Before students left for winter break, a string of car break-ins happened across campus.
From Nov. 19 to Dec. 12, campus police reported five break-in cases. Most of the cars had little to nothing taken, with change being the most common stolen item, students said.
Kevin Howery, music theater sophomore, found his car had been broken into while parked in the Cokesbury Court Apartment complex with the passenger side door unlocked but closed.
“My car looked normal when I saw it, but then I noticed the passenger side door was unlocked, which seemed weird,” Howery said. “But I opened up the door, and that is when I saw all of the papers sitting in my front seat and realized the door was unlocked because someone broke into the car. The trunk was left untouched. Nothing was moved in there, but everything inside the car had been rummaged through.”
Howery said he flagged down a police officer to report the break-in. Howery said he thinks there is a lack of safety with the Cokesbury gates always being open, but there is not much the police could have done in a situation like this.
“The police do as much as they possibly can; they can show up and take your report and keep an eye out, but other than that, there is not much they can do once the crime has already occurred,” Howery said. “This has happened enough on campus though that the reason there was nothing valuable in my car is because I took it out after hearing that people’s cars were being broken into.”
Grace Keen, mass communications freshman, also had her car broken into.
“I came out to my car, and all of my doors were wide open, so I knew something was up,” Keen said. “As I got closer, I saw that stuff had just been thrown around my car, and there was even stuff on the ground outside of the car, and I realized someone had broken in. Luckily, they didn’t take anything because I don’t leave anything valuable in the car.”
Keen said she did not report the incident to the police since she believed her car was unlocked and nothing of value was taken.
With this specific string of break-ins, Sergeant Mark LaHue said he believes the perpetrator has been found and apprehended by the Oklahoma City Police Department.
“We had on video a slender, what looked like a woman to us, over in Cokesbury, and she had entered a vehicle, which was one of the reports that we took, and the same description was given by a female student’s boyfriend who was on campus one night and his vehicle was broken into, and he found the suspect in his car,” said LaHue said. “He told us there was an African American woman that he caught in his vehicle, and she took off running. That description is the same description that the Oklahoma City Police Department put out in this area that was the same person breaking into vehicles around campus. They actually found out who she was and they issued a warrant for her.”
LaHue also said it is important for students to always report incidents like this, even if nothing is taken, because it can provide police with helpful information and showcase more accurate statistics for the department. William Citty, interim director of campus police, also emphasized reporting these incidents.
“It also helps us make a decision as to whether or not we need to put something out campuswide,” Citty said. “If you have one break-in, especially if nothing is taken, it doesn’t seem as important to alarm people versus if you have 10 break-ins or more, then one: you have a better chance of getting a description of the person, and two: it becomes more of an issue with us, and we can put out information to the campus community.”
Students can report incidents by calling campus police at (405) 208-5001, emailing campus police at ocupd@okcu.edu or LaHue at mlahue@okcu.edu or coming into the station to report it in person.
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