Alexis Chamness, 18, keeps her guard up when attending evening classes at DVC.

Her friend, Kimmie Raw, 18, does the same. “I don’t like walking around campus at night,” she said.

Chamness and Raw are among some 6,000 students who attend classes as late as 10 p.m. and walk to their cars or the bus stop in the dark.

But campus police say the campus is relatively safe at night, and students can ask for an escort to their cars. if necessary.

Lt Tom Sharp said the No.1 crime at DVC is theft.

“Car theft happens in spurts,” he said. “It’s not necessarily and day or night thing.”

Last semester, a female student was grabbed in near Room 208 in the Liberal Arts building by a man who exposed himself and uttered lewd comments. The incident happened between 9:30 and 10 p.m., according to the police report.

And in December 1998, a student was raped at about 8 p.m. in the parking lot adjacent to the library.

In the last 12 months, there were two robbery attempts on campus and one completed robbery, Sharp said.

“We try and staff two officers per shift, Monday through Friday, and three to six police aides per shift, he said.

Police aide Eddy Cellini, 19, said one to two carts patrol three different lot assignments. Also, police aides act as “standbys,” standing in designated areas as students are let out of their classes.

Police aide Mathew Dishman, 20, said, “With police aides and police officers around I feel that the campus is safe.”

And most of the blue emergency phones around the campus are back up and running after having been down much of the semester. They link a caller directly to police.

“I don’t see any security walking around or anything,” said Nina Ho, 20, who has taken night classes at DVC for the last year. “Most of the time, I see them (police aides) tagging cars.”

Ho said she feels safer on campus during the day because there are more cars around, more students coming and going, and it’s not as dark. Still, she said, she feels confident taking night classes.

“We’re not in the ghetto,” Ho said. “It’s a college campus. I don’t expect to get dragged into a bush or anything.”

The DVC Police Department is open from 7 a.m. to 10:45 p.m., Monday through Friday.