Los Alamos County

Each officer working for the Los Alamos Police Department (LAPD) has the opportunity to take on a special assignment. These assignments can be temporary or short term in nature or ongoing throughout the officer’s career.

School Resource Officer

The LAPD School Resource Officers (SROs) continue to be an important partnership between the LAPD and the Los Alamos Public Schools (LAPS). LAPD has school SROs assigned to both the middle school and the high school, as well as a Juvenile Officer. LAPD has also expanded the outreach of the SROs and has begun working in the elementary schools. The SROs work closely with the LAPS to provide guidance, training, and security to enhance the school's safe environment. 

School Resource Officers are responsible for the Explorer program which brings students, 14 years old and up, together to learn about law enforcement. They will also be involved in crime prevention and community events such as the Ident-A-Kid program and security assessments for home and business.

Firearms Instructors

The Firearms Unit is responsible for conduction the necessary firearms training for all officers of the Los Alamos Police Department. Instructors provide initial and reoccurring training throughout an officer's career. Instructors specialize in teaching and refining the shooting skills of Officers. All instructors are certified Armorers and conduct repairs on the department's inventory of firearms. Firearm Instructors are expected to maintain a higher level of proficiency in all firearm disciplines.

Defensive Tactics Instructor

The Defensive Tactics Instructors are responsible for training new recruits and providing maintenance training for the entire department in the area of defensive tactics. These tactics include basic and advanced hand-to-hand defense and control, handcuffing procedures, and the use of the baton and chemical substances. Defensive Tactics Instructors receive extensive training in this area and must be physically fit and willing to spend a few painful hours in instructor level classes to maintain proficiency as an instructor.

IR8000 Key Operator

The IR8000 or “breath test machine” must be maintained and calibrated by Key Operators who are specifically trained in conducting the maintenance and checking the calibration. Officers who are Key Operators check and maintain the machine on a regular basis to be sure it is working properly. They also provide training in the use of the IR8000 and testify in court for DWI cases where the proper use or calibration of the machine may come into question.

Driving Instructor

The Driving Instructors provide training to the Department in the use of police vehicles. This training is important to maintain proficiency in the handling of vehicles in a variety of situations that Police Officers regularly encounter during their normal patrol duties. The unique equipment installed and used in police vehicles and the sometimes necessary use of emergency equipment to respond quickly through traffic necessitates training and practice of accident avoidance.

Field Training Officer

The Field Training Officers (FTO's) take on the task of mentoring and training new recruits after they have graduated from the Police Academy. Field Training Officers take the newly graduated recruits from the classroom environment to the street where they learn the specifics of working in Los Alamos County. Field Training Officers are responsible for evaluating the progress of each recruit and submitting regular reports to supervisors.

Officers in the Los Alamos Police Department have the opportunity to participate as a member of specialized teams to handle situations that are unusual or require specialized training or equipment.

Los Alamos Police Department Bomb Squad 

The Los Alamos Police Department Bomb Squad is a FBI Certified Bomb Squad. Membership in the bomb squad is voluntary and applicants must undergo a rigorous competitive testing process prior to being selected for service on the squad.

LAPD Bomb Technicians recieve their training and certification at the FBI's Hazardous Devices School (HDS) at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville Alabama. 

LAPD Bomb Techinicians received hundreds of hours of additional advanced training and are required to attend recertification training and testing at HDS every three years.

LAPD Bomb Squad has jurisdictional authority to respond to all potential bombing incidents within our region, including Los Alamos County and the Los Alamos National Laboratory. The LAPD Bomb Squad is tasked with providing a regional response capability for bombing incidents in Northern New Mexico and may also be called to assit other bomb squads through out New Mexico as well as Southern Colorado and the four corners area.

Crash Team

The Los Alamos Police Department has organized a team of officers to respond to and investigate serious traffic crashes. These officers volunteer for this assignment and receive extensive advanced training in the investigation of traffic crashes. When a serious accident happens our crash team members are called out to the scene to investigate. Officers, at the completion of their investigation must then deliver an accurate, easy to understand analysis of what can often be a complex technical situation.

The Los Alamos Police Department Investigations division is supervised by Detective Sergeant James Rodriguez. Sergeant

Rodriguez took over Investigations in April 2015. The Investigations division consists of three other detectives; Detective Joey Robinson, Detective Matt Lyon, and Detective Ryan Wolking.

