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ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — The University of New Mexico Police Department is not at odds with the local district attorney's office, despite officers' frustrations over how few sexual assault cases have been prosecuted, the campus police chief said Friday.
UNM Police Chief Kevin McCabe's comments came a week after the U.S Justice Department released the results of an investigation that found school administrators and staff failed to comply with federal law in their handling of sexual assault and harassment claims.
A footnote in the report said supervisors in the University of New Mexico Police Department expressed disappointment with Bernalillo County District Attorney Kari Brandenburg's office often declining to prosecute the sexual assault cases they investigated.
Brandenburg said sexual assault cases are extremely difficult to prosecute, especially when a prosecutor is left only with statements from the victim to bring before a jury.
Her office has come under increasing scrutiny in recent years as questions mount over the volume of cases dismissed by prosecutors because of a speedy-trial rule imposed by the state Supreme Court.
But with sexual assault cases, prosecutors often don't move forward with charges because of a lack of evidence or witness testimony, Brandenburg said.
During a news conference Friday, she cited 2012 data showing only 22 percent of more than 3,301 sexual assault charges statewide resulted in a guilty plea or conviction.
McCabe said he wasn't surprised that some of his detectives may have experienced frustration in seeing cases they investigate not move forward in court because of the amount of time they invest in them. However, he said there hasn't been friction between the two agencies.
"We are not at odds or in conflict with the district attorney's office," he said.
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