ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – While dozens of New Mexico National Guard members are still helping the Albuquerque Police Department with guarding crime scenes to bus security, some of those guardsmen are now looking at a career change to join APD full-time. The man overseeing the New Mexico National Guard calls it unplanned, but said they’re happy to help fill the department’s ranks. “We’re not surprised. I kind of anticipated and hoped we’d find some police officers out of this group, but fantastic to see it happen,” said Major General Miguel Aguilar, Adjutant General for the New Mexico National Guard.
It comes months after Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham deployed more than 60 guardsmen to Albuquerque in June with the idea of helping free up APD officers. Since the start, eight guardsmen have applied to work for APD, with five of those passing an initial test, and one now actively in the police academy. “It’s officers that we weren’t going to get in Albuquerque before, and so it adds to the numbers that the Albuquerque Police Department has,” said Maj. Gen. Aguilar.
Aguilar thinks another contributing factor is that many of the guardsmen on deployment are still young and haven’t fully decided on a career. He adds that this transition doesn’t hurt because even if they join the police department, those guardsmen will still remain a part of New Mexico’s National Guard. “So, while you may lose a police officer to National Guard duty, or a National Guardsmen to police duty, depending on the priority, both of those organizations in the long run win because they got a more well-rounded experience,” said Maj. Gen. Aguilar…