Suspect in custody after string of auto thefts on campus, security camera plan to be reviewed

There have been four occurrences of vehicular theft on campus in recent weeks. The first in the string of thefts occurred in the Spruce parking lot across from the Gorsuch Commons lot on Dec. 10 while the subsequent three thefts took place in the North parking lot by Gordon W Harleib Hall on Dec. 13, Dec. 30 and Jan. 9.

Chief Jeff Earle of the University Police Department related that many of these occurrences and a string of burglaries including one at Gordon W Hartlieb Hall preceding the Dec. 13 auto theft are believed to be in connection with one suspect who is now in custody.

As Anchorage and UAA move to more in-person activities, crimes of opportunity could occur on a more frequent basis.

Alaska auto theft rates and crime rates in Alaska have generally been declining following sharp increases in 2016 and 2017. According to Clery Act data from the UAA Dean of Students website, the UAA main campus had five motor vehicle thefts or attempted thefts in both 2019 and 2020, and none in 2021. 

The Anchorage Police Department separately reported a 51% increase in vehicle theft incidents in the surrounding areas of the university and Russian Jack Park in the first quarter of 2021 compared to the previous year, according to the crime analysis page on their website. This increase is the highest percentage increase in all the APD beat areas in Anchorage, which has seen only a marginal increase in these types of theft on a citywide average from 2021 according to the website.

“Cameras are helpful in a prevention and investigative method; they are not fool-proof, but they are one layer of helping us to prevent crime or investigate any of the activity that’s happened,” said Earle when asked about their effectiveness in deterring and investigating crimes on campus.

Earle continued in saying, the university is going through a relatively bigger safety and security process with the adoption of access control systems and other security measures, there is definitely a desire to implement a campus master plan regarding security cameras in the next year-and-a-half to two years added Earle, “that process is starting its initial steps in terms of having an initial campus security master plan for campus regarding security camera implementation and positions. We have over 700 security cameras on campus, some of which are inside buildings, some of them are outside watching parking lots, some of them are aging, and some of them were installed recently.”

Earle said that the Residence Life and Student Conduct departments have frequent meetings with UPD to talk about issues affecting campus and campus safety. 

When asked about the university’s response to a string of vehicle thefts and break-ins near the residence halls in 2016, he said: "On a pretty consistent basis, we stop and take a look at the overall safety of the residential campus and what things we can do to improve that in any given moment. Whenever someone brings up [an] issue we take it very seriously and engage in having a positive dialogue to address it. We want people to feel safe when they're on campus and in this area.."

Earle said some preventative measures people can take on their own include parking in parking lots that have a lot of people coming and going, and utilizing steering lock devices .

Earle also said, “We don't ever encourage people to directly confront anyone because you don't know if they have weapons or what the motive behind them stealing the car might be, and so you can get hurt; we don't want that. So we encourage you to call 911.”

Earle said that utilizing location tracking devices are effective measures to assist law enforcement in locating the vehicle quickly and that having the vehicle’s VIN number and license plate number written down can also help law enforcement to react more quickly to an auto theft incident.

Asked if unsecured vehicles are a public safety concern, Earle said that they are, but that most auto thefts on campus appear to involve vehicles that were broken into and then hotwired. In the wider municipality, total vehicle theft numbers tend to increase in the winter months, and many of the thefts occur while owners are away from their vehicles while they are warming up.

Earle also said that in addition to calling 911, the Rave Guardian app has recently been rolled out on campus. The app adds another layer of communication between UPD and anyone with the app in their service area, and it has features that include push-button 911 calls, a text feature that discreetly connects to UPD, location-based alerts, and a safety timer that will provide a location to UPD for individuals who may be alone and have an estimated time before they return to a more secure environment.

According to the Alaska Department of Public Safety’s 2021 Uniform Crime Report, auto theft accounted for 9.2% of all crime in Alaska in 2021, with 1,780 reported that year. According to the report , the age group between 25 and 29 had the highest numbers of arrests related to auto theft while persons between the ages of 30 and 34 were arrested for the offense at a slightly lesser rate.

Alaska DPS data from 2021 showed a 14.5% decrease in overall crime and the lowest number of crimes reported since 1975, according to their website.

According to the FBI’s Uniform Crime Reporting Program’s 2019 report, the national average of motor vehicle thefts decreased 3.8% from the year prior. Rural areas with populations under 25,000 saw the only increases in motor vehicle thefts that year with a 4.7% increase nationally according to the report.

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