Police chief’s viral videos put Las Cruces at risk

Las Cruces Police Chief Jeremy Story has given a hell of a gift to the Trump Administration.

The headline from the national right-wing news outlet Blaze News proves the point: “Police chief’s viral video demands action against man accused of dozens of crimes — and Trump admin responds,” it states.

This tale begins on Oct. 28, when Story appeared in a video the Las Cruces Police Department shared on social media. The chief spoke about Neal Garcia, a man who had been arrested more than 70 times over the past three years but was still on the streets because state judges deemed him incompetent to stand trial.

Garcia’s alleged crimes included several incidents where he punched store employees who confronted him with shoplifting, in addition to breaking windows at City Hall.

“I would argue that he posts a clear danger to the public and community,” Story said in that video.

As intended, Story’s message fanned flames. The video went viral.

Federal intervention

Fast-forward a little more than two weeks, and Story posted a second video on Nov. 13. He appeared in it alongside federal law enforcement officials to announce that the feds had taken the unusual step of intervening to get Garcia off the streets.

Story stood in a dimly lit room with a stern look on his face and his hands perched on a podium. He introduced Ryan Ellison, the acting U.S. attorney for New Mexico, and Justin Garris, the FBI special agent in charge of our state.

Court records reveal that the feds charged Garcia under a statute intended to combat racketeering. The justification is that items he shoplifted were made in other places and shipped to New Mexico.

Garcia’s arrest, Story said in the video, is “a prime example of what can be accomplished when law enforcement at all levels works together to protect our community.”

Garris agreed. And Ellison shared an ominous message. “To every law enforcement agency and prosecutor across New Mexico: the U.S. Attorney’s Office is open for business,” he said. “If you have violent, repeat offenders who continue to victimize your communities, contact our office or the FBI.”

Many are praising Story for finding a creative solution to a problem our state has failed to address on its own.

I agree that Garcia shouldn’t be on the streets. But I want to caution against cheerleading an effort that turned the focus of right-wing media and the Trump Administration on Las Cruces — attention that could expand to other parts of New Mexico.

State is working to combat crime

Our state is working to improve systems that lets folks like Garcia roam free. Thanks in part to Story’s lobbying, the N.M. Legislature made substantial reforms earlier this year.

Karl Reifsteck, director of the state’s Administrative Office of the Courts, faced tough questions at a legislative hearing on Tuesday about what the judicial branch is doing to ensure folks aren’t freed without also getting the help they need.

While crime is down in Las Cruces, there’s clearly more to do. For residents of cities like Las Cruces and Albuquerque, this is an urgent issue. But it’s work for the state, not the feds.

Authoritarians control our federal government. They are using their power to bend local and state governments and citizens to their will.

That includes engaging in a violent, brutal mass deportation campaign that targets communities and people like ours. Federal agents have been approaching people in Charlotte, N.C. in recent days to inquire about their citizenship simply because of their skin color.

It isn’t just immigrants who are at risk. It’s all of us. And it should make us all uncomfortable that federal agents are policing local crimes like shoplifting. That would scare the hell out of Thomas Jefferson.

Playing with fire

Story’s media campaign was designed to get attention, and it did. According to Blaze News’ article, the chief confirmed that federal intervention came in response to his first video.

That video supports President Donald Trump’s false narrative that the streets in a city governed primarily by Democrats are lawless. His second video shows the Trump Administration coming to the rescue, which is the point Blaze News amplified with its headline.

Optics matter, and it’s important that Story’s second video portrays several white men holding a brown man accountable. That will feed the white nationalist wing of the MAGA movement. The Blaze News article juxtaposes Garcia’s booking mugshot with Story’s smiling face.

Attention begets attention. Story, a Republican, is playing with fire. By attracting the Trump Administration’s focus with such tactics, he invites an increased federal presence in our city. That undercuts the direction set by the Las Cruces City Council.

According to the Blaze News article, Story thanked the news organization “for covering this important topic.”

The federal charges

Garcia is charged with violating a federal law called the Hobbs Act, which makes it a crime when someone “obstructs, delays, or affects commerce or the movement of any article or commodity in commerce, by robbery or extortion…” He faces up to 20 years in prison and will remain jailed until his trial.

Local crimes like those Garcia is accused of are usually state matters, not issues for the federal government.

What justifies federal involvement? According to the criminal complaint filed in federal court, Garcia shoplifted from stores in Las Cruces where the majority of goods are manufactured and shipped from places outside New Mexico, so his attempted theft impacts interstate commerce.

