Car break-in a warning to Camosun students
Photo by Naomi Kavka.
For Camosun student Matt Rostad, dealing with the first day of classes in January was enough of a weight on his mind. But after attending a short class on Jan. 5, the only thing on his mind was getting on with the day.
But when he went back to the Lansdowne parking lot, Rostad discovered he had a lot more to worry about. Upon opening the door of his Honda Prelude, he found that all his valuables inside were missing, while his car’s pop-out DVD and stereo system had been torn out.
This was clearly the work of a professional and not someone desperate, according to Rostad, as there was no immediate evidence of a break-in.
“It looked like they knew what they were doing,” says Rostad. “There were scratch marks in my dash where the TV was, and all the wires were cut clean.”
The first thing Rostad did was alert campus security, but they weren’t able to provide much advice other than to call the police. A police investigation of the car found nothing that would lead them to the thief.
Rostad decided to post a message around campus for a $500 reward for return of the goods. At the very least, he felt it would be an effective public service announcement to other students.
“I didn’t figure I was going to get anything back,” says Rostad. “It was more about awareness of the problem.”
Pervez Ditta, manager of Camosun College Safety, says while patrols, and, in some cases, closed-circuit TV cameras, monitor college parking lots, security can only be effective to a certain point.
“The professionals, you’d just think of them as a student getting into a vehicle; you wouldn’t think of them as suspicious,” says Ditta. “They can break into vehicles without causing any damage; they’re very, very quick.”
While Ditta explains that when students leave their car in a parking lot, they’re doing it at their own risk, College Safety is doing what it can, working with police to minimize the risk of thefts.
“We’ve had initiatives with the local police with a bait car that we’ve had on campus,” explains Ditta. “We’ve actually had the bait car stolen from our campus last year, where one of our most active thieves in Victoria actually was arrested.”
When a break-in does occur, Ditta says college security personnel will assist theft victims and investigate the scene for any initial evidence before leaving the matter to police. Beyond that, staff will do whatever else is necessary to help.
“The onus is on the student to report it to the police, and then we will assist the police in their investigation,” says Ditta.
Ditta says that a number of security personnel make regular patrols around campus, and other college staff is often around to keep an eye on things. TV cameras also monitor some of the parking lots.
Still, with the professional level some thieves operate at, Ditta advises students need to be proactive in preventing car theft.
“The general advice we give about crime prevention is to lock your vehicles and don’t leave anything visible on the outside,” says Ditta. “For car stereo systems, what we suggest is if you do have a really expensive one, have a very good alarm system.”
As for Rostad, who didn’t have an alarm at the time of the theft, he now knows better. “I now have the ultimate in alarms,” he says.
CCSS Nexus promo
