The 1970s

Twenty-seven officers were hired in 1970, bringing the total strength to 275 commissioned officers.  The recruit school was the last to be held at the Glorieta Baptist Assembly.  Recruit training functions were moved to the new law enforcement academy the last two weeks of their session and this was the first class to utilize the new facilities.

During the early 1970’s, students at colleges and universities throughout the country were involved in riots to protest United States policies in the Vietnam War.  Riots occurred at Highlands University, New Mexico State University, and the University of New Mexico.  Approximately 80 state police officers and local law enforcement officers were called in to make arrests and provide security.  The National Guard was called out by the governor to assist in this effort.  

Agent A.J. Riccio worked undercover at the university during this time, and joined militant groups including the Students for a Democratic Society, to keep track of leaders of the groups, learn of their plans, and determine if weapons were available to them. 

On the night of November 8, 1971, while on I-40 fifteen miles west of Albuquerque,  Officer Robert Rosenbloom radioed the district office that he was stopping a vehicle bearing California plates and containing three Black males.  Witnesses later stated they passed the patrol car that was behind the suspects' vehicle and did not see the officer, but did see a subject walking between the two vehicles to the front car. 

A second witness stated he observed what appeared to be a body being thrown toward the right side of the road.  He saw three Black males getting into the front car, and observed the headlamps pull away, leaving the patrol car with the red light still on.  The second witness then crossed the median and went to the patrol car to check on the officer.  He found Officer Rosenbloom lying at the side of the road.  At 10:57 p.m., the witness used the police radio and reported a badly injured patrolman.  Officer Rosenbloom died at the scene.

When Sergeant Charlie Hawkins arrived on the scene, he found the lights still on and the unit’s right front door open.  Officer Rosenbloom's body was lying face down with his service revolver next to him.  He had been shot once through the upper chest/neck area with a .45 automatic weapon, cutting his carotid artery.  Investigation revealed that the officer was standing next to the right front door of his unit when he was shot.  The three suspects fled to Albuquerque and on November 9th, the rental car they were in was discovered abandoned in a vacant lot.  As an extensive manhunt was underway, the three suspects made it to Albuquerque International Airport.  On November 26, they hijacked a TWA 727 to Cuba.  The three suspects were identified as members of the Republic of Africa, a splinter group of the Black Panthers.

It has been reported that one of the suspects died in Cuba. There are still outstanding warrants for all three suspects, and to this day the United States is trying to get Cuba to extradite the two survivors.  Officer Rosenbloom graduated from recruit school on November 6, 1965.  He was assigned to the Las Cruces District, but since he was not yet 23 years of age he could not be commissioned.  He worked as a dispatcher until April 23, 1966, and was then commissioned.  He stayed in Las Cruces for about one year and was transferred to Alamogordo and worked there for about two years.  He then transferred to Albuquerque in August 1969. 

District Attorney Ernie Williams of Las Cruces obtained a federal grant for the purpose of  procuring a marijuana detecting dog.  Officer Dean Stuyvesant was chosen to be the dog’s handler.  On December 27, 1970, their training began in Plymouth, Michigan.  On February 24, 1971, Officer Stuyvesant and his dog, Thor, completed their training and returned to New Mexico.  They were stationed in Las Cruces and would respond anywhere in the state when properly cleared through the district attorney.

As the department continued to grow, a second pilot was added to the Aircraft Division in 1972.  The department’s budget was now up to $6,400,000.00.  An automated message switching system was installed at headquarters, which was to serve the criminal justice community statewide.  In addition, 25 high speed teletype machines were installed throughout the state.  The NCIC system was transferred from the Bureau of Criminal Identification to the Communications Division in June 1972.  

The Narcotics Division confiscated $5.9 million in drugs during 1972, and an air detail was added to enhance that division.  During this year, 19 new civilian positions and 41 commissioned positions increased the department's strength.  The Crime Lab commenced operating in late 1972 as four technicians, two chemists, one serologist, and a firearms and tool mark examiner were added.  The acting director of the crime lab was elevated to director.

After two years of planning and design, the New Mexico State Police had taken a giant leap forward in the handling and exchange of police information.  With the installation of an ultra-modern teletype system, New Mexico ranked as a national leader in law enforcement information systems.  The network became fully operational June 21, 1972.

