By Alison Seagle

Theft from vehicles is a prevalent issue, especially on the CSUSM campus and happens more often when vehicles are left in a vulnerable state.

Some of the common reasons vehicles are broken into is that students leave valuables easily visible in their cars, leave windows and sunroofs open or their doors unlocked.

Anyone walking through the X,Y or Z parking lot on any given day can easily spot valuables in at least a dozen cars. One car even had a box from Amazon full of textbooks in plain view. Other items such as CDs, personal belongings and laptop cases were in plain view. Although a thief wouldn’t be able to see whether the case had a laptop in it, it would only take about nine seconds to get access and find out, according the Police department’s video found at http://www.csusm.edu/police/video_series.html .

With temperatures in the triple digits this fall, it’s easy to see why students might have their windows and sunroofs cracked a little, but leaving any car window open and unattended is not wise.

Items inside cars aren’t the only target of thieves. The University Police Department regularly receives reports of parking decals and permits being stolen from windshields by thieves who don’t want to spend several hundred dollars to buy their own.

The UPD’s advice to students is to always remember to lock and secure unattended vehicles.

For more information on campus safety, visit www.csusm.edu/police.