Officers of the Year named by Optimists

State Police Officer Johnny Ortega

Johnnie Ortega said he didn’t realize how much crime there actually was until he became a New Mexico State Police Officer almost nine years ago.

Ortega, who is a Valencia County native, said crime has risen dramatically since he came to the Los Lunas office almost four years ago. The state police officer transferred to his hometown after spending five years in the Alamogordo district.

“It’s unbelievable the amount of calls we get and the amount of cases we handle,” he said. “It’s just nonstop. Crime is all over the place, and, when I was a civilian, I didn’t realize it was this bad.”

Ortega said he became interested in the profession when he used to ride along with other officers while he was going to college. But the reason he applied to the state police academy was to help his community.

“I get to meet all different kinds of people, and I really like helping them out,” he said. “Every single day is different, and, like every job, it has its drawbacks, but it’s also very rewarding.

Ortega said the most gratifying aspect of his job is knowing he’s done the best he could and that he could help another person. Whether it’s changing a tire, solving a crime or putting someone behind bars, Ortega said, the rewards definitely outweigh the obstacles of the job.

There have been many memorable moments in Ortega’s career, but he said a recent case stands out from the rest. It was just after the Sept. 11 tragedy when he responded to a call about a man in Jarales who was firing a weapon in the area.

“I was there with the Valencia County Sheriff’s Department, and there was a guy who was just shooting at random,” Ortega remembers. “We were all taking cover, and two school buses approached us from the back. I left my cover to go and secure those school buses, which I felt was rewarded by getting them out of danger and out of harm’s way.”

Policework is sometimes dangerous, sometimes grueling and can sometimes even be breathtaking. Ortega says his wife, Stephanie, is someone who he can always talk to and confide in about what he has to face on a daily basis.

“Many things happen in our job, and she’s always there to listen, and she’s always interested in what I do,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to talk to her and let her know what’s going on. She’s been very, very supportive of my career. I look up to her a lot.”

Ortega plans to continue his career in law enforcement, and says he wants to one day be able to go into criminal investigations.

This is the second time in three years Ortega has been named Officer of the Year. He was selected as the top cop for the Los Lunas district in 1999. Now that he’s once again earned the honor, he said he’s just happy others have recognized his hard work.

“We have excellent sergeants down here, and I just do what I’m supposed to do, and I do the best I can,” he said.

Valencia County Sherff’s Deputy Jeff Noah

While Jeff Noah was attending high school in Hobbs, he made a decision. He made up his mind that one day he would become a police officer.

“When I was in high school, I knew a few of the cops, and they would tell me things that happened,” Noah said. “I thought it looked fun.”

Noah has been a deputy with the Valencia County Sheriff’s Office since 1998, but his law enforcement career began when he was in the army. After five years as a military policeman, Noah decided it was time to fulfill his dreams.

He graduated from the law enforcement academy at Western New Mexico University before joining the Mountainair Police Department. During his two years there, Noah was police chief for about six months.

“I like meeting people and helping them out,” Noah said about his job. “I get to meet all kinds of people, and every day is different.”

One of the most interesting days Noah said he has experienced was when he found an elderly woman dead inside her house. What made the event unusual was the number of cats the woman had.

“This lady had hundreds of cats in her house,” Noah said. “One of the neighbors hadn’t seen her in a while, so I went over and looked through the window and saw her lying on the floor, dead.

“She had so many cats — both alive and dead,” he said. “It was really weird.”

After 13 years in law enforcement, Noah said, nothing really surprises him any more. The one thing that he has learned about his profession was how hard it is to put someone behind bars.

“There’s a lot of details in the legal system that we have to be aware of to be able to convict someone,” he said. “If we do the smallest thing wrong, it could help get the charges dropped.”

When Noah heard he was named the Officer of the Year for the sheriff’s department, he said he was both happy and surprised. “There are a lot of good officers in the department, and it’s an honor to get picked as one of them,” he said.

As for Noah’s future, he said he would one day like to become a patrol sergeant. Noah isn’t one to stay behind a desk — he’d rather be out in the field helping people as much as he can.

Bosque Farms Police Officer Ronald Saavedra

On Sept. 3, 1997, Ronald Saavedra’s life changed forever. What happened on that day changed the way he thought about his career and how he conducted himself as a police officer.

Saavedra, who now works as the field-training officer at the Bosque Farms Police Department, was on routine patrol for the McKinley County Sheriff’s Department.

“I was conducting a DWI traffic stop on State Road 602, south of Gallup,” Saavedra remembered. “I made contact with the driver, and he didn’t have any identification. I asked him for any other form of ID, and we went through 20 questions. He gave me a generic-sounding name, and I knew he wasn’t telling me the truth.”

As the two men continued to talk, the driver reached into a satchel and pulled out a .22 caliber pistol and shot Saavedra several times. He was shot once in the chest, twice in the lower back and once in the hand.

