Recent Attorney General’s Office Activities by New Mexico Attorney General Gary K. King
Tuesday, May 20, 2008 
It has been a little more than sixteen months since I became the Attorney General. As promised, my administration hit the ground running and we have been very busy working in all of the areas within the purview of this office. Therefore, there are a number of things to report to the people of New Mexico.
Recently, there have been requests from the public and from New Mexico legislators regarding the progress of an investigation of the state’s regional housing authorities. As with any investigation by this office, it is strict policy that cases cannot be discussed. This policy is meant to protect the integrity of the process and preserve legal issues. As much as we may live in a society that thrives on instant gratification, there is no such thing as fast-food justice. I can tell you that politics is not a factor in the timeline and that my focus is still clear on upholding the law.
After working in January to pass legislation containing the state’s first ever Human Trafficking law, we are now prepared to begin identifying and handling expected cases. Our collaboration with the Mexican state of Chihuahua to assist in reforming its criminal justice system was followed by an agreement of understanding involving mutual efforts to combat human trafficking on both sides of the border.
That same collaboration with Mexico led to the recent capture and extradition of a Santa Fe rape suspect who fled to Mexico hoping to avoid prosecution. My counterpart in Chihuahua, Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez and I have also discussed a plan for sharing existing information networks regarding known organized crime/gang members.
As chairman of the statewide Animal Cruelty Taskforce (ACT), I am pleased to report that our members assisted law enforcement in obtaining indictments against dog fighters and a first conviction under the state’s cockfighting ban.
My office’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit has been very active in assisting other law enforcement agencies investigate, arrest and indict a number of child pornographers and child predators who use the Internet.
Our Consumer Division continues to protect New Mexicans by educating and warning them about a long list of scams and frauds. This division also works daily to serve as mediator between consumers and businesses and although it doesn’t always grab the headlines, this group never tires of protecting all of us who live and work here.
Since the beginning of the year, working with attorneys general from other states, we were able to obtain agreements with social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace to bolster their efforts to protect children from Internet predators and pornography.
There is simply not enough space here to report on all the good work that the people in this office have accomplished and continue to work on, but it seemed like a good time to give the public an update on some of the things we do.
Recently, there have been requests from the public and from New Mexico legislators regarding the progress of an investigation of the state’s regional housing authorities. As with any investigation by this office, it is strict policy that cases cannot be discussed. This policy is meant to protect the integrity of the process and preserve legal issues. As much as we may live in a society that thrives on instant gratification, there is no such thing as fast-food justice. I can tell you that politics is not a factor in the timeline and that my focus is still clear on upholding the law.
After working in January to pass legislation containing the state’s first ever Human Trafficking law, we are now prepared to begin identifying and handling expected cases. Our collaboration with the Mexican state of Chihuahua to assist in reforming its criminal justice system was followed by an agreement of understanding involving mutual efforts to combat human trafficking on both sides of the border.
That same collaboration with Mexico led to the recent capture and extradition of a Santa Fe rape suspect who fled to Mexico hoping to avoid prosecution. My counterpart in Chihuahua, Attorney General Patricia Gonzalez and I have also discussed a plan for sharing existing information networks regarding known organized crime/gang members.
As chairman of the statewide Animal Cruelty Taskforce (ACT), I am pleased to report that our members assisted law enforcement in obtaining indictments against dog fighters and a first conviction under the state’s cockfighting ban.
My office’s Internet Crimes Against Children unit has been very active in assisting other law enforcement agencies investigate, arrest and indict a number of child pornographers and child predators who use the Internet.
Our Consumer Division continues to protect New Mexicans by educating and warning them about a long list of scams and frauds. This division also works daily to serve as mediator between consumers and businesses and although it doesn’t always grab the headlines, this group never tires of protecting all of us who live and work here.
Since the beginning of the year, working with attorneys general from other states, we were able to obtain agreements with social networking websites like Facebook and MySpace to bolster their efforts to protect children from Internet predators and pornography.
There is simply not enough space here to report on all the good work that the people in this office have accomplished and continue to work on, but it seemed like a good time to give the public an update on some of the things we do.