September 1, 2023 | NEWS | By Charlotte Maley
One Wednesday morning, Emily Silva ’26, noticed something amiss she walked to the C1 parking lot from her Mathias dorm room. As she approached her car, Silva noticed that her vehicle was broken into. She wasn’t the only victim of theft and property damage that morning.
At approximately 2:15 a.m. on August 16, three cars belonging to students were broken into at Colorado College in two West Campus parking areas. According to Cathy Buckley, the director of Campus Safety, each vehicle had a broken window and, in two cases, had invaluable items stolen.
“[The thieves] took change, registrations, and insurance cards, which had personal information on them,” Silva said. According to her, cheap jewelry and lip gloss were stolen as well. Silva said she thought that campus would be a relatively safe place to keep her car, up until she became a victim of car theft.
Following the crimes, Campus Safety released a school-wide email alerting the community about the events that took place. According to Campus Safety, the break-ins on campus match a pattern seen throughout the surrounding neighborhoods, and there is no reason to believe that these car thefts are isolated instances.
“There’s a lot of car theft in Colorado Springs,” said Buckley, noting that people should report suspicious behavior. “These happen at around 2 o’clock in the morning, so if there’s someone looking in cars at 2 o’clock in the morning, call Campus Safety right away. Not too many people should be going through our parking lots at 2 a.m.”
Due to the nature of the crimes, Campus Safety contacted the Colorado Springs Police Department to take statements and integrate the instances on campus into a larger investigation involving the greater Colorado Springs community. Santos is still working to find those responsible for the break-ins. Although there was video footage of some of the incidents, according to Santos, it did not show a license plate and they were unable to get any real identifying information outside of a car make and model.
Until the thieves are found, Campus Resource Officer Sid Santos strongly recommends that people not leave valuables in eyesight or, ideally, in their cars at all. This includes gym bags, boxes or other containers that could be thought to hold expensive objects.
“When these criminals find an area where they know that they can get valuables, they keep coming back,” Santos said. Expensive property has also been stolen from cars throughout the area around campus, such as purses and wallets.
Campus Security suggests taking preventative measures to dissuade theft and make it more difficult for break-ins to be successful. For more information or to report a break-in or suspicious activity, contact Campus Safety or CSPD.