To ensure public safety, let’s start with the basics
Recent articles and an opinion piece by The New Mexican were very good news indeed if they signal that Santa Fe is turning a corner on public safety (“City set for spring cleaning,” April 11); “Cerrillos Road safety forum packed,” Feb. 22; “Residents want action to improve neighborhoods,” Our View, Feb. 25).
Residents in the Casa Alegre neighborhood held a town hall meeting with Councilor Alma Castro and made it abundantly clear they were fed up with illegal activities near their homes. I was at that meeting. Meeting organizers and participants are to be commended for pulling together to address issues negatively impacting their neighborhood.
The New Mexican noted many letters to the editor and conversations reflected similar sentiments and supported their call for action by the city and law enforcement. The police recently announced a 30-day annual spring crackdown on speeding, loud mufflers, racing cars, etc. And the governor is considering a special session to pass public safety laws having to do with unsafe panhandling, felons with firearms, and competency issues left incomplete in the last legislative session (“Governor: Special session is 80% likely,” March 27).
This is all to the good. And yet, it is hard to be very hopeful. Citizens from all neighborhoods in Santa Fe are likewise concerned about crime and dangerous drivers. But many who I talk with also express a feeling that nothing is ever done and they have resigned themselves to that reality. Will it be different this time?
The New Mexican rightly called for crime in our neighborhoods to be treated like the crisis it is, for city leaders to try new approaches, and for police Chief Paul Joye to be part of the solution. Yes, yes and yes. But I also suggest that our leaders need to think in terms of an umbrella of public safety.
Instead of carving out one issue at a time, understand that they are very much interrelated. The perception that you can speed, roll through stop signs, run red lights and disturb the peace late into the night by racing cars with illegally loud mufflers reinforces a sense that you can thumb your nose at your fellow citizens and law enforcement. This contributes to a climate ripe for crime. We need a moonshot on public safety, not scatter shot.
As The New Mexican noted, new thinking and approaches are urgently needed. Take the example of dangerous and aggressive driving. The annual “crackdowns” haven’t really made a dent in the problem. And timing the lights on our main roadways to accommodate red light runners only enables more red light running. A minority of law breakers are bullying and terrifying law-abiding drivers. Which is most of us.
We are told the Santa Fe police do not have enough manpower, so they can’t do more. OK, so here is an approach I believe will work. There are technologies being used successfully in other cities that could make a huge difference: speed, red light and noise cameras.
Why in the world aren’t we utilizing them?
Once technologies are in place we have a chance at enforcement.
That is key. And once we have enforcement, behavior will change. All the time. Not just during “crackdown” periods.
Start with the basics. Get control of the streets.