, Smith said, they came up with plan to help the boy reunite with his father.
Guerrero, a U.S. Army veteran who has been with the city police department for 15 years, said he was “floored” when he learned he had been chosen for an award. “We’re going to continue our mission to protect children,” he said.
“There are few relationships that are as important as the relationship between CYFD and law enforcement,” Children, Youth and Families Secretary Monique Jacobson told the honorees. “… I wish there were words bigger than ‘thank you.’ ”