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Two female UNM students were groped in separate incidents in slightly more than a week, so the university announced Tuesday it is ramping up patrols and hosting a campus safety forum Friday.
The university will increase patrols at various times through the use of a private security contractor, according to University of New Mexico Police Department spokesman Robert Haarhues. Police also encouraged students to take advantage of its escort service, which currently offers safe rides on campus to three or four students a night.
“There’s no reason for students to be walking across campus at night if they don’t feel safe,” Haarhues said during a Tuesday news conference.
On Monday night, an unknown assailant groped a UNM student over her clothes as she walked near Castetter Hall after evening classes let out around 9:30 p.m. Slightly more than an hour later, the university sent out an alert to UNM students telling them to be on the lookout for a “white male,wearing glasses …with red long sleeve sweater.”
The LoboAlert system sends warnings and other important messages to more than 30,000 people via text message and around 50,000 people via email, said Byron Piatt, the university emergency manager.
On Jan. 27, a female student was running near the tennis courts on campus when two men grabbed her and groped her under her clothes, police said. When the woman screamed, the two men, described as black and dressed in dark clothing, fled in a dark-blue sedan with tinted windows, police said.
Though UNM officials said the two attacks are unrelated, the police department and other departments are taking the opportunity to remind students about resources available to prevent crimes or better alert police if they occur.
Police also released two composite sketches from the Jan. 27 attack, and Haarhues said officers are still questioning the victim from the Monday night attack to glean more details about her assailant.
On Friday, the university will host a campus forum to discuss concerns students might have about the attacks. The forum will include representatives from on-campus groups including the Women’s Resource Center, the dean’s office and the Agora Crisis Center, which takes calls from students and others in crisis.
Walt Miller, associate vice president of Student Life at UNM, said the university has a responsibility to ensure the safety of its students, and he said safety resources and strategies are stressed to students the moment they step on campus for new-student orientation.
“We want to keep that message consistently going throughout the year,” Miller said at the news conference.
UNM police drew these sketches of two groping suspects.
— This article appeared on page C1 of the Albuquerque Journal
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