Torrance County Sheriff David Frazee has been in law enforcement for a long time. Frazee retired in 2000 as a lieutenant from the Bernalillo Sheriff’s Department where he worked for 27 years.
He was elected sheriff in Torrance County last fall and upon his return noticed some drastic changes in the way New Mexico police interact with the community. He told The Independent, “Back in those days, people respected the law and we had the D.A.R.E. [Drug Abuse Resistance Education] program. We had cops in schools. We put neighborhood watch signs up, I talked to people about how to protect their property, how to make it less attractive to burglars, etc. That was how we did things 25 years ago. Somehow they’ve deviated from that way of [community] policing and I don’t see it, it is absent. I know the climate of law enforcement across the country has changed.”
Frazee spoke about two major areas he feels need improvement as outlined in his 2023-2028 Five-Year Plan. The plan is described as “an evolving and living document which is constantly reviewed, updated, and brought into line with the desires of communities within Torrance County.” It stresses that a greater focus on community policing and increased funding and police presence is essential for TCSO deputies to operate efficiently and keep the community safe.
Cops in Schools
One of Frazee’s short-term goals is to complete the re-implementation of the “Cops in Schools” program, where deputies will visit classrooms and “work in tandem with the school resource officers to supplement their programs.” Frazee says the “Cops in Schools” program doesn’t employ or place police officers in schools as a security precaution but rather offers a way to improve relationships between police and children, giving young people an opportunity to interact with law enforcement “outside of and away from the patrol vehicle” and potentially shifting negative perceptions of police among school-aged kids.
Frazee remembers a time when police regularly visited classrooms, and is optimistic. “Maybe we can get back to where we were at one time; where [children] are not afraid of the police, and the police aren’t as scary as maybe they have become in recent years,” he said.
The “Cops in Schools” program also helps officers and students grapple with the very 21st-century problem of potential school shootings. TCSO has had several meetings and training involving an active-shooter scenario, and Frazee strongly believes his deputies are well-prepared to deal with gun-related school violence, but he also knows that having regular school visits from police and discussions with kids about surviving such events can potentially save lives.
Building a better police force
Frazee is realistic about implementing improvements to TCSO, recognizing that lack of funding and resources are the main obstacles to reform, but he is steadfast in insisting, “basic law enforcement is a duty owed to the people to be safe in their homes. Before I took office, there was a period during the day when there were no cops, none out here patrolling the streets. Now I’ve got 24/7 coverage, but on occasion, it’s one deputy by himself. I need two additional deputies a year for five years to get us up to where we need to be.”
Community policing, according to Frazee’s plan, is especially important in communities with smaller physical police presence because, “When a community adopts the notion that they are being included in a plan to achieve a solution to a problem, they will take a more active approach. By having the community actively looking for a crime as well as identifying neighborhood problems, law enforcement will be able to intervene with specified designed policing efforts.”
ain’t this the man who arrested someone for wearing a mask?