0001|                               AN ACT
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0002| RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; AMENDING THE LAW ENFORCEMENT TRAINING
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0003| ACT; DEFINING "POLICE OFFICER".
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0004| 
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0005| BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
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0006|      Section 1.  Section 29-7-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981, Chapter
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0007| 114, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:
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0008|      "29-7-7.  DEFINITIONS.--For the purpose of the Law Enforcement
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0009| Training Act:
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0010|           A.  "academy" means the New Mexico law enforcement academy;
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0011|           B.  "basic law enforcement training" means a course
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0012| consisting of not less than four hundred hours of instruction in basic
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0013| law enforcement training as required by the Law Enforcement Training
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0014| Act;
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0015|           C.  "board" means the New Mexico law enforcement academy
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0016| board;
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0017|           D.  "conviction" means an adjudication of guilt or a plea of
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0018| no contest and includes convictions that are suspended or deferred;
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0019|           E.  "director" means the director of the academy;
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0020|           F.  "in-service law enforcement training" means a course of
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0021| instruction required of all certified peace officers designed to train
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0022| and equip all police officers in the state with specific law
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0023| enforcement skills and to ensure the continuing development of all
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0024| police officers in the state.  The training and instruction shall be
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0025| kept current and may be conducted on a regional basis at the
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0001| discretion of the director;
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0002|           G.  "police officer" means any commissioned employee of a
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0003| law enforcement agency that is part of or administered by the state or
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0004| any political subdivision of the state and includes any employee of a
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0005| missile range civilian police department who is a graduate of a
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0006| recognized certified regional law enforcement training facility, and
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0007| who is currently certifiable by the New Mexico law enforcement academy
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0008| which employee is responsible for the prevention and detection of
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0009| crime or the enforcement of the penal or traffic or highway laws of
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0010| this state.  The term specifically includes deputy sheriffs.  Sheriffs
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0011| are eligible to attend the academy and are eligible to receive
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0012| certification as provided in the Law Enforcement Training Act.  As
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0013| used in this subsection, "commissioned" means an employee of a law
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0014| enforcement agency who is authorized by a sheriff or chief of police
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0015| to apprehend, arrest and bring before the court all violators within
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0016| the state; and
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0017|           H.  "certified regional law enforcement training
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0018| facility" means a law enforcement training facility within the
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0019| state certified by the director, with the approval of the
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0020| academy's board of directors, that offers basic law enforcement
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0021| training and in-service law enforcement training that is
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0022| comparable to or exceeds the standards of the programs of the
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0023| academy."                                               
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