GTPD kicks off crime prevention initiative

The Georgia Tech Police Department (GTPD) has started issuing warnings to motorists with valuables in their vehicles as part of a new crime prevention program. The warnings are placed on vehicles in yellow parking ticket envelopes.

" The citation warns that you have valuable items in plain view, " said Carla Cook, GTPD ' s Public Safety Officer.

A total of 291 potential victims were given notices in less than the initial two and a half hours of officers checking vehicles. " We found items like televisions, purses, stereos, radar detectors, change, cell phones, book bags, clothing, briefcases, sunglasses and tons of CD books, " Cook said. Theft from motor vehicles continues to be a problem with property stolen often being very costly for victims to replace. " A book of 100 CDs can cost the victim $1,000-$1,700 to replace if stolen, " Cook said.

This new effort comes after a 21.9 percent decrease in theft from motor vehicles last year. However, Cook said, " You can never be too careful. You have to protect yourself. "

Students commented on the possible confusion caused by using parking ticket envelopes in the program. " I ' d be mad when I saw the ticket, but once I saw what it was I ' d be glad, " said Jessie Spencer, a first-year Industrial Engineering major.

" Making them look like parking tickets might stress people out, " said Tim Gallagher, a first-year Aerospace Engineering major. " It would scare the crap out of me if I saw one on my car, " said Emily Taylor, a fourth-year International Affairs major.

GTPD decided to use the parking envelopes to avoid alerting potential burglars.

" It ' s in a parking envelope because we didn ' t want to alert everyone else that it ' s an easy target, " Cook said.

Although using the parking envelopes may concern students, several point out the importance of crime prevention. " It is fine to tell them to be careful, " Spencer said.

Dan Brown, a first-year Aerospace Engineering major, agreed. " It doesn ' t bother me, they have good intentions, " he said.

In addition to the vehicle citations, GTPD is distributing flyers reminding students to lock their doors and report suspicious activity immediately. " We walked through four residence halls and found an average of two to four room doors per floor open, " Cook said.

" We put a flyer under the doors of rooms that weren ' t secure warning people to lock their doors and be on the look out for suspicious people, " Cook said. The distributed flyer includes a cartoon of a man stealing a computer from a room that is marked not locked.