A. As used in this section:

(1) "criminal record" means information concerning a person's arrests, indictments or other formal criminal charges and any dispositions arising from them, including convictions, dismissals, acquittals, sentencing and correctional supervision, collected by criminal justice agencies and stored in the databases of the federal bureau of investigation, the national law enforcement telecommunications system, the department of public safety or the repositories of criminal history information of other states; and

(2) "criminal history screening" means a criminal history background investigation of an applicant for the New Mexico mounted patrol conducted by using fingerprints collected by the department of public safety or a local law enforcement agency and submitted to the federal bureau of investigation.

B. The New Mexico mounted patrol shall perform a criminal history screening on all applicants for mounted patrol. If an applicant has a criminal record, his application for a commission in the mounted patrol may be denied. If an applicant has a felony conviction or a conviction for a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude, his application for a commission in the mounted patrol shall be denied.

C. The chief of the New Mexico state police shall determine whether to grant a commission to an applicant who has a criminal record that did not result in conviction of a felony or a misdemeanor involving moral turpitude. The chief's decision to deny an application for a commission in the mounted patrol is final and may not be appealed.

D. An applicant for the New Mexico mounted patrol shall be fingerprinted and the applicant shall provide two fingerprint cards or the equivalent electronic fingerprints to the mounted patrol to assist the mounted patrol in conducting a criminal history screening of the applicant. The applicant shall pay the cost of the criminal history screening. The mounted patrol shall not charge the applicant more than the actual cost of the nationwide criminal history screening.

History: Laws 1999, ch. 121, § 1.