Cloudcroft Reader:
Chief, can I talk to you for a minute?
I'm Chris Hearne. I'm the editor of the Cloudcroft Reader.
Police Chief Hernandez:
I don't do interviews, especially if they're recorded.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Well, you should.
Why won't you?
Police Chief Hernande:
I'm sorry.
Cloudcroft Reader:
But tell me why you won't.
Police Chief Hernandez
Yeah.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Why won't you?
Police Chief Hernandez:
Oh, I'm sorry.
Cloudcroft Reader:
So I'm going to report to everybody in town you won't take any questions from the press.
Police Chief Hernandez:
Yeah, yeah.
Cloudcroft Reader:
And what are you going to say about that?
Police Chief Hernandez:
Sorry.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Really?
Police Chief Hernandez:
Yeah.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Really?
Police Chief Hernandez:
Yeah, sorry.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Uh-huh.
Police Chief Hernandez:
Yeah.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Huh.
That's interesting.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Yeah.
Cloudcroft Reader:
So the question I want to know is who interviewed this gentleman besides you?
Cloudcroft Reader:
Yeah.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Who interviewed you for this position?
For the officer position.
I know you were interviewed some police chief by a group.
How about for the officer position?
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
There's a few that are on the board to talk.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Who did?
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
Ms. Foster.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Anybody else?
Cloudcroft Reader:
Not one of them.
Cloudcroft Reader:
So that was it.
And the chief.
Obviously that.
So, you know, the question we have is about your termination in...
What about that?
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
I'd be happy to talk about that once we get through this now.
I mean, if you talk to, I think it's Source New Mexico.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Yeah, I read the article.
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
Them I had spoken to several times because I kind of proceeded through.
I did talk to the Santa Fe New Mexican as well.
So there's some stuff cited from me in those articles.
That, I mean, open book, right?
They'd call me or whatever, and I'd tell them,
hey, this is exactly what we're doing and why we're doing it.
So, I mean, the actions up there...
Cloudcroft Reader:
Did the police chief association have a vote of no confidence on you?
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
To my understanding.
So, I was never informed of that.
I was made aware of their agenda.
I, since, based upon that agenda,
I sent information to Chief Hebbe,
who's the president of that, informing him of why I was taking actions the way I was.
He never responded to me, made changes to those agendas when they presented that information to the governor's office.
Cloudcroft Reader:
To your knowledge, they did vote no confidence?
Did the police chief association have a vote of no confidence on you?
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
So that's my understanding.
About my knowledge,
I don't know for certain, but they presented something to the governor's office.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Did that come up in the interview process?
Did that issue come up about the termination?
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
I don't know specifically.
I wouldn't be able to say, yeah, we absolutely talked about the vote.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Okay.
Well, look, I'm sorry to have to ask you these kinds of questions, but they're going to come up.
The community's going to want to know.
They're going to want to understand why the chief is putting you forward in that situation.
I mean, we (Cloudcroft) just let go of an officer over ethics.
and now you've got an officer who has an ethics issue in the background.
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
That's incorrect.
I'm a master ethics inspector for the state of New Mexico.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Okay, so they fired you for what reason?
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
Their citations for that were all a misunderstanding and interpretation of statute and New Mexico administration.
Cloudcroft Reader:
So they said you had a misunderstanding of the statutes, and that's why they fired you?
(Turning to Police Chief Hernandez). And Chris Swanson is no longer on the force?
Police Chief Hernandez:
Right.
Cloudcroft Reader:
And why is that?
Police Chief Hernandez:
Administrative
Cloudcroft Reader:
Okay.
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
Well, if you want to talk about my history in law enforcement…
(Turning back to Officer candidate Joshua Calder) I’m curious about the process.
I'm really not making a judgment on you,
but I'm really interested in the fact that the village has had a terrible turnover
in the police department.
It's had a terrible turnover in the clerks, everything else.
So the question is,
What's the process the village goes through to interview people and to find
candidates?
So, you know, my concern is the process is a pretty weak one.
And so that's why I'm kind of curious how many people you actually talk to.
And so I know it's Trustee Tabitha and it's the Chief.
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
Right.
Cloudcroft Reader:
You never met twith he mayor.
You didn't meet any other trustee.
You haven't met the mayor.
He didn't interview for your position.
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
No.
And I don't know how they work amongst them.
Cloudcroft Reader:
I understand.
I mean, we try to find out how they work, too.
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
Okay.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Right.
Cloudcroft Reader:
And the Chief doesn't want to tell me how he works.
Officer Candidate Joshua Calder:
Okay. And it's actually his prerogative.
Cloudcroft Reader:
Okay.
Well, you'll read about it.
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