It is hereby declared to be the duty of every sheriff, deputy sheriff, constable and every other peace officer to investigate all violations of the criminal laws of the state which are called to the attention of any such officer or of which he is aware, and it is also declared the duty of every such officer to diligently file a complaint or information, if the circumstances are such as to indicate to a reasonably prudent person that such action should be taken, and it is also declared his duty to cooperate with and assist the attorney general, district attorney or other prosecutor, if any, in all reasonable ways. Such cooperation shall include the prompt reporting of all arrests for liquor law violations at licensed liquor establishments to the department of alcoholic beverage control. Failure to perform his duty in any material way shall subject such officer to removal from office and payment of all costs of prosecution.
§ 29-1-1 NMSA 1978
Investigation of criminal violations; commencement of prosecution; cooperation; removal
Applied in 5 court decisions — leading case Ruf v. Honolulu Police Department (1999)
Most recently applied in 3 F. Supp. 3d 1002 - Mocek v. City of Albuquerque (February 2014)
Laws 1921, ch. 170, § 1; C.S. 1929, § 33-4433; 1941 Comp., § 40-101; 1953 Comp., § 31-1-1; Laws 1979, ch. 37, § 1.
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
Official source: NMOneSource (New Mexico Compilation Commission). Reproduced from public-domain New Mexico statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.