New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham on Wednesday declared a state of emergency across Rio Arriba County in response to a surge in drug trafficking, violent crime and public safety threats that have overwhelmed local resources.
“When our local leaders called for help to protect their communities, we responded immediately with decisive action,” said Lujan Grisham, per a statement from her office. “We are making every resource available to support our local partners on the ground and restore public safety and stability to these areas that have been hardest hit by this crisis.”
Rio Arriba County stretches from the city of Española to the Colorado state line and includes two Native American Pueblo communities. The county has long struggled with some of the highest opioid overdose death rates in the country, per Fox News.
According to the statement from the Democratic governor, in the past two years, police calls in and around Española have more than doubled and police dispatches to businesses in the area have quadrupled in the same period.
Rio Arriba County has the highest overdose death rate in the state, “with residents struggling with addiction to fentanyl and other illicit substances,” according to the statement.
Lujan Grisham’s declaration authorizes up to $750,000 in emergency funding for Emergency Management and the Department of Homeland Security to provide resources to the affected communities and coordinate response efforts.
The declaration comes as local governments and tribal officials in the county have been asking for reinforcements for the crime and drugs issues in the area.
“The surge in criminal activity has contributed to increased homelessness, family instability and fatal drug overdoses, placing extraordinary strain on local governments and police departments that have requested immediate state assistance,” per the statement.
This emergency declaration will remain in effect until the emergency assistance is no longer necessary or the authorized funds are expended.
With this emergency declaration, there were no immediate calls for troop deployments to Rio Arriba County, though it does allow for authorities to call up the National Guard, per The Associated Press.
The authorized emergency funds will help local law enforcement agencies spend on equipment, coordinated police responses and overtime.
James Naranjo, the tribal governor of Santa Clara Pueblo outside Española, sent a letter to the governor in July asking for the state to address the growing public safety crisis stemming from drug and alcohol abuse in the community.
“The pueblo has expended thousands of dollars trying to address this crisis … and to protect pueblo children who are directly and negatively affected by a parent’s or guardian’s addiction,” Naranjo wrote in the letter, per the AP. “But we are not an isolated community and the causes and effects of fentanyl/alcohol abuse, increased crime, and increased homelessness extend to the wider community.”
This is the second time this year that Lujan Grisham has declared a state of emergency over crime in New Mexico, per CBS News. In April, she declared a state of emergency in Albuquerque to address a spike in juvenile crime and fentanyl. That declaration included deploying around 70 New Mexico National Guard members to the state’s largest city.
