Three suspects sought in local thefts
By Daily Bruin Staff
Oct. 2, 1997 9:00 p.m.
Friday, October 3, 1997
Three suspects sought in local thefts
WESTWOOD: UCLA’s large number of vehicles proves a tempting
target for criminals, as cameras reveal
By Allison Elmore
Daily Bruin Contributor
Do not allow the white picket fences of Westwood homes and the
idyllic hills of surrounding Bel-Air to deceive you.
UCLA and its environs appear to be a hotbed of crimes against
student transport. The fact that UCLA boasts more parking than LAX,
with a total of 22,000 spaces, provides a breeding ground for car
thefts and break-ins. And the hundreds of bicycles parked daily on
campus are not invulnerable to crime either.
The University of California Police Department (UCPD) has
decided to fight back. Taking advantage of a new session of
classes, the UCPD is currently seeking the aid of the campus
community in locating the culprits of auto and bicycle thefts
committed this last March.
One of those incidents involved a male suspect who attempted to
cut a deal with a West Los Angeles sporting goods store employee.
The suspect allegedly offered to trade bicycles and bicycle parts
that he claimed were stolen from the UCLA campus, in return for
discounts on store merchandise.
The store’s security personnel later contacted UCPD detective
Tony Duenas about the incident, providing Duenas with footage of
the exchange, which was taped by the store’s security camera.
Besides this footage, the detective’s only lead is the first
name the suspect used to introduce himself to the store employee.
Police would not release the suspect’s name.
A surveillance camera also caught the faces of the two
perpetrators of an auto incident at a university apartment building
in Westwood this past March. Time-lapse photography snapped the
pair of young men as they entered the parking garage at
approximately 1:40 a.m., from an internal complex door. The
surveillance camera taped the pair as they broke into three of the
parked cars.
The footage even revealed the beer held in one of the suspects’
hands, just as the camera recorded him urinating against a garage
wall. Only one of the vehicle owners filed a police report. The
report indicated that a speaker and wrench were stolen from the
car.
According to Nancy Greenstein, director of police community
services, victims of bicycle thefts on campus tend to report those
crimes even less frequently than victims of auto crimes.
Greenstein estimates that the 46 bike thefts reported to the
UCPD in 1996 do not even scratch the surface of the actual total.
The 126 reported vehicle thefts could be considered a more accurate
assessment.
Sgt. John Adams, manager of Community Service Officer (CSO)
programs, reiterated the importance of victims filing police
reports.
"(Victims) should report their crimes, so that we can get a
clear picture to analyze things and use our resources in the best
way."
For instance, Adams said, if people tell the police that the
bike racks adjacent to Ackerman Union are particularly vulnerable
to theft, the UCPD could use that information to increase officer
patrols in that area.
Duenas stressed that on-campus cyclists should register their
bicycles with the police department. The practice is made mandatory
by state law, and Duenas argued that students tend to fall short on
registering their bicycles.
Bicycle registration, however, is crucial to the retrieval of
stolen bikes, he said. Upon registration, officers enter the bike’s
serial number into a statewide database that tracks stolen
bicycles. Without a serial number, however, police have little
recourse in locating missing bikes.
Greenstein noted that "a lot of the crime prevention rests on
people taking responsibility for their possessions." She added that
the odds of a bicycle theft falls dramatically with the exercise of
a little common sense. A case in point: Do not park bicycles in
dark stairwells.
Duenas advised students to invest in higher quality bicycle
locks, such as the U-lock.
"Even U-locks can be defeated, but they’re a greater deterrent.
If a thief has a choice between stealing a bike locked with a cable
lock or a bike locked with a U-lock, he’s gonna choose whatever is
easier to defeat," Duenas said.
According to Greenstein, common sense also prevails in the
prevention of auto thefts. She pointed out that regional statistics
indicate that 40 percent of car break-ins can be prevented by
employing a few simple measures such as:
— Invest in a device, whether it be a Club or an alarm.
— Don’t leave anything tempting in view. Greenstein noted that
a surprisingly high number of leather jackets are stolen from
vehicles parked in UCLA parking structures.
– Most obviously, Greenstein added, lock your doors and keep the
windows closed.
UCPD
Photos of surveillance camera footage show (left) a suspect
involved in the theft of bike parts stolen from UCLA, and one of
two male suspects breaking into cars in the Westwood Chateau
parking structure.
