The weekend that Simpson students moved back to campus two students reported break-ins and missing items from their cars to Campus Security.

The car break-ins happened on D Street near Picken Residence Hall and Detroit Avenue late Saturday night into early Sunday morning.

 Director of Security Chris Frerichs said that it is not uncommon for such car break-ins to occur at the beginning of the school year.

 “We have in the past had some issues that usually surround the beginning of the school year, ” Frerichs said. “And there can be issues around the holiday seasons. That is in regards to people leaving presents and packages in their cars. The beginning of the year seems to be the time this happens because everyone is coming back and have all their stuff in their car or forget to lock their car.”

Frerichs said that Campus Security is taking precautionary measures to prevent future break-ins on campus.

“When something occurs like this, we try to be more proactive regarding what the incident was,” Frerichs said.  “In this case, we keep a closer eye on the vehicles.  If we need to, we will staff extra or do extra rounds and other extra measures to try to resolve the issue.  A lot of it is getting the information out and educating the community about what is going on.”

Junior Andrea McDonald was one of the victims of the car break-ins, and she said she never expected it to happen to her.

“It was kind of freaky because you don’t think something like that is going to happen, especially the first night you move in,” McDonald said.

Missing items from McDonald’s car included a GPS and her insurance and car registration forms. McDonald was quick to notify the right people that those had been stolen.

“I found my insurance papers and I notified my company right away,” McDonald said.  “The police also gave me a card with my case number on it, so if I get pulled over the cop can look it up and see that my papers were stolen.”

McDonald said that Campus Security did everything in its power to help her and were very professional.

“Security knew what to do. They called the cops right away, filed a police report and they sent an e-mail out right away warning students,” McDonald said. “They basically did all they can do. They can’t undo what has been done, but they were more than willing to call the police and give me a copy of the police report. They did their work well.”

Senior Christina Weaklend received the Campus Security e-mail and told her roommate right away.

“I told my roommate because she had her car outside with her windows rolled down,” Weaklend said. “She got that taken care of, and as far as I know, she didn’t lose anything.”

Frerichs, advice to students is to lock their cars, store valuables in the trunk or in dorm rooms, report suspicious activity and to know how to contact Campus Security. Campus Security can be reached by phone at 515-961-1711.

Frerichs asks students with any information about the break-ins to contact Campus Security or the Indianola Police Department.