Last week an unidentified burglar broke into a student’s car parked in Cunningham parking lot and stole some valuables.
“I know of at least one student who had their car physically broken into,” said Jessica Cannizzaro ’12, an RA on Willets Second North who was among the first to be notified of the incident after it was dis- covered.
“He had his car parked in Cunningham, and when he went to take it for a drive he found that the lock had been cut into and his GPS and iPod had both been stolen,” Cannizzaro said.
Cannizzaro promptly sent out an email notifying residents and the other RAs in Willets. In the process, she discovered that several other people mentioned signs of attempted entry on their vehicles as well.
At least one student – Brandon Snuggs ’13 – has been confirmed to have had valuables stolen from his car. While several other cars in the parking lot had shown signs of attempted forced entry, there were no other reports of missing valu- ables or other belongings. Swarthmore generally doesn’t suffer from this type of crime.
When asked what the college or its students and staff could do to improve campus safety, Cannizzaro placed much of the responsibility for safekeeping per- sonal belongings on the owner. “All I can say is what I told all of my residents: don’t keep your valuables inside your car! For the most part this is a remarkably safe campus, but we do have to take some mea- sures to protect our belongings and ourselves,” Cannizzaro said.
All students are encouraged to call Public Safety at (610) 328-8333 in emergency situations of any sort.
