Editor,
I am familiar with the presence of crime in Albuquerque. Last year, a drunken driver hit me. My car was totaled and the driver fled the scene. The driver was a middle-aged man who could have been caught if road checks were in place that night.
This month, my car was stolen while parked on campus. No attempt to find the perpetrators was made after it was recovered, even though there were numerous fingerprints and drug paraphernalia present. In both of these cases the perpetrators of the crimes were not college students.
Yet for some reason, it seems a large portion of police time is invested toward breaking up college parties. When the police do not have time to investigate real crimes or to catch drunken drivers on the road, how do they have the resources to send five squad cars and numerous police officers to spend more than 30 minutes handing out citations to 18- to 20-year-old college students?
Sociologists have shown us that a majority of students do not partake in dangerous drinking behaviors such as binge drinking. We are not causing any harm by having a get-together, even if alcohol is present, so long as everyone is responsible. Many in attendance have a designated driver, yet on occasion underage students do not drink at a party - so they can be a designated driver - are given citations. This seems simply illogical, considering the fact that one reason the drinking age was raised from 18 to 21 in the first place was to decrease drunken driving. In a state for which driving under the influence is such a problem, it is obvious there are better ways to catch the real threats on our roads.
Instead of worrying about parties, police should be more worried about catching drunks who are in cars and who have the potential to cause harm to others. I am of the legal drinking age and of the legal voting age. So long as any New Mexican politician continues to waste tax dollars and police resources in programs aimed at breaking up college parties while leaving real crimes in the dark, I will continue to show them no political support. I urge others to do the same.
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If you feel police efforts are wasted on party patrols and if you feel that contributing to the delinquency of a minor should not be so harsh as to merit a fourth-degree felony, write to Mayor Martin Ch†vez at Office of the Mayor, PO Box 1293, Albuquerque, NM 87103, or e-mail him at mayor@cabq.gov.
Kendal Fortson
UNM student
