§ 29-7-7 — Definitions

For the purpose of the Law Enforcement Training Act: A. "academy" means the New Mexico law enforcement academy; B. "basic law enforcement training" means a course consisting of not less than four hundred hours of instruction in basic law enforcement training as required by the Law Enforcement Training Act; C. "board" means the law enforcement certification board; D. "conviction" means an adjudication of guilt or a plea of no contest and includes convictions that are suspended or deferred; E. "council" means the New Mexico law enforcement standards and training council; F. "director" means the director of the division; G. "division" means the New Mexico law enforcement academy of the department of public safety; H. "in-service law enforcement training" means a course of instruction required of all certified peace officers and designed to train and equip all police officers in the state with specific law enforcement skills and to ensure the continuing development of all police officers in the state. The training and instruction shall be kept current and may be conducted on a regional basis at the discretion of the director; I. "law enforcement agency" means an agency of the state or local political subdivision of the state that employs certified law enforcement officers or the police department of a tribe that has entered into an agreement with the department of public safety pursuant to Section 29-1-11 NMSA 1978; J. "police officer" means any commissioned employee of a law enforcement agency that is part of or administered by the state or any political subdivision of the state, and includes any employee of a missile range civilian police department who is a graduate of a recognized certified regional law enforcement training facility and who is currently certifiable by the academy, which employee is responsible for the prevention and detection of crime or the enforcement of the penal, or traffic or highway laws of this state. The term specifically includes deputy sheriffs. Sheriffs are eligible to attend the academy and are eligible to receive certification as provided in the Law Enforcement Training Act. As used in this subsection, "commissioned" means an employee of a law enforcement agency who is authorized by a sheriff or chief of police to apprehend, arrest and bring before the court all violators within the law enforcement agency's jurisdiction; and K. "certified regional law enforcement training facility" means a law enforcement training facility within the state certified by the director, with the approval of the academy's board of directors, that offers basic law enforcement training and in-service law enforcement training that is comparable to or exceeds the standards of the programs of the academy.

Legislative History

1978 Comp., § 29-7-7, enacted by Laws 1981, ch. 114, § 6; 1988, ch. 58, § 2;