by Jeremy Hunt
Daily Lobo
University employees are being trained by police to participate in crime prevention in the community.
The training is part of the Eyes and Ears program that started over the summer to increase awareness in the community, said Lt. Pat Davis, spokesman for the UNM Police Department.
The program is designed to train University staff, including Physical Plant and transportation employees, to look out for suspicious activity and to teach them how to report to police,
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Davis said.
The cost of the program is negligible, because the officers train staff while on duty, said UNM Police officer Eric Kuebler, who is responsible for training the staff.
Davis said the time spent training staff pays off, because more people can watch for criminal activity and report it. It allows the police to be more efficient on campus, he said.
Kuebler goes to the offices in a department and has a training session with the staff, he said.
Most of the Physical Plant staff have not received formal training from the police, but the employees already keep an eye out for
anything suspicious, said Mary Vosevich, director of Physical Plant.
"We always do that, because we are in many ways the protectors of the facilities," Vosevich said.
On Sept. 19, two Physical Plant employees reported suspicious packages to UNM Police in E Lot of the Redondo Village Apartments. Officers dispatched the Albuquerque Police Department's bomb squad, who then determined the packages were not hazardous.
Davis said the incident is a perfect example of how staff can work with the police to make the campus as safe as possible.
The program should not give the impression that UNM is unsafe,
he said.
Kuebler said the program has been successful. It benefits the police, staff and the University,
he said.
The training improves the quality of reports police get, Kuebler said. By improving the quality of reporting, the police can improve their response to a situation, he said.
Kuebler trained the parking and transportation services department in August, he said.
"People are more aware of what to report to police," he said.
Shuttle drivers were trained how to respond to disruptive people on buses and how to report
automobile accidents, he said.
Davis said the program does not encourage anyone to act like a police officer and intervene in situations. The purpose is to educate the UNM community and make people more comfortable with approaching the police,
he said.
"We're not always the bad guys," Davis said. "We want to help
students."
Kuebler said he trains people to determine whether a suspicious person's behavior is criminal or only strange.
Kuebler said the program is like a neighborhood watch, where everyone works together in a cooperative effort to make UNM safe.
"It (the program) benefits everyone, because students are safe, and it allows police to do their job faster and better," Davis said.
