Gettin' Down With Don
Don Seipel
Issue date: 3/27/08 Section: Lifestlyes
If you're anything like me, you read the Police Beat on page three of this fine newspaper every week and laugh hysterically. Although I normally don't find petty crime humorous, I've noticed a pattern in these reports that strikes me as funny for some reason.
Each week I read a new report about a car that was robbed. What makes this interesting to me is that the criminals never need to break in, they simply open the unlocked doors and take whatever is left inside.
I happen to live in a very safe neighborhood, and I imagine that I could safely leave my car and house unlocked without my precious belongings coming into danger. Yet I generally make sure to lock my doors and keep my windows shut.
Most college students, however, live in situations of more questionable safety. Regardless of where we live, we all park our cars on or near campus, in an area that has had automobile break-ins in the recent past (again, see the Police Beat).
There is a point here, and it's not just to plug the Police Beat, which is on page three of the paper you're holding in your hands right now.
I believe the rash of thefts from unlocked vehicles says something about the mentality of the people on this campus.
The first person who left their doors unlocked and returned to find their cell phone, iPod and teddy bear taken from their car might get a pass. Theoretically that person may have been unaware of the possibility for someone they don't know to open their car without permission.
Still, once that first theft occurred and was publicized, we all should have taken a minute to think about our own cars and whether we had locked them.
Instead, a large percentage of Capital students either failed to realize it could happen to them or willfully refused to believe they were at risk.
When thieves pick locks or break windows to steal, you have a problem with crime. When thieves simply open unlocked doors and take whatever they can carry, you have a problem with mentality.
Each week I read a new report about a car that was robbed. What makes this interesting to me is that the criminals never need to break in, they simply open the unlocked doors and take whatever is left inside.
I happen to live in a very safe neighborhood, and I imagine that I could safely leave my car and house unlocked without my precious belongings coming into danger. Yet I generally make sure to lock my doors and keep my windows shut.
Most college students, however, live in situations of more questionable safety. Regardless of where we live, we all park our cars on or near campus, in an area that has had automobile break-ins in the recent past (again, see the Police Beat).
There is a point here, and it's not just to plug the Police Beat, which is on page three of the paper you're holding in your hands right now.
I believe the rash of thefts from unlocked vehicles says something about the mentality of the people on this campus.
The first person who left their doors unlocked and returned to find their cell phone, iPod and teddy bear taken from their car might get a pass. Theoretically that person may have been unaware of the possibility for someone they don't know to open their car without permission.
Still, once that first theft occurred and was publicized, we all should have taken a minute to think about our own cars and whether we had locked them.
Instead, a large percentage of Capital students either failed to realize it could happen to them or willfully refused to believe they were at risk.
When thieves pick locks or break windows to steal, you have a problem with crime. When thieves simply open unlocked doors and take whatever they can carry, you have a problem with mentality.
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