Promises kept, changes made, what’s up ahead

ALAMOSA — When Governor Jared Polis appointed Anne Kelly as the District Attorney for the 12th Judicial District in August of 2022, the office of the San Luis Valley’s top cop was like a forgotten outpost in desperate need of reinforcements. Kelly was elected to the position in November 2022.

The DA’s office had just a handful of employees — no attorneys — and a backlog of 300 cases. Law enforcement agencies were dispirited by an ineffective former DA. Victims felt betrayed by a judicial system that was broken.

But from the first moment DA Kelly stepped up to the podium, her message was clear: help was on the scene and change was on the horizon.

Now, with over a year under her belt, Kelly is taking stock of which promises she’s kept, what crucial changes she’s made, and what’s up ahead in 2024.

“One of the biggest changes I see is the relationship with law enforcement,” she says. “When I started, [they] were so demoralized and frustrated. They didn’t see the point in doing their jobs if the DA wasn’t going to fulfill the work they had started.

“Now, I see agencies motivated to do really good investigations and to learn how to make their work better.  They trust that our office is going to get the job done when they deliver us the product.”

Kelly envisioned law enforcement officials across the valley working together on investigations, something that had happened before but not on a regular basis.

Toward that end, she’s holding monthly “all Valley law enforcement” meetings where she trains on constitutional issues, discovery (i.e. evidence) and writing reports. “We’ve packed the room,” she says.

The meetings also create opportunities for agencies to share information about cases they’re working on. “Crimes committed in Costilla County don’t just stay in Costilla County. Criminals don’t observe county lines.”

Conejos and Costilla sheriff’s offices are also now meeting with the Taos and Questa police departments because criminal acts frequently involve people working both sides of the Colorado-New Mexico border. “It’s much harder to investigate those crimes that cross state lines. People committing crimes know we don’t communicate.”

As a result of that collaboration, the four agencies are now building a database that will help in investigations.

In a highly relevant form of outreach, Kelly has also been having meetings with students in Conejos where they talk about things on their minds, such as “sexting, bullying, the juvenile justice system, what happens if you get caught doing something you shouldn’t.”  

She requested it be an “an open conversation” with students with only a guidance counselor in the room and no teachers, which was agreed to without question.

There’s also been a big change in the office environment in the past year.

“It’s been a tremendously challenging year with a lot of flux and uncertainty because of the backlog and trying to get our new attorneys and other people in place.”

But that backlog has now been cleared and there are “some new faces in new positions who are doing different tasks”. And, she adds with a huge smile, the office is now fully staffed with seven full time attorneys (including herself) and one half time who does jail advisements and reviews warrants, a position she describes as a “game changer”.

She’s also hired a second full-time investigator who is reviewing all the cases related to sexual assault and domestic violence.

Looking ahead to 2024, her plans are largely centered on one thing — a new building. “It’s a big deal. So big.”

The current landlord has been very responsive to their needs, she says, but more space is needed to accomplish what she wants to accomplish. That’s now possible with Alamosa State Bank donating its downtown building to the DA’s office.

“The DAs office is supposed to be the top law enforcement agency that people look to. That’s how it functions best. But to do that we need a building with space to have large meetings about larger issues plus a smaller more private space for meetings with victims’ families who are grieving the loss of someone.”

She also hopes to have meetings with specific populations in the community, such as a meeting with parents similar to her meeting with students or elderly people who are frequently the target of scams or members of the LGBTQ community to discuss what constitutes a hate crime.

At this point, it’s worth noting that some of the accomplishments over the past year and some of the changes Kelly hopes to accomplish in 2024 were predicated by a highly stressful but necessary event.

Despite repeated requests for more resources, the DA’s office had been grossly underfunded for years. Attorneys were routinely paid significantly less than their Front Range counterparts while expected to handle caseloads that were unethically high. In the years right before Kelly took office, budgets were actually cut, requiring support staff to be laid off in order to keep what few attorneys they could attract.

The actions of Kelly’s predecessor made an already bad situation exponentially worse but the fallout from that “worst-case scenario” created an undeniable acknowledgment among county commissioners that additional resources were a must if the DA’s office was to survive, something Kelly and right-hand person Megan Bagwell made clear in their first commissioners meeting.

While still less than what was requested, the 2023 budget was almost double what it had been in previous years and, for 2024, current staff are willing to forego any pay increases if their budget request can be met.

That’s just a glimpse of the commitment found among those working for the DA.

Kelly says, “This past year has been one of the hardest things I’ve done in my life. I feel the weight of the world sometimes because the decisions I have to make impact people’s lives on a very real level. I really love being a worker among workers and out of the spotlight, but now my role is different.

“So, I consult with people in the office because their opinions are so important to me and I rely on other elected DAs to get their thoughts – we all do that for each other. But what I can say is that I love what I do. This is where I’m supposed to be. And…what else do I hope for the future?”

She laughs.

“I’m looking forward to the Run on the Rio and the Polar Plunge. I want to build more of a social presence in the community. And I’m hoping to climb some of the fourteeners in the Valley. Little Bear Peak? No way. But Blanca seems doable.”