Are Santa Fe's Alternative Public Safety Programs in Danger?

Indexed: 2026-05-18

[00:00:00]The fire hoses, the guns, and the defibrillators are not the right tool.

[00:00:04]>> New Mexico continues to be at the top of the list for police officer-related shootings, and behavioral health issues make up a large number of 911 calls. So, what is the right way to respond to these situations? Santa Fe has had an alternative public safety program for years that is now experiencing some turmoil. The vision behind Mobile Integrated Health and the ARU is essentially to meet people where they are so that we can get to them before they call 911. Less than a tenth of 1% of Santa Fe Fire Department's calls are for working structure fires. The majority of the calls are medical calls, and those are ranging from people who fall and can't get up to like major car accidents or cardiac arrests or overdoses. We all see it on the street.

[00:00:40]There are people who are going through a lot. We're sending people to the ER where they're getting help, but they're not necessarily getting the help that they need.

[00:00:47]>> MIHO started under Mayor Javier Gonzales. The ARU is a very complicated, complex, and specialized delivery model that is in between the cops with the guns and the severely mentally ill person who is really not a threat, but is acting very scary. It's more of a paradigm shift and a mind shift in emergency services. Not everyone in the fire department has embraced this paradigm shift. Since January, three EMS captains have been removed from the ARU, and most recently the behavioral health manager resigned citing a lack of support. At the May 13th City Council meeting, two representatives from the International Firefighters Association Local 2059 spoke out against ARU. The City of Santa Fe Fire Department is busier today than it ever has been.

[00:01:35]Programs such as ARU may provide value.

[00:01:37]However, they have consistently drawn resources away from our primary mission.

[00:01:42]Dedicating a resource when we need that resource on our more serious calls where these resources can actually impact a life-and-death situation. That's where we feel it's more important.

[00:01:54]>> I feel like behavioral health is all of our responsibility including fire and police. It is a public safety urgency right now. We have people that are suffering and are bleeding out in their own ways and we're losing lives. It is our responsibility as we serve a community to make sure that we are resourcing a need and behavioral health is a need.

[00:02:15]>> response unit, when fully staffed with the entire infrastructure of the mobile integrated health office, can have transformational impacts on some of these really, really difficult public safety issues. I fear that it's anemic now. It's unable to do a lot of the key functions that we were doing in the past because it just doesn't have the personnel. It's sort of a systemic defunding and divesting of this approach. We have a new administration.

[00:02:41]We have a new governing body. If we don't have this conversation, the direction that the city has taken this since 2024 is straight down into the ground. A public safety committee meeting is happening Tuesday, May 19th at 4:00 p.m. Show up or contact your councilors if you'd like to contribute to the conversation.