Clean your car before you’re cleaned out

Crime is a part of life, unfortunately. It turns out, the most common site for crime at MHCC area is our vehicles. Cars are just as likely, if not more so, of getting robbed as our home. And it seems that lots of people are not protecting their cars at Mt. Hood like they would protect their homes.

When reading through MHCC’s annual crime logs for the 2015-16 academic year, we counted two stolen cars and 28 instances of cars either being broken into or vandalized, with locks tampered, or even gravel or full rocks thrown through people’s windows. Now whenever you have a large group of vehicles parked together like they are here on campus, it’s going to attract criminals like a fat kid to cake. One thing we can do, however, is use some common sense and try some different ways to keep ourselves and our property, and that of other students, safe.

Our Public Safety officers have suggestions to help with keeping our valuables safe. The most important and common sense thing to do when it comes to valuables is plain: Don’t leave them in your car. Leave them at home if you can, and if you need an item at school, such as a laptop or cell phone, make sure you keep it with you at all times.

The Advocate was told, “Picture your valuables as the cash it would take to buy them. You wouldn’t leave $600 in your front seat, and that’s how these people (thieves) view this stuff.”

With the upcoming holiday season, Public Safety again warns us to be extra vigilant. Never leave shopping bags visible in your car, and ideally to keep your car “showroom clean” at all times. Which makes sense, because if there is nothing for a potential thief to take, there is no reason to break in. And “potential” is the important word to keep in mind in these situations.

These break-ins are viewed as crimes of convenience, where drug addicts are usually the culprits rather than students, according to reports. So parking in a well-lit area where there is a good view of your vehicle from multiple angles is important and could deter potential thieves from breaking your window and taking the valuables from your car.

Make sure to keep an eye on your surroundings, too. Keep an eye out for suspicious behavior. If you see someone looking through car windows, or trying to break in to cars, call Public Safety at 503-491-7911. Everyone should know exactly where the emergency call boxes are located, too, in case their own cell phones are dead or not available.

We need to make sure that motorists work with Public Safety to keep this campus safe for everyone, and keep their own property safe and undamaged.