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University Police

As with the many other essays to be found on this site, the idea for this page began with a question; namely, what can be known of the history of UNM’s Police Department?

A Tale of Two Boxes

The two boxes of archival resource UNMA 171. [Source](https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmu1unma028.xml)

The two boxes of archival resource UNMA 171. Source

Since the University of New Mexico was founded 1889, initially, I assumed that out of the massive numbers of records that must have surely been compiled since that time, that I would have the option to interact with a significant amount of archival material. I was eager to begin going about determining a proper historiographical method of selecting the necessary sources from which to craft my narrative.

Imagine my surprise when after making my initial request of the excellent archivists that staff the CSWR to have just two boxes set in front of me. I asked whether or not they had more boxes and just did not bring them. Upon asking that, I was told that these two boxes were all there was. I again asked to clarify whether the archivist was saying whether or not there were only two boxes in the collection UNMA 171 or whether there were only two boxes that contained the entire history of the University Police Department. The archivist confirmed the latter. After she returned to her desk, I sat there dumfounded, staring at the two boxes in front of me. This was not at all what I was expecting. As I opened the boxes, my consternation only grew. What follows is the information I was able to discover regarding the nearly undocumented history of the UNM Police Department. But first, a clarifying note.

Box 1 of unma 171 with its eight folders. [Source](https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmu1unma028.xml)

Box 1 of unma 171 with its eight folders. Source

A police department is something separate from the things that they do. It is a group of persons voluntarily bound together by an ideal and mission. They do things, but simply because they do things, does not mean that one can truly know the history of the department itself simply by looking at the many things in which they have been involved. That constitutes more the history of their presence in the community rather than a history of the department itself. So what do I mean then when I ask, what is the history of the UNM Police Department? I intend to pursue questions such as ‘When was the department created?’, ‘Who was the first officer to lead the department?’, ‘Where was the department housed on UNM campus?’, ‘What was the daily life of officers like and how has that changed over time?’ and other such questions. In so brief a space, I cannot possibly properly treat the breadth and depth of this subject with even a rigorous overview. Rather it is my hope and intention in both seeking this information out myself, as well as creating some visibility around a clear opportunity to create a more robust archival presence for the UNMPD, that other students will take upon themselves the same mantle of discovery regarding the history of this essential department of UNM.

The Founding of the UNM Police Department

From Negligent Nightwatchman to New Police Force

The oldest document in the archive is a photocopy of a document from Nov 17, 1922, addressed to Celso Espinosa- The last document referencing him in the file is dated in April 17, 1926. From this one might understand that his tenure in the position of Nightwatchman spanned at least 4 years. All that exists within the archive that corroborates the existence of the police department at UNM is a letter from Seargent Lee Forrester to a Mr. Earl Bowdich, Superintendent. This letter was typed on a typewriter and is dated July 14th, 1947. At this time, based on the content of the document, the UNM Police department was already in existence. However, there is nothing in the folder itself that bridges the gap between the 1926 Nightwatchman and the New Police Force referred to in 1947. Somewhere between that time the Police department was created and staffed.

Article in the Daily Lobo, shortly after the founding and staffing of the UNMPD.

Article in the Daily Lobo, shortly after the founding and staffing of the UNMPD.

When considering the history of a general police force in New Mexico it is not unusual that such a department did not come to UNM until what might be considered much later in the game. The Home of the New Mexico State Police (under whose umbrella UNM currently operates) website states that while New Mexico did not become a state until 1912, the first territorial Police Force (The New Mexico Mounted Police) was established in 1905 and continued until 1921. The first time the State Police began the official enforcement of traffic laws in the state was 1933 even though route 66 was established in 1926.[^note1] [^note1]: Source- https://www.joinnmsp.com/our-history/

Therefore, seeing the very gradual process of enforcement and necessity within the state police force itself, it is not unreasonable that the University would have its own official police officers some within the 1940s. According to a brief biography of one of the University’s most well-known presidents, Frank Zimmerman (after whom the library is named), there is no mention of Zimmerman creating a police department. His death in 1944 predates the letter in the archive by just three years, so while it is possible, it is also just as possible his immediate successor created the department. (more research needed). In speaking with one of the current officers within the department, Lt. Joseph Bitsoih, he stated that while he had no documentation on the founding of the department, the year 1947 seemed to stick out to him as potentially the year of founding.

 
The background picture displays the current location of the UNMPD department in the basement of Hokona-Zuni Hall.

From Here to There

There is no mention of this event in the yearbook 1947 Mirage that I could locate under the search term officers or police. As in the correspondence, Earl Bowdich and Sgt. Lee Forrester are mentioned in the first members’ roster. No mention of Earl in the yearbook despite being the Superintendent of Buildings & Grounds. Odd. This is also true in 1948.

