0001|                           SENATE BILL 549
    |
0002|     43rd legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 1997
    |
0003|                            INTRODUCED BY
    |
0004|                         MARY JANE M. GARCIA
    |
0005|     
    |
0006|                                   
    |
0007|     
    |
0008|                                   
    |
0009|     
    |
0010|                                AN ACT
    |
0011|     RELATING TO LAW ENFORCEMENT; AMENDING THE LAW ENFORCEMENT
    |
0012|     TRAINING ACT; DEFINING "POLICE OFFICER".
    |
0013|     
    |
0014|     BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO:
    |
0015|          Section 1.  Section 29-7-7 NMSA 1978 (being Laws 1981,
    |
0016|     Chapter 114, Section 6, as amended) is amended to read:
    |
0017|          "29-7-7.  DEFINITIONS.--For the purpose of the Law
    |
0018|     Enforcement Training Act:
    |
0019|               A.  "academy" means the New Mexico law enforcement
    |
0020|     academy;
    |
0021|               B.  "basic law enforcement training" means a course
    |
0022|     consisting of not less than four hundred hours of instruction
    |
0023|     in basic law enforcement training as required by the Law
    |
0024|     Enforcement Training Act;
    |
0025|               C.  "board" means the New Mexico law enforcement
    |
0001|     academy board;
    |
0002|               D.  "conviction" means an adjudication of guilt or a
    |
0003|     plea of no contest and includes convictions that are suspended
    |
0004|     or deferred;
    |
0005|               E.  "director" means the director of the academy;
    |
0006|               F.  "in-service law enforcement training" means a
    |
0007|     course of instruction required of all certified peace officers
    |
0008|     designed to train and equip all police officers in the state
    |
0009|     with specific law enforcement skills and to ensure the
    |
0010|     continuing development of all police officers in the state. 
    |
0011|     The training and instruction shall be kept current and may be
    |
0012|     conducted on a regional basis at the discretion of the
    |
0013|     director;
    |
0014|               G.  "police officer" means any commissioned employee
    |
0015|     of a law enforcement agency that is part of or administered by
    |
0016|     the state or any political subdivision of the state and
    |
0017|     <u>includes any employee of a missile range civilian police
</u>    |
<u></u>0018| <u>    department who is a graduate of a recognized certified regional
</u>    |
<u></u>0019| <u>    law enforcement training facility,</u> which employee is
    |
0020|     responsible for the prevention and detection of crime or the
    |
0021|     enforcement of the penal or traffic or highway laws of this
    |
0022|     state.  The term specifically includes deputy sheriffs. 
    |
0023|     Sheriffs are eligible to attend the academy and are eligible to
    |
0024|     receive certification as provided in the Law Enforcement
    |
0025|     Training Act.  As used in this subsection, "commissioned" means
    |
0001|     an employee of a law enforcement agency who is authorized by a
    |
0002|     sheriff or chief of police to apprehend, arrest and bring
    |
0003|     before the court all violators within the state; and
    |
0004|               H.  "certified regional law enforcement training
    |
0005|     facility" means a law enforcement training facility within the
    |
0006|     state certified by the director, with the approval of the
    |
0007|     academy's board of directors, that offers basic law enforcement
    |
0008|     training and in-service law enforcement training that is
    |
0009|     comparable to or exceeds the standards of the programs of the
    |
0010|     academy."
    |
0011|                                  
    |