NM Daily Lobo 09 02

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Daily Lobo new mexico

The Independent Student Voice of UNM since 1895

tuesday September 2, 2014 | Volume 119 | Issue 12

rally attempt collapses on lobos | See Page 12

Aaron Sweet / Daily Lobo / @AaronCSweet

UTEP’s Aaron Jones runs past the Lobo defense to the first first touchdown of the Saturday’s season-opening game. The Lobos faced the UTEP Miners for the first game of the season Saturday evening at University Stadium. UTEP defeated New Mexico 31-24.

Berry cans pot proposal New chief vows to reign in assaults

By Tomas Lujan

On Friday Albuquerque Mayor Richard J. Berry said he vetoed five voter initiatives because he does not want to approve the decriminalization of marijuana or raise taxes in Albuquerque. Berry exercised his veto authority on R-14-91 because of last-minute provisions added by the City Council that he said lack detail or circumvent state and federal law. “This is a bill that has the potential to raise the taxes of the citizens of Albuquerque without any clear or concise plan as to how those tax resources will be spent,” Berry said in a video posted to YouTube. “It also has the potential to decriminalize an illegal drug in our city.” Patrick Davis of ProgressNow NM, one of the organizations sponsoring the marijuana decriminalization campaign, said his group was disappointed to see the mayor deny citizens of Albuquerque the chance to express their opinions on the issue. “We’re in this position because City Hall made a mistake, and the majority on our council gave (Berry) a chance to fix that forced error and honor the will of the voters,” Davis said. “Sadly, it looks like City Hall has chosen to play electoral turn-out politics instead of investing in the true democratic process.” Berry said he was disheartened to have been put in a position to have to

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Vetoed page 3

By Erika Eddy

Image Courtesy Mayor Townhall / YouTube

In an online video posted Friday, Albuquerque Mayor Richard Berry describes why he vetoed five voter initiatives that, if passed, would have decriminalized marijuana and raised taxes.

Lowering the number of sexual assaults on campus and improving general safety will be the new goals of the UNM Police Department. The department’s new chief, Kevin McCabe, said he hopes to accomplish these things by collaborating with the Albuquerque Police Department. “The focus is on the educational experience — to provide a safe campus for everybody that is a part of the UNM family: students, faculty and staff,” McCabe said. UNM hired McCabe over the summer to replace the outgoing police chief Kathy Guimond. McCabe has served UNMPD for four years, and before that served for 24 years with APD, where he retired as deputy chief of police. According to a statement from UNM, McCabe was a top candidate in a nationwide search conducted to fill the position. “Kevin offers the best of both worlds for this position, in that he has had extensive experience in a city police department and on a campus police force,” Executive Vice President of the Administrative Department David Harris said in a statement. “In addition, there is added value in that he is already familiar with our University and its community, so he can hit the ground running in this key role at UNM.”

McCabe said the expectation of his officers is that they are professional. “I take a lot of pride in this police department,” McCabe said. “I hope (UNMPD officers) take the attitude that I want to make this campus safe for their own sons or daughters, and do everything they can to create that type of atmosphere.” One of McCabe’s top priorities as chief of police is to prevent sexual assault on campus, he said. “I want to make sure we do everything we can, like providing escorts, and that our patrol officers are always vigilant,” he said. “That if we get called we are investigating properly and providing all the resources we can for victims.” UNM employs 36 officers, and McCabe said that four to five officers are on constant patrol of UNM property at any given time. Because UNM has property beyond main campus, McCabe said UNMPD has an ongoing collaboration with APD. “We know they are a resource we can use, and vice versa,” he said. “We let the southeast area commanders know any time there is anything of interest on or around campus.” In the past, McCabe specialized in creating partnerships at APD. During his time with the department,

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UNMPD page 2


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