Sophomore Lindsi Boyer said someone recently tried to break intoher car but couldn't figure out how to remove her in-dash monitor.She didn't really think much of it until dispatch officers notifiedher Thursday morning.
Someone had figured it out.
After the officers notified Boyer at 8:46 a.m., they picked herup and drove her to her 1999 blue Dodge Neon in H-2, the parkinglot west of Johnson Complex where at least 12 other cars had beenbroken into. Boyer arrived at her car to find her passenger sidewindow broken and her in-dash monitor and several burned CDsstolen.
"When I found out, I started to cry because I spent so muchmoney on my car. I'm a bit of a car fanatic," Boyer said. "I wassomewhat surprised at first, but then they told me so many othercars had been broken into."
Jodie Kirkman of the University Police Department recordsdepartment, said primarily CD players, CDs and stereos had beentaken from the cars. While the exact time of the break-in isunknown, a day-shift officer drove through the lot Thursday morningto find that some of the car windows had been broken. The officercalled in the cars to radio dispatch, and dispatch officersnotified the students, she said.
Rhonda Clark, first sergeant of UPD, said the students areallowed to park their cars in the parking garage near UPD untilthey are able to get their windows repaired. She said each studentwill have to personally handle getting the rest of his or her carfixed, most likely through insurance.
Clark said while no suspects have yet been named in the case,the investigation is ongoing.
To prevent such incidents from occurring in the future, Clarksaid UPD will try to increase the number of times the lots arechecked throughout the day.
"The lots are already patrolled 24-7, but we're going toincrease patrol in the parking lots and see if that makes adifference," Clark said. "We try to help prevent this all the time,but certainly some times of the year are worse than others."
Bob Fey, associate director of public safety, said while thebreak-ins are unfortunate, they are all too common atuniversities.
"This type of offense is very common on college campuses orother areas of the community that have a large amount of parkinglots," Fey said.
He said Ball State has had other break-ins this semesterincluding several in the stadium lots and in areas near theScheidler apartments. The suspect or suspects might be the same ineach of the incidents, he said.
"Certainly there's that possibility, but until someone is caughtand we are able to connect them, we can't say for certain," Feysaid.
Fey said to help attack the problem of break-ins, the policedepartment and the community must work together and play an activerole in ensuring their safety.
"The police department has to remain vigilant and use whatevertools they might have for increasing or enhancing patrols in givenareas," Fey said. "Likewise, we ask the community to help. Call usimmediately when you see suspicious behavior in the parking lot. Somany people have cell phones now, and that's great. It's a way tomove law enforcement in a specific area quicker than everbefore."
He said students might also want to consider the risks ofleaving CDs or placing expensive sound systems in their cars wherethey can be visible to people who might want to steal them.Sometimes suspects go "shopping," searching car-to-car, hesaid.
"Thieves are less likely to break into a car if they don't seeanything worth breaking in for," Fey said.
Boyer said she is taking such personal measures to protectherself in the future.
"Before, I thought about not leaving my stereo in my car while Iwas here, and now I wished I did that," she said. "I've alsolearned to start getting parking spaces early. I was parked in theback of the lot, but I usually park near the front of the lot. Ididn't see any cars broken into there."
She said while she still doesn't know who broke into her car,she is interested in finding out.
"I'd love to know," Boyer said. "I'd laugh at them because theycan't use what they stole from me. They don't have the other partsthat go with it, so it won't work."
Boyer said another key lesson students should remember is thatcars don't have to be new for someone to want to break into them.The car she was parked next to was older than hers and was stillbroken into, she said.
"(Suspects) were just looking to see what was inside," she said."Don't spend a lot of money on your car if you're going to beparking here, or at least have an alarm."
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