Amber Armstrong

The recent vehicle burglaries in Brookings are causing students and residents to lock up.

Sergeant Bob Rippe of the Brookings Police Department says 24 unlocked vehicles have been burglarized. A shotgun, CDs, binoculars, miscellaneous change, and a pack of cigarettes were items reported missing. None of them have been recovered.

Some vehicles were entered but nothing was missing-items were just thrown about the vehicle and onto the street, Rippe said

Liz Mack, 23, knows just how it feels to have a vehicle broken into. Last spring, someone smashed her car windows and took her stereo. She says she felt both angry and scared. She now has a portable stereo that she takes with her when she leaves her car.

“I encourage people to lock their vehicles and take their keys…it’s a deterrent,” Rippe said.

That is just what SDSU student Stephanie Lee is doing to make sure her car doesn’t get burglarized.

“I always make sure I lock my doors and roll up my windows,” she said.

There are no suspects but Rippe believes it may be younger kids doing the crimes. “Car hopping” is the term given to the act of getting into other people’s vehicles and taking their possessions, Rippe said.

All of the vehicles entered have been located on or near the campus and were left unlocked, Rippe said.