Current mood: cynical

Got this in my email on Friday –

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: CNM – UNM Emergency Alert
Date: Fri, 10 Feb 2012 13:26:54 -0500 (EST)
From: AttentionCNM Official Communication

AttentionCNM Emergency Notice: UNM Police: CNM Main should be on alert for white female stabbing suspect 5’9″ brwn hair black jacket purple PJ pants. Call 911 if seen.

There’s a few questions that the above message doesn’t answer. I’ll list the immediately obvious ones here.

1. Are there any other details on the description of the suspect? Apparent weight? Hairstyle? Tattoos? Piercings? Glasses or sunglasses?

2. Where exactly did the alleged stabbing take place? How badly injured was the alleged victim?
3. Which way was the suspect headed?
4. Did the suspect get into a vehicle? If so, what did it look like? License plate? Was she driving, or just a passenger?
5. Were there other people involved the incident? (Besides the suspect described above and the victim, but you should already know that’s what I meant with this question.)
6. Was the suspect carrying anything that might have belonged to the victim?

So what say you, “Suncats” ?

Does CNM need its own police force, as UNM has the UNMPD? No, I’m not referring to UNM’s Campus Security (apparently a subdivision of UNMPD) – according to the UNM site, UNMPD has sworn, accredited, and commissioned officers on staff. These people carry pistols on their belts (and probably long guns in their cruiser trunks), they have powers of arrest, and are also commissioned as deputy sheriffs with BCSO.

I would answer this question with one word – “NO!” – CNM does NOT need its own “CNMPD.” Instead, the Administration and Governing Board should simply do away with the current policy of victim disarmament where students, staff and faculty are concerned.

And why exactly would I refer to such “safety-oriented” policies as the no-weapons rules that CNM and UNM have as “victim disarmament”? Really, folks – it’s simple, look up the two words “victim” (see #2) and “disarmament” for yourself – the phrase is self-explanatory. The very people that these policies are intended to stop are the same people who are least likely to obey these policies.

Look at how well these sorts of policies worked at stopping Seung-Hui Cho and Nidal Malik Hasan, then get back to me about the “necessity” for them, OK?

So long as UNM and CNM retain their victim-disarming policies, I will assume that administrators on both campuses are tacitly OK with events such as this recent stabbing, as well as the alleged rape of 13 December 2010 and the 4 January 2011 UNMH Shooter. After all, the criminals aren’t barging into meetings of UNM’s Board of Regents or CNM’s Governing Board to wreak havoc. It’s only the rest of us that have to live with the risk.