By Brendan O’Reilly
A student reported on March 19 his vehicle parked near Enterprise Hall was keyed. Two days later, three radios were stolen from cars parked in the parking lot near C.V. Starr Hall. The next day, a student reported that he parked his vehicle near the Chemistry/Physics Building and returned to find damage on the driver’s side of the car. On the 24th, a student reported the theft of her license plate while parked near Nassau/Suffolk Hall.
Break-ins, vandalization and hit-and-runs are a concern for students and faculty who park their vehicles on the University campus. Last week, the department of Public Safety distributed flyers on cars parked in south campus lots to notify drivers of several thefts that have occurred in recent weeks in the vicinity of C.V. Starr and Monroe Halls and the Butler Annex building.
Cars have been left unlocked or windows have been pried or smashed open by one or more thieves who take cars radios and other electronics.
In response to the concentration of thefts, Public Safety has increased security in the area. “We have more persons on patrol, both in uniform, motorized and in non-uniform,” Ed Bracht, the director of Public Safety, said. “We’ve contacted Nassau County Police Department and they’re giving us an assist also with daily patrol on their part, both uniformed and plain clothes.”
Anthony Repalone, a sergeant with the Nassau County Police Department Public Information Office, said electronics left in cars, such as laptops and Global Positioning System navigation devices, tempt thieves. “Unfortunately, people leave these things in open view,” he said, adding that covering a laptop with a coat or removing the GPS from the mount are not enough to conceal them. Repalone said devices should either be taken with drivers when they leave their cars or secured in the trunk. He advised against leaving the GPS mount on the windshield or dashboard, saying it indicated to thieves that the device was someplace else in the car.
Last Tuesday, the Student Government Association passed a resolution to recommend to the University that security cameras be placed in all campus parking lots. SGA resolutions do not bind the University to implement recommendations, but are merely suggestions.
The resolution was presented by Andrea Schwartz, the student services chairwoman of SGA.
“I brought up the resolution because the amount of cars being damaged on this campus is overwhelming for one week,” Schwartz said. “Something needed to be done.”
She said the matter was brought to her attention when a student posted a complaint to the “Change Hofstra” Facebook.com group, which is administered by the SGA.
Ryan Carpe, a junior film major, said his bumper had been torn off and a light smashed on his parked car in December. “They hit my car so hard it moved into the next parking spot,” he said.
“I eventually found the bumper on the back of an S.U.V. 10 cars down,” Carpe said, “That’s what made me so mad.”
Carpe posted to “Change Hofstra:” “I, for one, would like to start something to get cameras in the parking lots instead of flat panel TVs in the Student Center.”
Bracht, who had yet to receive the SGAs suggestion, said, “I’m not looking into security cameras at this time.” He said a more effective method for capturing or deterring thieves is to put “eyes and ears” in the lots. “We’re going to be doing bike patrol.”
The department is purchasing bicycles and Public Safety officers will train with the N.C.P.D. for performing patrols as cyclists.
Public Safety has received numerous reports of break-ins to cars and thefts of valuables in parking lots, such as the one next to Monroe Lecture Hall.