Crime rates higher across Central Ave.

Jeremy Hunt

Source: 2005 UNM Crime Report and the Albuquerque Police Department

APD, UNM police work together to fight crime

by JEREMY HUNT

The most common crime in the UNM area is burglary.

When students park their vehicles off campus and go to classes, it gives criminals an opportunity they don’t get on campus, Albuquerque Police Capt. Murray Conrad said.

“It’s like going to the mall, but they’re not shopping for something to buy. They’re shopping for something to steal,” he said. “You’re not going to have a group of transients who are going to be welcomed on the university, where they’re fairly common place — for now — on Central (Avenue).”

The neighborhood south of UNM has more crime than on campus, but Conrad said the criminal activity off campus is proportional to the population.

Police Beat 323 covers neighborhoods south and east of UNM, also referred to as the “student ghetto.” There are three beats that cover the entire university area.

Conrad said APD officers have to deal with a more diverse group of people in the UNM area than anywhere else in the city.

“We’ve got every portion of the population you can imagine living in that area. If you don’t believe me, just go sit in the Frontier for a few minutes,” he said. “Because of that, the officers are incredibly diverse in their training when it comes to dealing with these separate cultures.”

Conrad said the student ghetto has a lot of crime because so many people come in and out every day.

“I would bet, for the Southeast Area Command, it’s without a doubt the busiest area because of the sheer number of students,” he said. “Anytime you have a much higher population like that, your crime is going to be in direct proportion to it. It’s not necessarily them being the offenders, but they could easily become the victims.”

Main campus is one of the safest communities in Albuquerque, because it has good police officers that focus on a small area, said Lt. Pat Davis, UNM police spokesman.

“If you look at our crime statistics, you see that UNM ranks as among the lowest if you consider UNM a neighborhood association,” he said. “This is one of the places that you can walk freely and safely at night.”

At any given time, there are about 20 officials patrolling UNM, including police officers and security guards, Davis said.

The UNM police are responsible for all of the property the university owns, which includes North and South Campus, UNM Hospital and other properties in the city, Davis said.

The university averages about 44,000 visitors per day during the school year and as many as 100,000 during special events, Davis said.

Conrad said there are three officers on patrol by vehicle during the day in Beat 323 and four officers patrolling on bicycles on either side of Central Avenue between Presbyterian Hospital and San Mateo Boulevard.

Conrad said he doesn’t know how many people live in Beat 323, but the population in the area doubles during the day.

Davis said UNM students aren’t usually the cause of crime on campus.

“We don’t see most of our problems coming from students,” he said. “The vast majority are property crimes — auto burglary, simple thefts. That’s something that’s often a crime of opportunity, and when we do make an arrest on those kinds of things, we find it’s people that don’t have any UNM affiliation.”

Student Lesley Siegel, who lives in Alvarado Hall, said she feels safe walking around campus at night, as long as she’s not alone.

On Halloween, there were two incidents where students were threatened with guns.

When Siegel heard about that, she said she lost confidence in UNM’s safety.

“That kind of stuff makes me think the campus police are not doing a good job,” she said.

Student Abram Diaz said he lived in the dorms last year and now lives in the student ghetto.

He said he hasn’t had any problems living on or off campus. UNM police officers keep campus safe, but they hassle students for petty things, Diaz said.

“They do a pretty good job, but I don’t know. Maybe they need more to do,” he said. “I appreciate their presence. That’s all that’s necessary a lot of times — their presence.”

Student Kevin Marsh, who lives in Santa Clara Hall, said he feels safer on campus, because the people off campus are not as wholesome.

“I’ve been approached by a pimp on the street and people trying to sell me ammunition,” he said. “It’s a campus, so I assume it’s protected more than the average sketchy street.”

Conrad said the homeless population is responsible for part of the crime in the area, and APD is addressing that with a community outreach program called Coast, which helps police aid the homeless.

In 2005, there were five arson reports made on campus and two in Beat 323.

Davis said UNM police file a report for every fire, including incidents the Albuquerque Fire Department wouldn’t file a report for, such as a fire in a trash can.

“We want to keep track of what goes on here so we can look at crimes and patterns as they develop, so we can look at them later, rather than being surprised,” he said.

In 2005, there were 15 rapes reported in Beat 323, compared to one on campus.

Conrad said the difference is because more people live in the student ghetto.

“The rape number has to be directly related to the number of students living in the area. As sad as that sounds, you’ve got people preying on each other,” he said. “And what’s worse is the amount of rapes that don’t get reported.”

Davis said when people file police reports in the university area, APD and UNM police try to determine where the incident began.

Conrad said they try to figure out whether a crime occurred in APD or UNM police’s jurisdiction, but it is difficult because the boundaries are so small.

“A lot of times when we investigate crimes, you’re not sure where it happened,” he said. “Especially when you have someone who was intoxicated at the time.”

UNM police work with APD on a daily basis, and the two departments set up a computer system that allows access to each other’s files and reports, Davis said.

Conrad said the communication between the Albuquerque Police Department and UNM police is better than it ever has been.

“When we have a problem outside UNM, they’re going to have a problem in UNM,” he said. “Anything that happens on the university will spill out into our jurisdiction, and vice versa.”

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