I have recently experienced what I’m sure most of you at Bellevue College are scared of: getting your car broken into. It happened the last Friday before finals. I knew something was wrong when I unlocked my car and it beeped three times, which meant someone set off my car alarm. When that happened, my stomach dropped; I didn’t even want to look in my car, because I could just imagine all of my stuff stolen out of my car.
There was a hole right through the middle of my window. Glass was everywhere, but fortunately I have tinted windows, so my window was still attached for the most part. I started to look around, and then I realized that nothing was missing from my car. My alarm must have scared them away, but, for some reason, that didn’t make me feel better. I stood there and looked at my spider web window in the freezing cold and wondered, how could this happen? I parked in parking lot 8, which is right next to the school. People had to have seen it happen or, at least, heard my alarm go off.
As my girlfriend called 911, I kept wondering to myself, where was the campus security when this happened? I’ve never seen them driving around to protect our cars and make sure nothing is happening. Just a couple of weeks ago, a friend’s car was stolen out of the parking garage. I couldn’t believe it, how does something like that happen? I know there are a lot of parking lots to watch over, but if they put up cameras or actually drove around more, they would actually help.
The reason I say all of this is because when the cop arrived to see my car, he informed me that another car had been broken into in the same parking lot that day. He told me it happened around noon, in middaylight. That is why I’m so confused why campus security puts up signs saying put your valuables in your car away. It is just so ridiculous. Our cars are valuables, too, so how are we supposed to feel safe if we know no one is watching them?
I went to my car around 4 p.m. on Friday. If my car was broken into by the same person who broke into the other car in lot 8, that means my car had a broken window for about four hours and no one said anything, and campus security didn’t even know it happened.
I don’t even want to park at school anymore, and part of me doesn’t even want to go to Bellevue College, because I worry so much about getting my car broken into. I would feel much safer if there were cameras in every parking lot. I know that would be expensive, but it would make the students feel so much safer.
Also, it would help if there were someone who actually drove around the parking lots to make sure there is no suspicious activity. All I want is for campus security to help keep our valuables