by Michael Montalvo
Daily Lobo
Behind the scenes at the UNM Police Department, students are using technology to help officers fight crime.
A former student helped develop a database to organize the department's records and track crime trends, and UNM Police used it to catch the man believed to be responsible for most bike thefts on campus last year, said Lt. Pat Davis, spokesman for the department.
In the spring, officers noticed that most bicycle thefts happened on Wednesdays, Davis said.
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"We couldn't figure out why until we looked at some of the programs," he said. "We realized that the methadone clinic that's not far from here, north of campus, closes early on Wednesdays."
Davis said the man took bicycles because he needed to get by while the clinic was closed.
"People are more likely to go get their stuff early, and then they have to stock up for a couple of days," he said. "So, they are more likely to grab a bike, sell it very quickly and get enough money for a two-day dose, and that made sense to us."
Officers started going to the clinic and identifying people they had seen on campus, Davis said.
They kept an eye out for the suspect, and he was arrested in April, he said.
Davis said the database changed the way the department investigates crime.
"It's just a new way for us to do things," he said. "Instead of us having to ask our officers to remember something that happened weeks ago, now every couple of weeks we can see what has been popping up around campus."
The information in the database is categorized by type of crime, location and date and time, said student Alayna Bowman, an employee in the department's records office.
The data is transferred onto graphs and into statistics programs, then plotted on a campus map, Davis said.
Information is added to the database daily, Bowman said.
Student Natasha Dunn, an employee at the department, said she is responsible for most of the data-entry duties at the department.
"I put the records into a local database and distribute them within the police department, as well as to attorneys and the dean's office," Dunn said.
The database has information dating back to 1991. Data collected before 1991 is kept in the department's archives, Dunn said.
When officers investigate crimes, they ask Bowman and Dunn to provide them with statistics and other critical information pertaining to the investigation, Davis said.
In addition to distributing the reports to various departments, Dunn said she also performs background checks.
"Different law agencies ask for background checks or schools ask for background checks for future possible employees," she said.
Bowman said she also receives subpoenas and makes sure officers are aware of their court dates
Because the department's efficiency has increased, it will continue to use student employees to help in the crime-fighting process, Davis said.
"The students do all of the stuff that produces this information," Davis said. "They do their jobs very well."
