A spree of Honda break-ins has plagued Duke students, visitors and employees parking in Duke-owned lots for months, and about a half-dozen of these crimes occurred in the last week alone.
According to Duke University Police Department statistics, 40 percent of all vehicle larcenies during November and December 2004 involved Honda Accord or Honda Civic cars. The crimes have occurred in the Bryan Center parking lot, several lots on Central Campus and two locations on Hillsborough Road. Though the Hillsborough lots are not on the Duke campus, they are used by employees every day.
“The issue for Duke right now is Hondas are being targeted,” said Leanora Minai, senior public relations specialist for DUPD. She noted, however, that none of the cars have been stolen.
Of the 36 Hondas broken into during the 2004 calendar year, 23 had their car stereos taken. Other commonly stolen items included laptop computers and cell phones. Anthony Rush, a DUPD officer in the criminal investigation division, said these items sell easily on the street.
Rush also said thieves wander around Duke’s campus and notice cars with loud stereos. These criminals then watch where students park and strike the target later that night.
Security in these lots is decentralized as Duke requires the University departments that primarily use each lot to install their own security equipment. Rush said he encourages them to do so because the greatest deterrence to break-ins is surveillance equipment. The DUPD lot, however, has not been equipped with a security camera.
Minai noted that it only takes a criminal a few seconds to break into a car and that criminals often leave the scene even if police are notified promptly. Vehicle burglaries, however, are typically not reported until several hours later, according to a compilation of crime reports.
She also stressed that vehicle larceny is not a Duke-specific issue.
“It is a problem on campuses everywhere—in the community too,” she said. “The key is to educate people on how not to be easy targets.”
But Randy Young, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Department of Public Safety spokesperson, said that vehicle larceny is “not particularly common” on the UNC campus. Karen Breseman, a spokesperson for the International Association of Campus Law Enforcement Officers said that colleges across the country have not notified IACLEA of a problem disproportionately involving Honda vehicles.
“It’s not something that anyone has ever discussed to my knowledge,” she said.
According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau website, the 1994 Honda Accord and 2000 Honda Civic were the second and third most stolen car in the United States, respectively. In North Carolina, the Honda Accord and Honda Civic ranked first and sixth, respectively, among the most stolen cars.
Rush said Hondas are fairly common cars and relatively easy to break into. But Sage Marie, a Honda spokesperson, said it was “tough to draw a correlation” between the brand of the cars and the disproportionate amount of robberies. She maintained that Honda vehicles—and their contents inside—should be as safe as other cars.
“Hondas are fundamentally no easier to break into than any other car,” Marie said.
DUPD officials encourage students to park their vehicles in well-lit areas or parking garages, lock doors and close windows, activate alarm systems and remove valuables from their cars.
“People need to take responsibility for their own belongings,” Rush said. “One step can prevent thousands of dollars in damage.”
He also said students should report anything that looks suspicious because all claims will be investigated.
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