The Old Apartments parking lot has been home to a string of car break-ins in recent weeks. 12 cars had their windows smashed during the week of Feb. 10 alone. The incidents have been concentrated along the back parking lot, on the road behind the New Apartments, and the upper parking lot.

These places are dark, lightly traveled at night, and out of sight and earshot of the Old Apartments, making them an easy place for the suspects to operate.

“There’s no real patrol going on there at night that I ever see,” said junior Eric Warden.

A majority of the break-ins were seemingly only vandalism. On one of the first nights, the Public Safety car was hit but nothing was stolen. This was a similar scenario with many of the students’ cars.

These acts of vandalism have proven costly to the victims. The rear windshields were broken out in many cases, which costs upwards of $300 to fix, according to GlassOne Auto Glass’ Web site.

There have been reported incidents of theft, including an expensive stereo system.

Public Safety is doing what it can to prevent the crimes from being repeated.

“We’re trying to stay in the area as much as possible and we’ve asked Greensboro police to patrol as well,” said Ron Stowe, director of Public Safety.

Despite efforts from Public Safety to hinder the vandals, many people feel like Public Safety just isn’t doing enough.

“I don’t really see Public Safety doing anything,” said senior Keira Wilson. “(The students) never see them in the back parking lot at nights or on the weekends. They need to be investigating and they need to have more of a presence in the parking lot. They need to do something.”

Public Safety understands the students’ complaints but feels it’s a more complex issue.

“When you’re a victim of a crime like this, it’s easy to blame Public Safety or the administration and say this shouldn’t have happened,” Stowe said. “The reality is there’s not much you can do.”

However, Stowe and Public Safety do have some advice to prevent your car from being broken into. Take precautions like not keeping your iPod, backpack, or anything of value in plain sight.

Also, it’s important to be aware of your surroundings.

“These break-ins had to have made a lot of noise,” Stowe said. “We want to encourage students to report noises and suspicious behavior. Also, if it is someone on campus doing this, they’re probably talking so keep your ears open.”

Some students still feel that the school needs to take a bigger role, especially considering that the break-ins have been mostly about vandalism, not theft.

“The only way to stop this is to have somebody in an undercover car posted up all night, but that won’t happen,” Warden said.

And while it’s been quiet this past week in the Old Apartments parking lot, there are no suspects and no leads and many of Guilford’s car owners still fear for their vehicles safety.

“This isn’t a Public Safety issue, it’s a community issue,” Stowe said. “We’re all impacted by this.