After continuing to dig into records, I came up empty handed over and over again. Sometimes I would find something that was conspicuous by its absence that left me with more questions. What I came to surmise was that the police deparment most likely was created under the eighth president of the University, John Philip Wernette (just after President Zimmerman). However, no such action is mentioned in the extremely brief bio material by William E. Davis.1

After looking at the brief news blurb in the Daily Lobo, I began trying to hunt for buildings. It is of note that the building mentioned which is either called ‘H-2’ or is a known reference to a building in which ‘H-2’ resides, no longer exists. Later information indicates that this may be a name related to the building complex mentioned by fmr. Police Detective McGinnes. Also, I have since discovered that Rodey Hall and Hodgin Hall were both to be demolished. Hodgin Hall was spared and converted to the space for Alumni, Rodey was demolished in 1971 to make way for the loop road around the campus. This was the landmark just north of which the Police were initially slated to be.234

Where the Police department went following this was a mystery until I spoke to a former head of the security department, by the name of Rosemary Melendrez. She had worked in the department from 1995-2020. She is directly responsible for a large unprocessed 3rd box of materials not included in the UNMA 171 collection. She expended significant effort on tracking changes and activities in the department. Her efforts are the only thing that even begins to approach an archival presence, but it has not been incorporated into the archive yet. This box only came to light due to the expertise of the CSRW head of archives Portia Vescio.

An unprocessed mystery box. [Source](https://rmoa.unm.edu/docviewer.php?docId=nmu1unma028.xml)

An unprocessed mystery box. Source

Rosemary was kind enough to share her experiences and facilitate a conversation with a former officer/Police Detective by the name of Mike McGinnes who joined the department in 1979. In addition to what Rosemary shared, his information also included several very important details. During his time of service the Police had been housed in an area of campus that was previously directly across from Scholes Hall. He did not recall the name of the building complex, but it is the purpose of this article to bring things to light so that more information might be added as these items are discovered. That building complex was demolished and the Police were moved into another building known as ‘the white house’. Another interesting peice of information that accompanied this was that it was during this move that the Police department and the Parking departments were separated. Officer McGinnes was not with the department when the departments were initially merged, but he did state that while he did not recall exactly when the move happened, he did recall that the split to allow the police and parking departments to become separate entities happened then. This dovetailed with Rosemary’s information in that in 1995 when she came into the department, the department shortly after left ‘the white house’ to move to their current location which is the basement of Hokona-Zuni Hall. This provides yet another lead for another ambitious student of campus history to track down. According to both McGinnes and Rosemary, the building is still standing and has been converted into a ‘mentorship’ building of some kind.

Rosemary reminisced that there was barely enough room for the dispatch section of the force. The building was apparently very small, however, even by 1990 the force itself seems not to have grown much from the original 6-person force that one observed in the initial transition from nightwatchman to police force in 1947. While according to Lt. Pete Guevara, the force currently stands somewhere between 30-35 persons, due to the current size of the student body and campus, the department’s hands are very much occupied.

Additionally, retired police detective McGinnes shared some really excellent information that would be profitable for further investigation. He recounted that there was another colleague who was also a police detective by the name of Peter James who is still living and may have more information than he does, having served from an even earlier date than 1979. While discussing this possibility, McGinnes recalled that he believes it was an officer, possibly the very first UNMPD police chief whose last name was White, that actually lobbied (successfully) the Roundhouse in Santa Fe, NM in order for UNM to have its own police force. According to McGinnes, the state legislature actually passed a statute making it happen. This amounts to a smoking gun regarding when the department was created and may contain other very important details about this including actions by the University President, Board of Regents, etc. When I explained that this was important, McGinnes stated that he recalled that the state also took action later in reference to the police department at UNM. Again, for the ambitious student who wants to dial in the dates and the process that went into creating the department, these would be very important- and likely very accessible leads to follow up on.

In conclusion, and it seems, at long last, there is something unique happening in for the department that has not happened in their long history. They will finally be getting their own building. UNM is in the final stages of building the department its own police building. Rather than being in this hall or other, this basement or other, not having enough room, or dedicated spaces, the Police Department will finally have the kind of resources at their disposal to grow along with the University and continue to keep us all a little safer.5

Future HQ of UNMPD

The clip contains a fanciful conversation between myself and a personified archive that somewhat humorously albeit briefly seeks to encapsulate the readjustment of my research expectations.

This portion of the webpage contains a 3d rendered image of a pinecone from the landscape of the existing Hokona-Zuni Hall complex, tying the image to the narrative while adding an aspect of visual/tangible interaction.

Archive by RevoltingPeasant on Sketchfab

Bibliography

  1. Source- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_presidents_of_the_University_of_New_Mexico ↩

  2. Source-https://nmarchives.unm.edu/repositories/22/archival_objects/325077 ↩

  3. Source-University of New Mexico Hodgin and Rodey Halls Albuquerque, NM, 1952, Job Number 375-G-1, Stack: 1, Drawer: 20. John Gaw Meem Drawings and Plans, SWA JGM Drawings CSWR Microfilm NA737 M438 J64. UNM Center for Southwest Research & Special Collections. ↩

  4. Source-https://www.unmalumni.com/s/1730/images/gid2/editor_documents/2020_redesign/hodgin-pdfs/hodgin-hall-walking-tour.pdf?gid=2&pgid=61&cc=1&sessionid=17dcbfc8-d7b4-4c37-9b3f-437176352d90 ↩

  5. Source- https://news.unm.edu/news/purpose-built-unm-police-headquarters-construction-set-for-april ↩