Saavedra exchanged gunfire with his assailant, and, eventually, the shooter’s actions were permanently stopped by the police officer. The 10-year law enforcement veteran said, at the instant he was shot, he didn’t get scared or frightened — he got angry.

“When I got hit in the back, I immediately dropped to the ground. I was paralyzed for about seven or eight days following the incident,” Saavedra remembered. ” … what we had found out later on was that he (his assailant) had killed a relative of his earlier in the day. When I stopped him, he assumed I knew about it.”

After the shooting, Saavedra’s attitude toward police work changed. He’s a lot more conscientious out in the field, and he’s a little more reserved when it comes to traffic stops.

“I watch people more, and I’m not as casual any more. The reason is because of that shooting,” he said. “It really changes your mindset.”

Saavedra started his law enforcement career 10 years ago at the McKinley County Sheriff’s department and has been at the Bosque Farms Police Department for six months.

“Ever since I was a kid, I really wanted to become a cop,” he said.

“I really admired the guys in the uniforms, and I thought the job was really interesting.”

The more Saavedra has learned and experienced what it is to be a police officer, he said, the more he looks at the work as helping to conquer small victories in a war against crime.

“You’re never going to go out there and save the world and stop crime forever,” he said. “But there are small victories, and sometimes we can help someone turn a person around or return someone’s property.”

Saavedra says he’s learned a lot over the years, from a lot of different people. But the one person who has influenced his career the most is his former field-training officer, Corporal Mike Foust of the McKinley County Sheriff’s Office.

Foust ran a tight ship and was hard on Saavedra, he said, but that’s exactly what he says he needed.

“As my training officer, he was able to teach me how to do the job right,” he said. “He was a very good man and reminds me a lot of a drill sergeant. He’s got compassion, but when it’s time to get hard on you, he does it and does it well.”

After 10 years in law enforcement, Saavedra says he looks forward to continuing his career at the Bosque Farms Police Department. He said he has a strong desire to teach and hopes to one day be able to share his experience and skills as an instructor at the law enforcement academy.

When Saavedra learned that he was named Officer of the Year, he said he was both honored and grateful to those who recognized him for his efforts. He was also awarded the Medal of Valor for his exceptional actions during the shooting in 1997.

“It makes me feel like I’m doing my job right,” he said. “This honor is important, and it tells me that I am a positive reflection of this department.”

Belen Police Detective Joe Griego

Joe Griego knows he can’t solve every crime, but those he does solve make up for those that get away from him.

Griego has been in law enforcement for the past 13 years. His career began in 1989 with the Moriarty Police Department. In 1990, Griego joined the Los Lunas Police Department, where he was promoted to detective.

The seasoned officer traveled south to Belen in July 2000, where he’s earned the honor of Officer of the Year.

Becoming a police officer had always been Griego’s dream. Other than wanting to simply help the public, he always looked up to the men in blue and wanted to be part of the team.

“I like the gratitude and the aftereffect when you help someone,” he said. “I like that feeling, and it’s nice to know you did your best to help.”

Griego said his father, Andy had the biggest influence on his life by teaching him how to be respectful and considerate. He also said he never forgot the wisdom his father shared with him about how people should be treated.

“He always stood for right,” he said. “He brought me up right and taught me to obey the law and to respect my parents and elders. He was always there for me, and I looked up to him. I just wish, now that he’s gone, I could share my life with him.”

Griego has investigated hundreds, if not thousands, of cases in Valencia County over the past eight years. He said he’s investigated a lot of memorable cases, but one stands out in his mind.

It was a case where someone had stole a $40,000 motorcycle from a local resident. Griego explained these cases are the hardest to solve because stolen vehicles are often stripped or abandoned.

“In this case, I was able to track it down and found out they had moved the motorcycle to a three story apartment and started stripping it,” he remembered. “When I found the suspect in the apartment, the motorcycle had been stripped, and pieces were all over.

“What felt good was that the owner was more thankful that we found it, even though it was in a hundred different pieces,” he said. “He was relieved and excited that I went that extra mile, and that kind of thing is what makes this job so gratifying.”

Griego admits he was shocked, when he became a police office,r to find out the intricacies of the laws. He said when he first started, he expected everything to run smoothly and the system would take care of itself.

“It’s not like you see on TV, where you catch a bad guy and he goes to prison,” he said. “The reality is different. It seems like people get a lot of chances to screw up, and a lot of times we’re dealing with the same people over and over again.”

This is the second time Griego has been chosen as Officer of the Year. He accepted his first award in 1994, while he was a patrol officer in Los Lunas.

“I’m very honored to be named Officer of the Year,” Griego said. “It means I’m doing my job well, and I’m glad I’m recognized for my efforts. I think I do a good job here.”

With only seven more years until Griego is able to retire, he’s already thinking about his future beyond law enforcement. He said after he retires, he’ll take over the family business in Tijeras.

