Car thefts still plague campus

Five cars have been reported stolen on or near campus since the beginning of the semester, according to Police Services reports.

Sgt. Jose Oliveira said since Sept. 9, there have been five cars reported stolen in campus parking lots and in front of the Knox Center. Four of them have been recovered and at least one arrest was made, Oliveira said.

All reports were filed in the Contra Costa College Police Services crime log, but no e-mails were sent to students to alert them of the thefts.

In addition, during this semester, the two other, larger, colleges in the district have had two car thefts. Los Medanos College in Pittsburg has had no cars stolen so far and Diablo Valley College, the biggest campus in the district, located in Pleasant Hill, has had two thefts.

In the spring at CCC, five cars were stolen within a similar timeframe, including three cars taken within a span of three days.

According to CCC Police Services' crime reports and Oliveira, four cars stolen this semester, all late 1980s or early '90s Honda Accords, were taken in September from all across campus. They have also been recovered, Oliveira said, an arrest was made in connection with at least one theft.

The latest report of a car being stolen, on Thursday, was a black 2003 Lexus stolen from Lot 14, near the Music and Biological Sciences buildings.

Two of the Accords, '92 and '93 models, Oliveira said, were stolen from Lot 17 on Sept. 17 after 9:30 a.m. and before 3 p.m.

Also, a '92 Accord was stolen on Sept. 18 in Lot 6 in front of the Gymnasium,, and another on Sept. 7 when an '87 Accord was stolen off campus on the corner of Castro and Moraga roads, in front of the Knox Center.

Nursing major Kelly Nguyen, who drives her 2002 Honda Accord to campus at night for classes, often parking on Campus Drive or Lot 14 near the BS Building, was somewhat afraid when she learned about the make and model of the cars being reported stolen.

"I worry about my Honda," she said. "I don't know if the '90s and '02 have the same ways of easier access. I hope that I won't be one of the victims."

She said, however, the number of Police Services officers and police aides on campus help her feel more secure.

"There's a lot of patrol and security," she said. "I think that helps."

Nguyen, however, was surprised by the fact that five cars, four of which are older models than her own, had been stolen.

The only notification to students that the cars had been stolen was their individual listings in The Advocate's CrimeWatch. No e-mails have been sent or signs  posted to notify students.

"I've never sent an e-mail about stolen cars," college President McKinley Williams said. "It's in the police blotter, daily alerts."

The police blotter is written daily by Police Services staffers and is available to the public to see which and how many crimes have been reported on campus. The daily alerts, however, are only sent through the campus and district e-mail system, and not to faculty or students.

Police Services Chief Charles Gibson said he leaves student e-mail alerts up to the administration — the college president, vice president and other managers — by sending reports, and leaving the judgment to send them out, to Williams.

"I send it to the administration," Gibson said. "I give them the option to send it."

Over the summer, however, Oliveira took it upon himself to notify the campus when a series of robberies, some which were armed attacks, took place July 17.

The July 22 e-mail was signed by Oliveira and sent from Police Services, info@contracosta.edu, to inform the campus community about four robberies that happened in three campus parking lots on July 17.

It covered information regarding the incident, including safety tips for students who may find themselves in a similar situation.

Neither Williams nor Oliveira could recall the e-mail being sent through the President's Office before going out to students.

Williams said to recognize what alerts are e-mailed to students, he would like to sit with Gibson, along with sergeants Oliveira and Chad Wehrmeister, to meet and discuss the situations.

"If it's a serious problem," Williams said, "I would hope to sit down with Police Services and talk about that."

He said he met with Oliveira and Wehrmeister on Monday afternoon, but they did not discuss the topic of students' cars being stolen from or near campus.

"I haven't been told by police it's a pattern," Williams said. "If there is, I'd be concerned."

Oliveira said these cars being stolen is not a trend.

"Trend hasn't really been defined," he said.

Contact Brett Abel at babel.advocate@gmail.com.