With the installation of a computer switcher, the New Mexico State Police added speed and flexibility to the Law Enforcement Teletype System (LETS), while holding the line on costs.  The new system employed a computer switcher and Model 37 ASR teletypewriters, which transmitted messages automatically, thereby eliminating manual transfer of messages.

Through the use of the computer switcher, remote terminals had access to the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) computerized files in Washington, and also access to the National Law Enforcement Telecommunications System (NLETS).  Initiation of this system was made possible through an LEAA grant in the amount of $36,000.

On December 26, 1972, two buses from the Woodlawn Baptist Church of Austin, Texas were traveling westbound on US 60-84, to a ski resort in northern New Mexico.  At 6:40 p.m., the buses arrived at a narrow bridge by La Lande, 48 miles west of Clovis.  Local residents knew that only one large vehicle could safely cross the narrow bridge at a time.

A Clovis truck driver was driving an eastbound cattle truck onto the bridge at the same time the second bus was approaching the crossing.  The driver thought the bus would stop and wait but he noticed it had started pulling onto the bridge, taking up part of his lane.  Knowing there was not enough room for both vehicles, the truck driver pulled his truck to the right as far as possible, hugging the south side of the bridge.  The truck scraped the bridge railing and concrete pillars in an attempt to get out of the way.  The truck jackknifed and as the bus approached the truck, the front of the fully loaded cattle trailer struck the front of the church bus.  The impact caused the truck to break loose from the trailer and every seat in the bus to break loose.  As a result of the collision, 19 passengers were killed and 15 were injured on the bus.  The ages of the dead ranged from 13 to 42 years.

The first law enforcement officer on the scene was Sheriff Roy of Fort Sumner.  He notified state police officer Ron Wylie, the Fort Sumner resident officer.  Upon arrival at the scene, Officer Wylie called for assistance and all of the ambulances that could respond.  Help arrived from the Clovis state police office, sheriff’s deputies from three New Mexico counties and two Texas counties, Texas Highway Patrol, Border Patrol, and several city police departments.  Ambulances were dispatched from Fort Sumner, Clovis, Cannon Air Force Base, and Texico.

What made matters worse was that the Clovis state police radio went down.  There were no communications until Roswell state police could work radio traffic with the help of the dispatcher at the Portales Police Department.  The dispatcher at the Portales Police Department, Linda Gilman, was later given special recognition for the job she did that night.

Traffic was blocked for 3 ½ hours while the wreck was cleared.  The Fort Sumner Hospital was overwhelmed by the accident when 16 of the dead and most of the injured were sent there.  Because of the accident, a new bridge was built when the highway was re-routed around the area.

Traffic was blocked for 3 ½ hours while the wreck was cleared.  The Fort Sumner Hospital was overwhelmed by the accident when 16 of the dead and most of the injured were sent there. Because of the accident, a new bridge was built when the highway was re-routed around the area. 

In July 1973, a major reorganization of the department occurred after an extensive study by the International Association of Chiefs of Police.  The Internal Affairs office was established directly under the Chief’s office.  A Criminal Division was created and placed under the Criminal Investigations Bureau, which consisted of 12 commissioned agents.

The Communications and Records Divisions merged and became the Information Division.  In August, the department started its Search and Rescue Team by appointing the department’s first coordinators.

A new unit was added to the Central Records Section, Information Division, on October 15, 1973.  The unit was known as the New Mexico State Police Uniform Crime Reporting Program.  It was responsible for developing a system to collect and analyze crime statistics for local, state, and federal use.

Four field advisors were placed in areas of the state with their primary objective being instructing, training, and coordination with city and county police agencies.  They would obtain statewide uniform crime reporting procedures for the state level.  Sergeant W. E. Jimerson, stationed in Albuquerque, was responsible for the northwest section of the state; Officer Andrew Cordova at Clayton, had the northeast section; Officer Ottis Foster, stationed in Clovis, covered the southeast section; and Officer Don Shultz was responsible for the southwest section.

The headquarters staff consisted of a program director, a technical assistant (field staff), a technical assistant (administrative staff), and a secretary.  They were busy consulting with FBI representatives and designing forms and developing a procedure manual with the necessary information regarding crime classifications, interpretations, and form preparation procedures.

By 1974, the department had officers stationed in 70 locations around the state and the federal government mandated the national speed limit to be 55 miles per hour.  The number of citations issued by the department increased 10.4% over the previous year, due to the new speed regulation.   That same year, a new district office was constructed in Las Cruces.  

