UNM Increases Security in Response to Two Recent Attacks

UNM Police Lt. Bob Haarhues (l.) and Asso­ciate Vice Pres­i­dent for Stu­dent Life Wal­ter Miller dis­cuss increased cam­pus secu­rity with the news media.

In light of two recent attacks on female stu­dents on the Uni­ver­sity of New Mex­ico main cam­pus, the UNM Police Depart­ment (UNMPD) and the Divi­sion of Stu­dent Affairs are tak­ing a num­ber of mea­sures to ensure the safety and secu­rity of our campus.

UNMPD today released two com­pos­ite sketches, devel­oped by an APD artist, fol­low­ing an inter­view with the vic­tim of the attack on Jan. 27, 2013. Sus­pect No. 1 is described as a black male in his early 20s, 140 to 150 lbs. with an ath­letic build and very dark skin. This sus­pect had a dis­tinct gap between his upper front teeth with the left tooth angled away from the other.

Sus­pect No. 2 is described as a black male in his mid-20s to early 30s, 6 feet 3 inches tall weigh­ing 240 to 250 lbs. with an ath­letic build, very dark skin and dia­mond studs in both ears. This attack occurred about 5 p.m. that evening near John­son Cen­ter. The sus­pects were last seen in a dark blue vehi­cle with tinted windows.

Sus­pect No. 1

UNMPD also asked any­one who might have been in the area of Castet­ter Hall Mon­day, Feb. 4 for any infor­ma­tion in a sec­ond attack reported about 9:30 after evening classes. This vic­tim told offi­cers some­one grabbed her, tried to put his hand over her mouth and fon­dled her on the out­side of her cloth­ing.  She screamed and got away.

This sus­pect is described as a white male, 5 feet 9 inches – 6 foot tall with dark brown hair. He was wear­ing glasses and a red long-sleeved sweater. Police do not believe the inci­dents are related. Any­one hav­ing infor­ma­tion about the attacks, is asked to please con­tact UNMPD at (505) 277‑2241 or the UNMPD tip line at policetips@unm.edu.

Among other mea­sures, UNM is increas­ing secu­rity and police pres­ence through­out the cam­pus at var­i­ous loca­tions and times to increase vis­i­bil­ity that may help deter and detect crime. Secu­rity escorts will be offered dur­ing the day, as well as the nor­mal evening hours. The Uni­ver­sity be post­ing infor­ma­tion on the cam­pus safety web­site that will pro­vide updates about the cases and secu­rity mea­sures rec­om­mended for stu­dents, staff, fac­ulty and vis­i­tors to cam­pus. UNM is also work­ing to imple­ment a num­ber of “best prac­tice” safety pro­to­cols that have been insti­tuted on col­lege campuses. A forum for the cam­pus com­mu­nity will be held 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. on Fri­day, Feb. 8 in the Stu­dent Union Build­ing (SUB) Atrium to share infor­ma­tion and ideas.

Sus­pect No. 2

UNMPD also reminds cam­pus res­i­dents and vis­i­tors to famil­iar­ize them­selves with our Emer­gency Blue Light phone sys­tem and to sign up for LoboAlerts at http://loboalerts.unm.edu, which sends a text and/or email if there is an urgent situation.

Media Con­tact: Dianne Ander­son (505) 277‑1807; email: danderson@unm.edu