Gallup Police Department back in the funeral escort business

By Leslie Wood
Staff Writer

Gallup Police escort the funeral procession for Edward Munoz on Highway 66 to Sunset Memorial Park on Monday afternoon following a memorial service at Red Rock Park. [Photo by Matt Hinshaw/Independent]

GALLUP — The Gallup Police Department has reinstated its funeral escort policy, with a few alterations, due to local mortuaries' complaints about the unreliability of privately owned escorts.

City Manager Eric Honeyfield announced months ago that the department would discontinue its funeral escort service because of a lack manpower within the department. He also said the city did not want to compete with private businesses that were offering to lead funeral processions for a fee.

But after local mortuary employees voiced concerns about the safety of the privately led processions and their alleged unreliability, city officials reconsidered their no-escort policy.

"The private services were not consistent at all," Honeyfield said.

Honeyfield said city officials were also concerned that the private escorts were not adequately marked as police units are and are not equipped with sirens to warn the public of an approaching procession.

While the police department initially offered its services for free, the newly-instated service will cost about $125 per vehicle.

Honeyfield said the department will now employ community service aides to work as funeral escorts rather than requiring certified police officers to discontinue their response to emergency calls for assistance.

The department currently has 11 CSAs who could serve as funeral escorts.

Police Chief Sylvester Stanley is also working to create a set of regulations for private funeral escorts to adhere to before they are eligible for a business license in Gallup.

"We will remain open to the idea of private funeral services, but will insist that our police chief establish a basic equipment and training criteria for private providers," Mayor Bob Rosebrough wrote in a recent letter to the editor.

As Gallup's population expands, Rosebrough said the city will have to reconsider the policy.

"At some point in the future, Gallup, like other larger New Mexico cities, will have to discontinue funeral escort in order to keep escort personnel and the general public out of harms way," Rosebrough wrote.