A cool September morning. An early riser drives, veers left and pulls into an empty spot in Lot 89.
And then, the sound of glass shattering under the front tires. Shards of smashed window litter the pavement. To the right, a driver side door hangs ajar, baring a torn-up dash and gaping glove box.
Perhaps the night of Sept. 27 was unusual. Across campus, prowlers busted into 34 cars, snatching stereos, radar detectors, cash and a pair of Oakley sunglasses. But 32 of those break-ins went down in the lonely commuter lot south of campus — Lot 89.
A State News analysis of reported car break-ins at MSU since 2002 found that what took place on Sept. 27 was in fact routine. One Sunday in 2004, prowlers ravaged 20 cars in the lot. And on three separate weekdays in the same lot in 2003, four cars were hit each day.
Police records show that even though parking spaces in the commuter lot make up fewer than one in 10 total spots on campus, nearly 22 percent of break-ins happen there.
Students who park in the lot say MSU police, who manage campus parking, should monitor the lot better. Police say they do the best they can but that students can patrol it themselves if they're concerned.
"Police officers can't do everything," said MSU police Sgt. Florene McGlothian-Taylor. "The community's responsibility is to fight crime. Part of the students' responsibility is to help out."
Students such as Chris Lincoln, a journalism and Spanish senior, say police shouldn't hand off the responsibility to students. Lincoln, whose car stereo was stolen in the lot in the fall of 2003, said students don't buy parking permits from police to watch the lot themselves.
"Is there a camera out there? No," he said. "That's why people do it. It's easy. Security is a joke. Plus, it's so far from campus."
In its analysis of police reports, The State News also found that:
• Break-ins occur more often south of the railroad tracks, farther from university buildings and foot traffic. Three lots south of the tracks — the commuter lot and storage lots near Holden and Fee halls — account for 41 percent of all break-ins, and only 16.5 percent of total parking spaces. The commuter lot, on the corner of Mount Hope Road and Farm Lane, is used by commuters and students who live on campus but store their cars there.
• Multiple break-ins, where burglars hit more than one car on the same day at the same location, also happen most frequently in those lots. One night in 2003, prowlers slammed all three lots, cracking into 26 cars.
• Prowlers don't prefer certain days. They rip off cars every day of the week.
McGlothian-Taylor said the police department can't afford to install video cameras in lots and pay someone to watch the feed. Plus, because break-ins happen most often during dark hours, lots would require expensive night-vision cameras.
Officers try to police major lots, including the ones south of the tracks, three times per shift, said Chris Rozman, an MSU police officer. But he said that isn't always realistic on Friday and Saturday nights or during sporting events when more drunken driving and assaults take place.
And even monitoring lots regularly doesn't ensure that cars will be safe, Rozman said. Most prowlers swoop east down Mount Hope Road from Lansing, strip stereo equipment off a few cars and then dash off in a matter of minutes, he said.
"It's so hard to catch them," Rozman said. "We've been criticized for not doing anything more proactive. But if you're not sitting in the lot doing surveillance, you're not going to catch them."
That's where students come in, he said. In Operation Lot Watch, student volunteers patrol major campus lots at night with police vehicles, binoculars and walkie-talkies. That way, Rozman said, police can focus on nabbing drunken drivers and responding to calls.
But interest in that program has been irregular over the years. Rozman, a former lot watcher himself, said the program faded out for about five years until interested students revived it in September.
Claire Drolshagen, a parks and recreation senior who parks in the commuter lot, said the program sounds fine, but she can't see students joining just because they're worried about their cars' safety.
"I don't think many people are willing to do that unless they're studying criminal justice and want to put it on their résumé," she said. "It's definitely not my interest."
While most of the 30 current volunteers do study or intend to pursue a career in criminal justice, students in the program say it's a way for anybody to give back to the community.
"This is obviously an important part of campus that we should not ignore," said Erin Held, a student Lot Watch coordinator and criminal justice senior, in an interview via e-mail. "As far as people having concerns about their vehicles, I would ask that those worried join our program since they obviously see the motivation.
"Unfortunately the lot is very far from most of the high-traffic areas of campus, but we do our best and, with the help of officers on patrol, we simply do what we can."
Melissa Sanchez can be reached at sanche96@msu.edu.
