Officer with ties to Clovis promoted

A career law enforcement officer with ties to Clovis was announced Friday as among “the diverse and high-quality leadership team of New Mexico State Police.”

Robert O. Thornton III has been a member of state police since 2000 and most recently served as a major. Across his career he has worked districts across the state including supervising Clovis, Espanola, Las Vegas and Santa Fe.

Thornton joins Nick Aragon and Carolyn N. Huynh as deputy chiefs and Tim Johnson as NMSP Chief in the leadership roles filled by Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and announced Friday in a news release.

Thornton “coordinated the operations for last summer’s National Governor Association conference in Santa Fe,” has investigated internal affairs and “supervised the management of federal and state overtime funding.”