2008 Woodie Awards
Rash of automobile thefts sweeps campus
Kathryn Mayer and Kristin Kunz
Issue date: 2/22/05 Section: News
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A string of car vandalizations and thefts on and near the University of Denver campus has left students, faculty and staff uneasy about leaving their vehicles unattended.
"I should feel secure leaving my car in DU's parking lot," said DU freshman Sara Shvartzman. "It's ridiculous that I don't feel safe."
Shvartzman's 1994 Honda Accord was stolen from the Centennial Halls Parking lot two weeks ago. In its place, she said, was a 1996 Honda Accord with its door smashed in and its transmission pulled out. The car had been reported stolen from Colfax Avenue.
"The ['96 Honda] had parking tickets. They didn't even think that it was weird that it was mangled," she said.
Shvartzman's experience was just one among a rash of break-ins lately, said Ty Mills, associate director of Campus Safety.
Mills said that the individuals vandalizing and breaking into cars are using minivans that cannot be traced back to the suspects themselves. The plates register as stolen vehicles. Mills said that information doesn't help them identify individual suspects.
Mills said the areas most prone to break-ins are the lots outside Centennial Halls and Towers, under Nelson Hall and outside of Johnson-McFarlane Hall.
Sophomore Kristen Hensel was among the vandalization victims on Super Bowl Sunday. Four cars, including Hensel's 1995 Saturn, were broken into at the lot outside Centennial Towers. She said that she returned home from work at 8:30 p.m. and campus safety called to inform her about her car at 11 p.m.
Hensel's front passenger window was smashed. "It looks like they used a crowbar or something to remove my stereo because my whole console is shredded out," she said.
"I don't know if I even want to replace it as long as I'm living in Towers because I don't want to risk getting another stereo stolen."
Campus Safety took her information and gave Hensel a police report so she could take it to the police department.
"I should feel secure leaving my car in DU's parking lot," said DU freshman Sara Shvartzman. "It's ridiculous that I don't feel safe."
Shvartzman's 1994 Honda Accord was stolen from the Centennial Halls Parking lot two weeks ago. In its place, she said, was a 1996 Honda Accord with its door smashed in and its transmission pulled out. The car had been reported stolen from Colfax Avenue.
"The ['96 Honda] had parking tickets. They didn't even think that it was weird that it was mangled," she said.
Shvartzman's experience was just one among a rash of break-ins lately, said Ty Mills, associate director of Campus Safety.
Mills said that the individuals vandalizing and breaking into cars are using minivans that cannot be traced back to the suspects themselves. The plates register as stolen vehicles. Mills said that information doesn't help them identify individual suspects.
Mills said the areas most prone to break-ins are the lots outside Centennial Halls and Towers, under Nelson Hall and outside of Johnson-McFarlane Hall.
Sophomore Kristen Hensel was among the vandalization victims on Super Bowl Sunday. Four cars, including Hensel's 1995 Saturn, were broken into at the lot outside Centennial Towers. She said that she returned home from work at 8:30 p.m. and campus safety called to inform her about her car at 11 p.m.
Hensel's front passenger window was smashed. "It looks like they used a crowbar or something to remove my stereo because my whole console is shredded out," she said.
"I don't know if I even want to replace it as long as I'm living in Towers because I don't want to risk getting another stereo stolen."
Campus Safety took her information and gave Hensel a police report so she could take it to the police department.