By Hilary Broman, Senior Staff Reporter
Physical Therapy major, Geovanny Castillo fell victim to having his bike stolen from main campus.
His bike was parked at a bike rack by the LS building and when he got out of class it wasn’t there.
“I didn’t see that coming,” he said.
Castillo reported it to security but he doesn’t have much hope that it will be found, he said.
He has since then bought a new bike and the best lock that he could get.
“I just took it as a learning experience,” Castillo said.
This is just one example of a theft at main campus.
According to the Clery act, https://www.cnm.edu/depts/security/documents/2016-annual-security-report.pdf a document disclosing campus security policy and campus crime statistics, main campus had the most motor vehicle thefts of all CNM campuses in 2013, 2014, and 2015.
In 2016 fifteen cars were stolen from main campus, said John Corvino, Chief of Security and Safety, and so far in 2017 seven cars have been stolen from main campus.
That is just a dent in the 10,000 cars that were reported stolen in Albuquerque and surrounding counties in 2016.
Chief Corvino and his officers are doing their best keep main campus safe from motor vehicle theft, he said.
One of the things the security department is doing is putting fliers on the top cars that the bad guys want, he said.
Honda Civics and trucks are the top stolen cars, Corvino said.
About one week ago a 2000 Honda Civic was stolen from main campus and two months ago a 1998 Honda Civic was stolen.
“You need more than just locking your car,” Corvino said, “You need to have a club or a similar device.”
Although security is constantly patrolling all the parking lots, even the secluded ones, it is important to park in a good area where there are a lot of people, he said.
Also, if students have early morning or late classes, they should try to park closer to the building that their class is in.
Students who are concerned about the safety of their motor vehicles on campus can go into the security office, https://www.cnm.edu/depts/security/security-office-locations where they will give students tips on how to secure their vehicle.
The security office is located in the DPS building on main campus at 725 University Blvd. SE.
“Crime is rampant, it’s more outrageous than it’s ever been,” Corvino said, “but we’re doing our best.”
The security department is being innovative in their approach to increase safety on main campus.
They just implemented a new bike patrol system in which officers can patrol the entire perimeter of campus four to six times an hour.
They also have portable security booths that they set up at different locations around campus.
“We choose locations that we believe might have more crime than others,” Corvino said.
Students can also go to the booths to ask security related questions.
“The officer in the booth is visible,” Corvino said, “I want predators to see us. We are looking for predators to be off our campus.”
Welding program students are currently building two new booths for the security department.
The consensus among students who attend classes on main campus is that they feel generally safe.
Physics major, Ethan Johnson, who is usually at main campus for the majority of his day stated, “I do feel pretty safe. Security does a good job to make this campus feel protected.”
Bike theft victim, Geovanny Castillo, stated that he does feel safe on campus but his one recommendation for security would be to spread out more.
“I usually see them all together in a group,” he said.
What Castillo could be witnessing is one of the new approaches that Corvino implemented to increase visibility.
Corvino and his officers used to hold briefings in the office but have recently changed to field briefings.
‘Presence, presence, presence, that’s what we have to do,” he said.
If students encounter and emergency they can call security at (505) 224- 3001.
Students can contact security for non-emergencies at (505) 224- 3002. This line is open 24/7.