An oil embargo by several oil producing nations led to an energy crisis in the early 1970’s, causing the federal government to institute a national maximum speed limit of 55 miles per hour in 1973.  Enforcement was left up to the individual states.  However, if a state failed to enforce the law they were threatened with the loss of highway construction and maintenance funds from the federal government.  The New Mexico State Police enforced the new speed limit as required by the federal law.  The department cut back on its own gasoline expenditures by restricting state police officers from driving their units more than 2,000 miles per month.  If an officer drove over the 2,000 mile limit he had to write a letter to the chief explaining why he went over.

With the graduating class of 1975, the commissioned strength of the department increased to 325 to serve 1.1 million citizens.  The Uniform Division was divided into two zones and a major was assigned to oversee each zone.  The north and south zones were divided at about the middle of the state.  The department now had three aircraft and the number of districts remained at eleven.  Clovis and Alamogordo officers moved into new district offices.

The three officers drove fully marked pickup trucks.  They were dispatched to any thefts in the oilfield with their primary concern being the theft of Liquid Gold, also known as "Raw Gasoline."   This gas was worth $9.40 per barrel when it came out of the ground.

In their first year of operation, the oilfield officers were credited with the recovery of $16,000.00 worth of stolen pipe, had apprehended many drip gasoline thieves, and had recovered many barrels of drip gas.  The use of state policemen on the Drip Gas Detail was discontinued in 1987.

The following year the department again increased its manpower, to 336 commissioned officers.  In 1976, Hobbs became a district, encompassing Lea County and some surrounding areas.  A new teletype system was added throughout the state that could, among other things, print 150 words per minute.  In 1976, a new era was ushered in for the department as the exclusively male-staffed department commissioned its first two female officers.

1976.  Sue DeWalt, the first female 

New Mexico State Police officer,
proves she can measure up in 

the academy.

In 1977, the department underwent another reorganization when it was placed in a newly created criminal justice system, along with the Corrections Department.  This was done under Governor Jerry Apodaca.  The chief was now responsible to a Cabinet Secretary over the Criminal Justice Department.  This change made the state police a division of government, rather than a department.  The secretary of the department was allowed to appoint the director of the State Police Division.

Throughout 1978, the department purchased electronic sirens to replace the manual single-toned traditional siren used for years by law enforcement agencies.

The Search and Rescue Team was officially in place in 1979, and the department acquired its first helicopter, an Aerospatiale SA341G.

On July 1, 1979, newly-elected Governor Bruce King signed an Executive Order removing the state police from the Criminal Justice Department, making it once again, its own independent agency.  A State Police Board would appoint the chief.  During this timeframe, the Personnel Management Division came into existence, and was separated from the Personnel and Training Division.  The Roswell District and Taos District moved into new offices.

On November 19, 1979, Officer David Coker was operating a stopwatch zone on I-40, west of Santa Rosa.  He stopped an eastbound black and red 1966 Corvette with California license plates.  The driver got out of his vehicle and approached the patrol car.  The motorist had a .38 caliber revolver, which he pulled on Officer Coker.  The motorist apparently had the officer empty his service revolver on the right seat of the patrol car, and the pistol was found on the floorboard.  According to witnesses, the suspect was standing by the open door on the passenger side of the police car and pointing a revolver at the officer, who was standing about 15 feet from the unit, down an embankment.  Officer Coker started taking off his jacket and pulled out a secondary weapon, a .38 caliber revolver hidden in a holster that had been sewn on the inside of his coat.  Both the officer and the suspect fired at the same time.  Officer Coker’s bullet struck the suspect in the upper chest area.  The suspect’s bullet hit Officer Coker above the left eye, killing him instantly. 

After being shot, the suspect staggered around the front of the police car and fell onto the roadway.  The suspect dropped his revolver and was trying to retrieve it when a motorist kicked it away from him.  The suspect died of his injury en route to the hospital.  Further investigation revealed the suspect was not wanted and the Corvette was borrowed.  He had stolen a credit card from his roommate and had forged the roommate's signature on a gas ticket.  No reason was ever known for the slaying.  Officer Coker was commissioned on October 1, 1975, and was assigned to the Santa Fe District.  After about a year he was assigned to the Santa Rosa area.

More photos from the 1970s