Theft at DVC dropped by 22 percent in 2007 and auto theft plummeted by 60 percent from the year before, according to crime statistics from campus police. But Lt. Tom Sharp said the good news doesn’t mean people should be less vigilant about keeping an eye on their possessions. He said bicycle thefts are on the rise this year, as is the theft of textbooks.
Last year, people reported 57 thefts compared to 74 in 2006 and 75 the previous year, according to the data.
And only six auto thefts were reported last year, compared to 15 in 2006 and 20 in 2005.
Sharp said police services recover 80 percent of the stolen cars, but they aren’t always in the best condition. Most of the time, the cars have parts missing or are destroyed.
“We try to educate people on how to keep themselves and property safe,” he said.
Victims often walk into police services and mention how they left their bag unattended for a half-hour or they left the window open to their car.
“If they would have carried their bags with them or made sure their vehicles were locked completely, we definitely wouldn’t have as many reports,” Sharp said.
Although he did not have numbers, Sharp said bicycle theft is increasing, possibly because it is a cheaper form of transportation, given the high cost of gas.
“Even if people put locks on their bikes, most of them seem to be inexpensive ones that are easy to get apart,” Sharp said.
Students also steal textbooks and then go to the campus bookstore to turn them in for money.
Bookstore manager Bill Foster said the store sells $4.5 million dollars worth of textbooks each semester, and it would be difficult and costly to come up with a system that verified the person returning a book was same one who had bought it.
“If we were to get a scanning system where we tagged all the books, the school would officially own them and we would not be able to send them back to the publishers,” Foster said. “Over time, we would lose a lot of money.”
Foster said textbook theft was worse about four years ago, when lockers located outside the old bookstore were constantly broken into.
At Contra Costa College in San Pablo, theft dropped by more than 40 percent in 2007 over the previous year, although auto theft was up by 75 percent, according to the police data. At Los Medanos College in Pittsburg, theft stayed the same in 2007 compared to the year before, but one car was reported stolen. In 2006, no car thefts were reported.