Daniel Ramondo, a Doña Ana County Sheriffs Deputy, who draws caricatures of fellow Deputies as well as past and present Sheriffs, in his office at the DASO offices where the walls are covered in his art work. Sun-News
LAS CRUCES - The walls inside Deputy Daniel Ramondo's office at the Doña Ana County Sheriff's Office are covered in hand-drawn sketches that depict his colleagues in action.
There's one of a cartoon-esque Sheriff Enrique "Kiki" Vigil dancing in full deputy uniform.
Another shows Ramondo himself riding an ATV, screaming about the brakes not working before rear-ending his patrol unit. A rabbit shrieks on the side.
Then, there's one in progress showing a K-9 taking a bite out of a bald-headed figure in front of the Organ Mountains.
And one of his favorites, which is kept tucked away in a filing cabinet, shows a detective digging in dirt as a coroner and bystander look on with puzzled gazes on their faces.
All of the drawings are laced with inside humor and sprinkled with satire, and were created by Ramondo over his 18-year law enforcement career.
He's become known as DASO's "resident artist" and his work not only graces the walls of his office but hangs in other public spaces throughout the county. And this week, he was recognized at the county commission meeting for his 15 years of service at DASO.
"He has lent his creative talents to murals on the walls within the Doña Ana County fairgrounds and has drawn caricatures of every sheriff that he has worked for," County Manager Fernando Macias said on Tuesday before pausing. "Perhaps the commission may want to make a request for that as well.
"All of his drawings have been framed and prominently displayed at the sheriff's office," Macias said. "As an artist and as a patrol officer, a protector of the community, we congratulate Mr. Ramondo for his 15 years of service to the department."
Ramondo joined DASO in 2003 as a patrol deputy. He currently oversees vehicle forfeiture investigations and serves as DASO's senior VIN (vehicle identification number) inspector.
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He's been drawing, or "doodling," since he was a child, he said.
His talent was first recognized when he was second-grader attending Doña Ana Elementary School. It was Dinosaur Week, he recalled, and he drew a Tyrannosaurus rex as part of a project. His rendering was so impressive that he won a transistor radio, he said.
He was thrilled and continued drawing throughout his childhood, earning prizes from time to time. For him, drawing has always been an outlet that helps him learn and retain information.
"Teachers always used to look at me because I was doodling — that's the way I listen," he explained. "A lot of the doodlings you see in my office are (done) when I'm listening to training (on my computer), or even when I go to training here, I take an extra stack of papers to doodle because that's the way I capture the lesson."
He'll often draw the instructors while in training sessions, he said. He also uses his drawing skills when he teaches in schools as part of the DARE program, he said. It's become his way getting students to become more engaged.
But he's most famous (or infamous) for his humorous drawings of his colleagues. All of them are done in good taste but usually poke fun at the subject — with their approval, of course — like the sketch of an officer accidentally shooting his gas tank.
"People started saying, 'Uh-oh, he's going to draw you if you do something funny,'" he said. He added: "I've got officers who have crashed their ATVs. I've had officers that maybe their prisoners escaped and (I've drawn) the prisoner escaping and the officer following behind them."
Today, he has a portfolio of more than 100 drawings of officers from agencies he has worked for, including DASO and the Las Cruces and Sunland Park police departments.
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In addition to Vigil, he's also drawn Todd Garrison and Juan Hernandez, both previous sheriffs.
"I even drew myself," he admitted. "I crashed into the back of my pickup truck when I was loading my truck. So, I said I gotta be fair, I gotta draw myself."
Each drawing takes about 10 to 15 minutes to complete, he said. But he doesn't draw with his subjects in front of him. Rather, he'll study them for a period of time, focusing on key features, then start drawing a few days later.
He usually gives the drawing to the subject as a gift, he said.
Aside from officers, Ramondo also frequently draws dragons. He has several iterations that hang on his office wall, including a large canvas piece that features a fire-breathing beast encircling a DASO badge.
During a recent visit to his office, he drew a dragon and a caricature of a man in a matter of seconds. "The thing with art is you can do whatever," he said.
Carlos Andres López can be reached 575-541-5453, carlopez@lcsun-news.com or @carlopez_los on Twitter.
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