That’s an interesting use of the Hobbs Act. Enacted in 1946 “to combat racketeering in labor-management disputes,” the U.S. Department of Justice’s website states, the statute is now often used “in connection with cases involving public corruption, commercial disputes, and corruption directed at members of labor unions.”

While Garcia’s case is an expansion of federal reach, it’s not without precedent. A document prepared for the U.S. Sentencing Commission details use of the statute to prosecute:

• “…the robbery of $538 from an Ohio pizza restaurant because it purchased flour from Minnesota, pizza sauce from California, and cheese from Wisconsin.”

• “…five robberies involving small sums of money because the victims sold goods originating from outside Tennessee.”

• and “…three robberies involving approximately $50,000 because one of the victims, an Ohio check-cashing business, drew checks on banks operating across the country.”

Apples and oranges

Story may be comfortable inviting the feds to police local crimes like these, but I am not — not in normal times, and especially not when Trump has federal agents disappearing people, sending immigrants to another country to be raped and tortured, using baseless arrests to intimidate protesters and journalists, and assaulting immigrants, protesters and others.

Federal law enforcement agencies regularly partner with local police on issues like narcotics trafficking, child pornography and human trafficking. That makes sense, at least in normal times. Agency cooperation helps solve those crimes, and there’s natural overlap. Local police on the front lines often discover federal crimes.

Story used that fact to defend federal involvement in Garcia’s case during Monday’s meeting of the Las Cruces City Council.

“Historically we have worked with federal agencies like FBI, ATF, DEA for crimes within our community,” he said. “…That tool is something we have always used and we need to use to keep Las Cruces safe.”

But the comparison is apples and oranges when we’re talking about using a federal racketeering statute to incarcerate a shoplifter — and especially when the chief engaged in a viral media campaign, rather than making a phone call, to convince the feds to intervene.

Second strike

Does Story think the feds were eager to help out of the goodness of their hearts? With all their free time? Article after article documents all the crimes Trump has diverted federal agents from investigating, like child pornography and public corruption, to increase the focus on deportations.

There’s a reason federal officials made time to charge and arrest Garcia. It isn’t a good one, but it’s one Story designed.

Story might be a top-notch police officer, but that’s no excuse to act this way. While I reject the assertion that all cops are bad, I’ve written that policing in the United States is a flawed profession that needs serious reform. Story is proving my point.

And this isn’t his first strike. When Las Crucens gathered months ago to protest masked, federal law enforcement agents disappearing people, LCPD snipers watched them through scoped rifles from nearby vantage points, including the city library.

No one from the police department — not Story or any of his officers — bothered to walk across the street from the police station to communicate to the protesters that the snipers meant them no harm.

That alone speaks volumes. Regardless of intent, LCPD intimidated protesters that day. Story acknowledged that failure and promised his department would be better in the future.

And yet, here we are again.

Out of line

The choices Story has made to get a dangerous man off the streets are also dangerous.

And he’s defying direction from the city’s leaders. Councilors recently approved one of the most forward-thinking, assertive resolutions to protect immigrants in the United States.

“I think the values of Las Cruces are really clear,” Councilor Becky Corran said in October when the Council approved that resolution. “…This is a place where we can do something. We can fight back against cruelty.”

In short, Story is way out of line.

Again, few would argue that Garcia belongs on the streets. But how he’s dealt with matters.

State policymakers are listening to Story. He needs to keep working with them to improve our systems. Our city’s drop in crime is due in no small part to the proactive work of Story and his officers.

‘We need to draw a line’

The chief needs to practice patience and tenacity. And he must stop undercutting the city’s efforts to protect residents from the Trump Administration. Local activist Lucas Herndon said it well during public input at Monday’s City Council meeting.

“We need to draw a line,” said Herndon, who attended the protest LCPD snipers watched through rifle scopes earlier this year.

“We need to demand that police chiefs answer to their elected officials — not to federal task forces or shadowy agencies that operate without transparency,” Herndon said. “We need to restore local control, reinstate civilian oversight, and ensure that every municipal dollar be spent toward improving the lives of our communities, not further militarizing them.”

“Because when police power creeps beyond the law, it doesn’t just erode trust — it erodes democracy,” he said. “And we can’t afford to let that happen.”

Inflaming right-wing anger doesn’t make Las Crucens safer. Using that energy to convince an administration that is disappearing people to turn its attention on Las Cruces doesn’t make us safer.

City councilors need to get their police chief under control.