During the month of April, the UNM Police Department was cleaning house.
The department followed every tip it received about illicit activities on campus as part of "Operation Spring Clean."
Lt. Pat Davis, spokesman for the department, said students should not be frightened to come forward in reporting illegal activities around campus.
"We're looking forward to hearing from people on any situation," he said. "People can come forward anonymously. They can call the police department and remain anonymous, or they can come to our office and still remain anonymous."
Davis said police recovered six firearms, a stolen vehicle, 1 pound of processed marijuana, 2 ounces of mushrooms, a quarter ounce of heroin, more than 200 prescription pills, about $2,000 in "drug money" and more than 100 marijuana plants over the month.
Davis said the cleaning resulted in charges against 17 people - nine arrests and eight outstanding warrants. And most came from anonymous tips, he said.
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Davis said the goal of the operation was to take a stand against crime.
"We wanted to get an idea of how pervasive the gun and drug threat was to the University," he said. "We wanted to have an effect on the drug and firearm trafficking on campus."
Davis said the operation was the first time the department enacted a large-scale crackdown on drugs and guns.
"We started to hear from informants that we had some impact on these issues affecting campus," he said. "We had a significant impact on at least one drug smuggling ring located on campus."
Karen Wentworth, spokeswoman for UNM, said student safety is the University's main concern.
"Students should feel safe on campus," she said. "Students shouldn't have to worry about anything but their grades."
