Las Cruces mayor honors police officers deployed to Puerto Rico

The City of Las Cruces honored the six police officers deployed to Puerto Rico for more than a month to assist with the damage following Hurricane Maria.

“It was also during Thanksgiving,” said Mayor Ken Miyagishima.

Six officers received the Mayor’s Citation for Public Service: Sgt. Thaddeus Allen, Sgt. Jaime Quezada, Officer Manny Soto, Officer Jose Prado, Officer Joshua Herrera and Officer Charlie Velasco.

Miyagishima said he was contacted by the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, who was searching for bilingual officers. “The rest is history,” Miyagishima said.

The country was devastated by the storm. “It’s just pretty shocking, honestly,” said Sgt. Jaime Quezada.

Quezada said their main purpose to direct traffic on the island where only 64% of power has been restored, months after the hurricane.

“The simplicity of just us helping them through an intersection with other vehicles actually brought them some normalcy,” Quezada said.

The six bilingual officers stayed left on November 10th and stayed for more than a month. They sacrificed much of the holiday season, including Thanksgiving.

“You don’t really worry so much about the sacrifice that you’re having to give up for someone else who’s probably in a worse situation than you are,” Quezada said.

Quezada said he only wishes he could return to Puerto Rico to help with the devastation he’s seen.

“Palm trees down,” Quezada said. “Electrical power lines throughout the city just on the ground. You drive through a neighborhood, poles are still there laying on the ground.”

He said while progress is being made, the work on the island is not yet over.

“Keep them in your prayers,” Quezada said. “They’re still trying to build.”