No more UNM security rides off campus

ALBUQUERQUE, NM {KRQE} - People who rely on university officers to get home safely will have to turn somewhere else.

UNM police are putting the brakes on the busy program they claim the department just can't afford anymore.

“This campus is very safe and very secure,” Lt. Robert Haarhues with UNM Police said.

The hustle and bustle of UNM's main campus is long gone in the dark of night..

Student Anna Hampton said, “Oh, it's terrifying here late at night.”

Amogene Martinez, another student at UNM agreed, “You never know though who is out there, it's kind of scary.”

Women just like these students are the ones taking advantage of the university's service that escorts people to their homes or cars off-campus.

A security officer will normally take the person to an off campus location as long as it's within a few miles of the university...

Haarhues said,.“It's faculty students staff visitors, we will escort anybody that is on campus that needs to go from one location to another.”

Last month alone the security officers gave rides to nearly 225 people, most of them to an off-campus destination.

Officials said it only gets busier in the fall and winter.

“As it gets colder they pick up a little bit people don't want to walk in the cold,” Haarhues said.

But no more free off-campus rides.

“Right now we are down three security guards,” he said,

Haarhues said a lack of staff and a tight budget means the off-campus trips got the ax.

”I think it's a horrible idea,” Martinez said. “I think it's very dangerous and you will see a lot of other crime rates go up.”

Hampton said she knows where the school can find the money, by hitting up its football coach.

“Instead they should consider cutting (Mike) Locksley’s budget and putting it into campus security.”

University police will still give people rides to their homes or cars off-campus if there's a concerned about a specific threat.

The new policy goes into affect November 1st.

Security is no longer giving rides to anyone during the daytime, on or off-campus.

They will still give rides to people on-campus, but only in the evening and overnight.