8-27-2023 10:23pm

Tularosa Police Department Police Chief was Not Certified in Alaska is Not Certified in New Mexico

Chris Edwards Editor

Allegations of Mayoral and police misconduct persist in the town of Tularosa New Mexico. In April of 2023 Anthony Lucero of KALHradio.org in partnership with AlamogordoTownNews.com began a series of inquiries and investigative requests with the Town of Tularosa and the state

It is alleged the City of Tularosa may have gotten itself into potential trouble in regards to having non-certified police officers on duty and promoted under recommendations of the Mayor and approved by the Village Commission. The mayor is accused of bypassing protocols that the state establish for policing in order to protect the public.

Allegations were presented to KALHRadio.org Anthony Lucero via a city insider that allege that the village is “out of compliance with state law to include an active duty decommissioned police officer still carrying a gun and functioning as an active officer.”

Another allegation was that “a recently promoted Lt. was hired March of 2022 and was still not certified thus as of March 31, 2023 or midnight Friday he was out of compliance and should also be decommissioned and no longer active per state law.”

When we first reported this issue and submitted questions to the city accordingly it was discovered that the officer in question was still active but after our investigation and series of inquiries the Chief of Police Brandon Boyle removed him from active duty and placed him on desk duty.

We had difficulty in our April reporting getting a response out of the town of Tularosa and received and email from the clerk explaining she had been out of town and in that absence the request received a delayed response. The response at that time was a reference to the police chief as the clerks office did not have answers to questions asked.

Anthony Lucero on multiple occasions asked the police chief to go on the air and to participate in an interview with Mr. Lucero concerning questions about the department, its polices and rather officers were certified. To date Mr. Boyle has scheduled interviews but never connected with Mr. Lucero for an interview.

He did respond to a few written questions from AlamogordoTownNews.com, but again to date he has not provided a single document proving officers under his leadership are certified.

The response from him and staff was that upon assuming control of the department that paperwork was out of order and he and his administrative staff were not finding complete personal files in order to provide the requested information.

In response AlamogordoTownNews.com and KALHradio.org completed an IPRA request with the New Mexico Department of Public Safety and the Alaska Public Safety Commission.

While awaiting a response from each further allegations of misconduct on the part of the mayor and of the police department have been directed to KALHradio.org due to concerns from citizens.

Allegations have now been made of further officers not being certified to include the chief. An allegation was that the mayor is not consistent in giving promised raises to police staff but that the chief has been given an indirect raise by removing his classification as a salaried employee and moving him to hourly, resulting in significant overtime pay.

Another allegation is that pay raises were promised to all officers but those working in animal kennels are not receiving raises.

As a matter of a fact they released on animal control officer and have not given the other one a promised raise though his duties have expanded to include lawn care.

Another allegation is of discriminatory terminations, an officer received a 95 on her evaluation and was terminated 2 weeks later? How does a high scoring officer then get terminated? The terminated officer was terminated by the police chief and witnessed by a rookie officer. Protocol is that a termination should be witnessed with someone of equal rank or the mayor.

On May 29th the department placed a public announcement that they were seeking an evidence tech though they had one on staff with an excellent reputation and scored a 95. Then suddenly an evidence tech that under contract from Ruidoso is hired.

Mr Boyle in April submitted an email to us claiming the allegations were false yet again failed to provide us proof the allegations were false…

His response was they “do not” have individuals working not certified beyond the 1 year legal threshold. He claimed there is a decommissioned officer but he is on “administrative duty”only. He claims all “are commissioned and the allegations are false," is actually false.

Per public records request provided to KALHradio.org and AlamogordoTownNews.com we discovered that all dispatchers are certified, two were certified, others are testing and/or soon pending certification and others were due certification.

The fact that Mr. Boyle failed to provided documentation requested raises questions on does he and the city know the status of officers they are responsible for? If they have the records why did they not provide them per the legal IPRA request?

Tularosa could be faced with penalties. Failure to provide documents requested is a violation of state law. The laws around IPRA requests allows damages of up to $100 a day for every day a public agency doesn’t comply with the law.

Note the original IPRA request was submitted to the clerks office.

As of today the Tularosa Police Department, specifically Chief Boyle has failed to timely respond the the request from KALHradio.org and AlamogordoTownNews.com for copies of certification of all officers on staff.

A new question now has come about and that is specific to Chief Boyle? As a police chief he should be the example to the city and the police department and as a chief he should be certified. Yet he is NOT.

The mayor in appointing Mr. Boyle to Chief, in past public statements has claimed Boyle has a certification in Alaska as police officer, and as such that certification would be recognized in New Mexico. The problem however is he is NOT certified in Alaska nor is he certified in New Mexico.

Per a public records request concerning Mr. Boyle's history as a police officer in Alaska KALHradio.org and AlamogordoTownNews.com received the following response from Sarah Hieb, Administrative Investigator in the mail date August 14th, 2023.

"On behalf of APSC Executive Director Joseph Gamache, (in response to Public Information request 54787), I am providing the below information."

"APSC records show that Brandon Boyle was employed with the Bethel Police Department from May 23, 2022 to February 25, 2023 as a police officer. He attended and graduated from the APSC Recertiification Academy from January 31, 2023 to February 17, 2023."

The response continued: "In Alaska, one of the requirements go be eligible for APSC police officer certification is that an officer MUST WORK ONE YEAR AT AT ALASKA POLICE AGENCY. As Mr. Boyle did not one one year in Alaska he DOES NOT HAVE AN APSC Certification."

The state of New Mexico shows that according to their records he is not certified and came to work in Tularosa, New Mexico on March 6th, 2023.

According to New Mexico state law he has one year to get his certification in New Mexico or will be forced to resign March 5th of 2024.

Mr. Boyle had no adverse actions reported to the state of Alaska in his record. However questions are raised as to why he did not complete the one year of service required for certification in Alaska?

Why has he not applied for certification in New Mexico as an example for his recruits and staff? The Tularosa police department has been through a number of police chiefs under the present mayor and has significant turnover of police recruits.

In an interview in 2019 with the Alamogordo News Margaret Trujillo, mayor of the Town of Tularosa, said she goes on ride-alongs with Tularosa officers up to four times per week.

“I keep tabs of everything that is going on, I try to be hands on in everything. I'm not just going to sit back," Trujillo said.

Given that the mayor claims to be hands on, further questions are raised as to why the town of Tularosa has not complied with state law and provided KALHradio.org and AlamogordoTownNews.com copies of requested state certifications of its police officers. This is an evolving story with further investigations and IPRA requests pending. Stay tuned.

Source: Town of Tularosa, Alaska Department of Public Safety, New Mexico Department of Public Safety, KALHRadio.org Anthony Lucero, AlamogordoTownNews.com