The Socorro City Council on Feb. 20 voted to approve multiple public-safety grant applications and a resolution to seek funding for new law-enforcement tools and technology.

City staff sought council approval to submit applications for several Office of the Governor programs and related grants. Alejandro Oladez, the city development director, told the council that the applications would be submitted on behalf of the Socorro Police Department and several neighboring agencies.

"We'd like to request your approval to submit an application on behalf of the Socorro Police Department, the Horizon Police Department, San Elisario Police Department, Clint Police Department, and Anthony Police Department for the multi jurisdictional intelligence sharing cooperation project," Oladez said. He told the council the request includes funding for two intelligence analysts to provide localized data and crime statistics for the participating agencies, and that Socorro would be the administering entity.

Chief Robert C. Rojas of the Socorro Police Department said the agencies have an ongoing working relationship and that Socorro would "take the lead in the intelligence, analyst type of, grant so that we could support all those agencies that are surrounding us." The council approved the city submitting that application. (Resolution 8-11.)

Separately, the council authorized the city to apply for the Office of the Governor FY2026 State and Local Cybersecurity Grant Program for a Socorro cybersecurity mitigation project that includes uninterruptible power supplies, firewall upgrades and data backup solutions. Staff said the city would request $177,000 and commit a match of up to $44,000 (20%); the match will be budgeted if the award is made in the next fiscal year. Esteban Gonzalez, identified in the meeting as the city IT director, was named as cooperating on the project. (Resolution 8-12.)

The council also approved submitting a grant application for a multi-jurisdictional barricade project to buy three shareable, deployable modular barricade systems and camera monitoring equipment designed to prevent vehicle-ramming attacks at large public events. Staff said there is no local match required for that State Homeland Security Program application and cited a January 2025 vehicle-ramming attack in New Orleans as the impetus for the request. (Resolution 8-13.)

Councilmembers approved a resolution to allow the city to apply for funding under Operation Lone Star for overtime, vehicles and other resources to support border and highway enforcement; staff said there is no local match requirement for that application. Grants staff said the program is similar in purpose to Stone Garden and other border-security grant programs. (Resolution 8-14.)

Finally, the council passed Resolution 8-15 expressing formal support for funding a range of public-safety initiatives, including acquisition of fleet systems, tasers, body cameras and a robotic security program described in the resolution as a "Robot as a Service (RAAS) grama" with an identified cost of $1,004,400 to deploy an autonomous robotic security system. The resolution authorizes the mayor to communicate the council's support to state and federal agencies and legislators.

All of the public-safety motions were approved by voice vote during the meeting; the audio record shows the council responding "Aye" for each item. The meeting transcript does not record a roll-call count for those voice votes.

Why it matters: The grants and the council's resolution signal a citywide, multi-agency push to expand intelligence-sharing, physical-event protections and cybersecurity for Socorro and neighboring departments. The Cybersecurity and intelligence-analyst proposals commit future local match or administration responsibilities if awards are made, and the RAAS program quoted in the resolution names a specific cost that, if pursued, would require funding and procurement decisions.