The local police and county sheriff work together on Hwy 82 as it passes through Cloudcroft. My advice: DO NOT speed as you pass through town. Radar is active day and night in this area. Be especially careful of the school zone and its 15 mph limit.

In 1988 I was travelling through New Mexico and stopped by the local police in the town of Cloudcroft for speeding ----- it was a speed trap at the far end of a blind curve where the police had rolled out a temporary sign lowering the speed limit to 15 mph from 55 mph right at the entrance to the town….. The police officer told me that the ticket was $60, and because California did not have reciprocity with New Mexico I would need to come down to the police station and pay the ticket immediately. I followed the police officer into town and went into the station. He handed me the ticket. On the back of the ticket it said that payment could be made in cash, check, or money order. I offered to write the police officer (and town clerk, who was present in the room) a check for $60. The police officer told me that a check was not acceptable, and that I needed to pay in cash. I told the police officer that I didn’t have $60 in cash (I really did, but there was no way I was going to pay the cop in cash), and that the ticket said that payment by check was acceptable. The police officer told me that it didn’t matter what the ticket said --- I needed to pay cash. I repeated my statement that I didn’t have $60 in cash, however I would be willing to write him a check. I also told him that even if I did have cash, I wouldn’t pay in cash because he would have pocketed $30 and his buddy (the town clerk) would have pocketed the other $30. The police officer hit the roof when I made that comment, and angrily told me that he was an honest police officer and would never do such a thing. Long story short ------ I sat in the police station for two hours with my arms folded while the police officer brought in a whole bunch of other cops to try to scare me into paying in cash. Finally he threatened to throw me in jail. At that point my wife spoke up and said to the cops, “If you put my husband in jail, you’ll have to put me in jail right along with him, AS WELL AS THE BABY THAT IS IN MY BELLY. (My wife was pregnant at the time).” Upon hearing that comment, several of the cops in the room went white as sheets, and finally the co p who brought me in initially turned to the town clerk and said, “Just take their check and let them get out of here.”