Investigations' role at the police department covers a broad range of duty assignments. Crime scene investigation, interview and interrogations, drafting arrest and search warrants, and conducting field surveillance are just some of the tasks our detectives complete. At times, detectives are called upon to gather intel to assist patrol in numerous cases such as identity thefts, motor vehicle thefts, drug activity, burglaries, and other felony level crimes. The most sensitive cases, those involving children, are handled by investigations. Every citizen in the state of New Mexico is required by law to report any suspicion of child abuse or neglect. Calls can be made anonymously 24/7 to the Statewide Central Intake number 1-800-797-3260.

Investigators are certified in several fields of investigation. Crime Scene techniques and investigation procedures are learned in North Carolina where investigators attend week long trainings from Sirchie who provide instruction for crime scene processing, crimes scene photography, evidence recovery, and forensics education. Internet Crimes against Children (ICAC) training and Computer Forensics classes are attended within the state of New Mexico which are provided by the Attorney General's office. These specialized classes combined with on the job experience assist our investigators in becoming well rounded and successful in solving a variety of crimes.

The Evidence Unit of the Los Alamos Police Department is responsible for maintaining the integrity of evidence and property in accordance with New Mexico state law and departmental policies and procedures. The integrity of evidence and property is maintained from the time the evidence is submitted, through the investigations and analysis period, to the time it is returned to the owner or disposed of. When a case is over and the property is no longer needed, every attempt is made to return the items back to the rightful owner. If the owner can't be found, the property is disposed of or auctioned off.

Lost and Found Property

The Los Alamos Police Department routinely receives lost and found property. All found property is held by LAPD for 90 days. For all lost and found inquiries, please contact the Evidence Unit at 505-663-1888. Property may be claimed by appointment between the hours 8:00 - 4:00 Monday - Friday. A valid government I.D. and reasonable proof of ownership must be presented upon claiming found property. *Click here* for a complete listing of all current found property.

Drug Take Back Box

LAPD maintains a Prescription Drug Drop Box inside the lobby area of the police department. Citizens may dispose of unwanted, expired, or unused drugs and over the counter medications in the secure drop box during normal business hours. Citizens may not dispose liquids, needles, aerosol cans or inhalers, prescription ointments, or empty pill bottles.

For questions regarding the Drug Drop Box, contact the Evidence Unit at 505-663-1888.


​

​

What Does the DRE Do?

The Los Alamos Police Department currently has three trained and certified Drug Recognition Experts (DRE), Sergeant Monica Casias-Salazar, Corporal Jaime Gonzales, and Corporal Jemuel Montoya. These officers, go through intensive training and are on-call to assist Patrol Officers during the course of a DWI if the driver is suspected of driving under the influence of illicit drugs or prescription medication. The Los Alamos Police Department can and will assist other agencies with DRE investigations.

What is a DRE?

A drug recognition expert, sometimes referred to as a drug recognition evaluator, is an individual who has successfully completed all phases of the Drug Evaluation and Classification Program's (DECP) training requirements for certification as established by the Internal Association of Chiefs of Police (IACP) and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). A DRE is skilled in detecting and identifying persons under the influence of drugs and in identifying the category or categories of drugs causing the impairment.

How Does One Become A DRE?

A drug recognition expert must have successfully completed an approved course in the Standardized Field Sobriety Testing (SFSTs) before beginning the three-phase Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) Program, which includes the following phases:

Phase One: The 16-hour DRE Pre-school, which includes an overview of the DRE evaluation procedures, the seven drug categories, eye examinations and proficiency in conducting the SFSTs.

Phase Two: The 56-hour DRE School which includes an overview of the drug evaluation procedures, expanded sessions on each drug category, drug combinations, examination of vital signs, case preparation, courtroom testimony, and Curriculum Vitae (C.V.) preparation. At the conclusion of the 7-days of training, the officer must successfully complete a written examination before moving to the third and final phase of training.

Phase Three: During this phase the candidate DRE must complete a minimum of 12 drug evaluations under the supervision of a trained DRE instructor. Of those 12 evaluations, the officer must identify an individual under the influence of at least three of the seven drug categories and obtain a minimum 75% toxicological corroboration rate. The officer must then pass a final knowledge examination and be approved by two DRE instructors before being certified as a certified DRE.

DRE Evaluation

A DRE drug evaluation takes approximately one hour to complete. The DRE evaluates and assesses the person's appearance and behavior. The DRE also carefully measures and records vital signs and makes precise observations of the person's automatic responses and reactions. The DRE also administers carefully designed psychophysical tests to evaluate the person's judgment, information processing ability, coordination and various other characteristics. The DRE will systematically consider everything about the person that could indicate the influence of drugs.