2020 New Mexico Statutes
Chapter 10 - Public Officers and Employees
Article 7F - Hazardous Duty Officers' Employer-Employee Relations
Section 10-7F-3 - Investigations of hazardous duty officers; requirements; limitation.

A. When a hazardous duty officer is under investigation by the officer's employer for alleged actions that could result in administrative sanctions being levied against the officer, any investigative interview of the officer shall be conducted only:

(1) upon the order of the officer's department director or the department director's designee;

(2) when the officer is on duty or during the officer's normal waking hours, unless the urgency of the investigation requires otherwise; and

(3) at the employer's facility, unless the urgency of the investigation requires otherwise.

B. Prior to commencement of an investigative interview:

(1) the officer shall be informed of the name and rank of the person in charge of the investigative interview and all other persons who will be present during the investigative interview;

(2) the officer shall be informed of the nature of the investigation, and the names of all known complainants shall be disclosed to the officer unless the chief administrator of the officer's employer determines that the identification of the complainant shall not be disclosed because it is necessary for the protection of an informant or because disclosure would jeopardize or compromise the integrity or security of the investigation; and

(3) a reasonable attempt shall be made to notify the officer's immediate superior of the pending investigative interview.

C. During an investigative interview, the following requirements shall be adhered to:

(1) at the commencement of the investigative interview, the officer shall be advised of all legal rights that the officer has with respect to the investigative interview;

(2) each investigative interview session shall not exceed two hours unless the parties mutually consent to continuation of the session;

(3) there shall not be more than one investigative interview session within a twenty-four-hour period, unless the parties mutually consent to additional sessions, provided that there shall be at least a one-hour rest period between the sessions;

(4) there shall not be more than two investigators at any given time;

(5) the officer shall be allowed to attend to physical necessities as they occur in the course of an investigative interview; and

(6) the officer shall not be subjected to offensive language or illegal coercion by an investigator in the course of an investigative interview.

D. An investigative interview of an officer shall be recorded, and the complete investigative interview shall be published as a transcript; provided that any recesses called during the investigative interview shall be noted in the transcript. An accurate copy of the transcript or tape shall be provided to the officer, upon written request, no later than fifteen working days after the investigation has been completed.

E. The compelled statement of an officer shall not be released by the employer except upon court order.

History: Laws 2010, ch. 62, § 3; 2019, ch. 83, § 3.

The 2019 amendment, effective June 14, 2019, provided additional requirements for investigative interviews of hazardous duty officers that are under investigation for alleged actions that could result in administrative sanctions, and provided that the compelled statement of an officer shall not be released by the employer except upon court order; replaced each occurrence of "interrogation" with "investigative interview" throughout; in Subsection A, added a new Paragraph A(1) and redesignated former Paragraphs A(1) and A(2) as Paragraphs A(2) and A(3), respectively; in Subsection C, added a new Paragraph C(1) and redesignated former Paragraphs C(1) through C(5) as Paragraphs C(2) through C(6), respectively; and added Subsection E.