By Truett Jackson
Staff Reporter
When you are part of any campus community, one of the first fundamental things to get familiar with is how to keep yourself safe on school grounds. To do this, one of your best options is to get advice from a pro.
“We want to be approachable, and we want to be visible,” said Deputy Chief of Security Tony Fields, a seven-year veteran of CNM’s security team. “So, we kinda stress to all our guys to get out and be seen.”
When traversing any of CNM’s grounds, students can expect to see Fields and his fellow teammates in their black and Hi-Vis bright yellow vests.
“Our Chief instituted a thing that we do a ‘hello’. We want our guys to say hello to people, so they are approachable” Fields said.
One only has to look at the statistics in the most recent CNM Annual Security Report to see that Fields and his colleagues’ strategy of employing openness, friendliness and visibility seems to be highly effective.
While there are trouble spots in the report, like a couple of burglaries on different campuses and some incidents of stalking, the statistic for the last few years shows that CNM’s school grounds are significantly safer than the surrounding community at large.
With that being said, there are still steps that every learner can take to ensure they have the safest experience possible while getting their business done at school. According to Tony Fields, there is one thing above all to keep in mind.
“Awareness.” Said Fields. “You need to be aware. Be aware of your surroundings. Looking at your phone, listening to music… that’s not being aware.”
He told us that being aware ties into every area of personal campus safety, from the moment you pull into the parking lot until you leave to go home.
Refraining from keeping valuables in your vehicle, knowing who is around you, and watching for bikes and cars are part of being mindfully alert and aware. Knowing important contact numbers is also an important precaution.
Fields said that an area of particular importance when it comes to being aware is what to do in the event of an active shooter event on or around a CNM campus.
“It can happen anywhere,” Fields said, and that schools should be trained in a method called ‘run, hide, fight’ to respond to a major security event. “If we are in an active shooter-type incident, most of the buildings are gonna get immediately locked down, so you’re not gonna be able to get into a building. Get off campus. Go somewhere safe.”
He said that once you get yourself to a safe place during such a situation, you should call the proper authorities. He provided a card with a cute, alert-looking creature on the front that can be found all around on campus, and their Chief has begun handing them out to every student during orientation.
“That is a meerkat,” said Tony. “A meerkat, when he’s at home, all he’s doing is watching his surroundings. And that’s what we want people to do here.”
Fields said that students should familiarize themselves with the important emergency and non-emergency numbers on the reverse of the meerkat card and save them to their contacts. He suggested they reach out by phone, online or in-person at any campus.
“If any students have any questions or any concerns, they can come by our office, and we can answer any questions they may have.”
CNM Security is temporarily located on Main Campus in room SSC-110 and can be reached 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 505-224-3002.
Pictured above:
A watchful meerkat with important CNM security info (top) and Deputy Chief of Security Tony Fields (bottom)
