The area surrounding campus has witnessed a marked rise in thefts from cars since the beginning of the year, prompting police to adjust officer deployment and work to increase awareness about this type of crime.
There have been 28 thefts from parked cars within Penn's district and the surrounding area during 2005. Of those, 27 occurred last month.
This number marks a 75-percent increase in the crime from the same period in 2004 and a 47-percent increase from 2003, when the area had 16 and 19 thefts from cars in January, respectively.
Penn Police Captain Joe Fischer said the increase in the thefts is not surprising, considering it follows a pattern of general theft that police have been noticing for months.
"There was a pattern up around Drexel, near Race and Arch streets," Fischer said. "In the past month, that pattern has dropped down, and now it is on Chestnut and Market."
Fischer attributed the shift in crime to Philadelphia Police efforts north of the campus.
"The 16th District -- which is above us -- inundated the area with police, so [criminals] dropped down." he said. "We picked it up."
In response, Fischer said Penn Police are reconfiguring their deployment and trying to notify vehicle owners who are at risk for theft.
Fischer said that when officers see exposed personal items in a car, they will notify the vehicle owner via a small slip of paper that resembles a ticket and can be placed beneath a car's windshield-wiper.
However, he says that vehicle owners must take action independently to protect personal items, specifically small bills and change.
"Theft from vehicles is a crime of opportunity," Fischer said. "Would [cars] be broken into if nothing is observed from the outside? The answer is no."
Wharton senior Joe Guarascio, however, says he has kept a car on campus for three years and does not take excessive action against theft.
"I don't leave my iPod on the seat, but I wouldn't say that I go out of my way to take precaution," Guarascio said.
Guarascio did say that there were a number of thefts from cars at the parking lot where he kept his car during his sophomore year but that his vehicle was never a target.
West Philadelphia resident Julie Felder said she parks her car on the street every day and has never had anything stolen from her car, possibly because she takes precaution against the crime.
"I put a club on my car to prevent them from stealing things," Felder said.
She also said that she takes all personal belongings with her when exiting the car.
Fischer said continual efforts by both police and vehicle owners have caused the number of thefts from vehicles to decrease dramatically overall in the past year.
In 2003, Penn Police reported 180 thefts from auto, while 98 were reported in 2004.
