New Mexico - Our View: Anti-gang unit dissloved due to lack of manpower

OFF THE WIRE
 lcsun-news.com
With gang violence continuing to pose a tremendous challenge for our community, we were concerned the learn recently that the New Mexico State Police had disbanded its local anti-gang unit.
The decision was forced by a manpower shortage, and will not impact local law enforcement efforts to combat criminal activity committed by gangs, said State Police Capt. Rich Libicer.
We'll see.
As a community, we've been wrestling with this issue for some time, and have learned a great deal about what works and what doesn't. We know that there is no one simple solution. It takes a combined effort of law enforcement, the courts, the schools and other community groups. Most of all, it takes a relentless pursuit, day after day, week after week, never letting up.
Can that kind of effort be maintained without a State Police unit devoted to its success?
The anti-gang unit was started in early 2009 with three officers: unit supervisor Sgt. Alex Horcacitas, Officer Greg Smith and Officer Scott Merrill. But, Horcacitas later moved to a full-time tactical position with the State Police's SWAT team, and Merrill was already being stretched thin due to his additional duties as an accident reconstructionist and the assistant commander of the local state police motorcycle team, State Police said it will now rely on the FBI's anti-gang unit, which includes the Las Cruces Police Department's five-person anti-gang unit and one deputy from the Doña Ana Sheriff's Office, with assistance
from other agencies when needed. State Police Officer Smith and Agent Carl Christiansen will now participate with the FBI's anti-gang unit.
"It just made sense, organizationally, to eliminate it as it existed because we didn't have the personnel to staff it," Libicer said. "But we're able to maintain that same initiative through the FBI, which is doing very exceptional things with gang enforcement, and we're going to be a part of that." We have a great deal of respect for the FBI, and we understand that consolidation is sometimes necessary in these days of shrinking budgets. At the same time, we think gang prevention has to be a top priority for local law enforcement, and are disappointed to see anything that would disrupt or take away from those efforts.
Libicer said he is hopeful the unit can be revived in the future if funding is restored.
"I know what the returns are and I know what those men accomplished," he said. "It definitely serves the taxpayers well to have that kind of unit going, but it's not going to happen until we can meet our mission obligations and still manage to do that."
We're hopeful that day will come quickly.