“I’ve also thought of getting into banking and insurance- fraud investigations,” he said.

Los Lunas Police Sgt. Thomas Taylor

For the past nine years, Thomas Taylor has tried his best to protect and serve. The end result of his work is what keeps this police officer in the field and on the streets.

“It’s a good feeling when you find someone selling dope and they go to jail. You can see the end result,” Taylor said. “It’s kind of like instant gratification.”

Taylor began his law enforcement career in Alabama after serving seven years in the Marine Corps, where he served in the Gulf War. He said he decided to pursue the profession because he felt that it was a career he was most qualified for.

“It looked like it was exciting,” he said. “I was like everyone else: I watched cops, and I had some kin who were police officers. They were an influence on me, and, I hate to use a cliché, but I wanted to get out and make a difference.”

Taylor joined the Los Lunas Department in 1998 and was promoted to sergeant a year ago. He is also the sergeant in charge of the local SWAT team and said his promotion was probably one of the most gratifying experiences in his career.

“I’ve arrested people on homicide warrants and have caught a couple of burglaries in progress, which are rare, but the best has to have been when I was promoted to sergeant,” he said. “I was a sergeant in the Marine Corps, and that was my goal.”

Taylor, who has a knack for leadership, said his experience and skills have helped him become the police officer he is today.

“I like to lead from the front,” he said. “I feel like I have a lot to offer all the guys under me, and I know what I’m doing, and I’m good at what I do.”

In the nine years of Taylor’s law enforcement career, he said, the one person who has had the most influence on his career was his sergeant at the Baldwin County Sheriff’s Department back in Alabama. He describes now-retired Sgt. Lance Monley as the best patrol sergeant he has ever met.

“He knew his job extremely well,” Taylor said. “It didn’t seem there was anything he didn’t know, and he never lost composure when he was out on a bad call. He was kind of like the calm in the storm.”

Monley taught Taylor how a good cop needs to be professional in every aspect of his job. Whether it was how to write a proper report or how to continue to improve on his job, Taylor said, his former sergeant helped him be the police officer he is today.

Taylor said he’s honored to be named Officer of the Year. He’s glad to be recognized for doing a good job, but it means more to him that his peers voted for him.

Taylor never wants to get off the streets, being out helping people on a daily basis. He describes himself as a grunt, but hopes to one day become a patrol lieutenant so he can have the best of both worlds.

Isleta Police Officer Harry Powers

The thought of being able to help people on a daily basis is why Harry Powers loves his job.

For the past two years, Powers has been a patrol officer for the Isleta Police Department. After retiring from the United States Air Force, where he worked in security and law enforcement, Powers decided he wanted to continue in the profession.

The California native worked with the Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Department for a few months before realizing he’d rather work in a smaller department. His chance came when he was hired in Isleta in June 2000.

“I get the most gratification when someone just tells me ‘thank you,'” Powers said. “If you treat people right and do your job well, people will realize that we’re just out there doing our jobs.”

The children in the community also make a difference to Powers’ career. He said he takes advantage of it when he gets the chance to visit the local elementary school.

Powers, just like every police officer, has had many interesting days on the job. But it was the day when he arrested a preacher and his son on their way home from church that was the most memorable.

“Me and another officer responded to a man who had just gotten beaten up,” Powers remembered. “While we were talking with him, he pointed to a white car and said, ‘That’s them right there.'”

Powers followed the car and noticed a small man driving and a larger man sitting in the back seat. He stopped the car, got out and drew his weapon on the two men.

“We got them out and threw them in the weeds,” he said. “It took four pairs of handcuffs to put this guy’s hands behind his back because he was so big. What happened was that guy was a preacher and had driven someone home after church.

“When we realized we had the wrong people, we apologized and explained the situation and they understood,” Powers said. “Everyone probably has their little war stories, but that one takes the cake.”

Powers said he was fortunate to have a mentor in the office who encouraged him to pursue a career in law enforcement. Sergeant John Burke, who is now a Philadelphia police officer, told Powers he would go a long way in law enforcement.

“I was in charge of the security flight, and he was in charge of enforcement, and, when I switched, he taught me the ins and outs of the field,” Powers said.

Before Powers chose law enforcement as a career, he said, he never realized exactly how politics seem to play a part in a police department.

“It’s not like the military,” he said. “Cops know cops from everywhere, and your reputation will follow you everywhere. I’ve learned to keep my mouth shut and just do my job as best as I can.”

When Powers learned he was chosen Officer of the Year, he said he was honored to know people recognized his hard work and professionalism. The Isleta Police officer, who was named NCO (noncommissioned officer) of the Year in 1983, said he feels the honor should be awarded to the entire department.

“I worked hard, but everyone here helps,” he said. “This is a team effort, and I feel I’m just accepting the award for the whole department.”

Powers plans to continue his career at the Isleta Police Department until the day he decides to retire.