UNM police are describing a series of auto break-ins that took place during spring break as typical "smash and grab" burglaries.
Four students reported on March 19 that their cars, all parked in the fraternity and sorority house area of campus, were burglarized. Although there is no hard physical evidence, such as fingerprints or tool marks linking the four auto burglaries, police are assuming the incidents are related.
"I'm sure they are," said UNM Police Department Cmdr. James Daniels. "It's too coincidental."
Police were first notified of the burglaries at about 10:30 a.m.
Two of the vehicles were parked on Mesa Vista Road NE and the others on Sigma Chi Road NE at the time of the burglaries, according to the UNM police reports.
All four of the auto burglaries were reported to campus police within about an hour and a half of each other. In two of the burglaries, door windows were smashed out and the stereos ripped from the dashboards causing damage to each vehicle's interior.
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In one of those vehicles a radar detector was also taken.
The stereos of the two other cars were also ripped from their dashboards, but unlike the others, there were no signs of forced entry. A pair of sunglasses was also stolen from one of the cars.
One of the four police reports filed by the students does not contain an estimate for damages, but the other three reports estimate damages and stolen items to be more than $1,300.
Daniels said auto burglaries without any physical evidence or witnesses can be "very tough" for police to solve. He suggested that campus fraternities and sororities should form a type of neighborhood watch program that could help prevent future burglaries such as these. But with the burglaries occurring during spring break, the number of potential witnesses to the daylight crimes was dramatically reduced.
"Keep your eyes open and call us," he said, adding that anyone on campus who suspects something or someone who seems suspicious, should contact police as soon as possible.
