Automobile incidents at De Anza College have been on the rise during the 2009-2010 academic year, according to statistics gathered by the Foothill-De Anza College Police Department.

Between a reported 12 hit and runs, six auto thefts, five crimes of auto part theft and nine counts of auto burglary, students and faculty have been subject to 32 reported automobile incidents on campus this past year.

Jessica Suess, 23, a transfer student at San Jose State University but formerly a student from De Anza College, has worked on campus for the past four years. Within that time, she has been victim to two hit and runs.

“I was pissed,” says Suess about when she experienced her first hit and run in 2007. After the second incident in 2009, Suess says she was not as frustrated – she felt that it was bound to happen again.

Both times Suess was parked at the parking garage in Lot C.

On both occasions, Suess did not make a report to the campus police. She felt that it would be a waste of time, and that there is nothing campus security could do. The two hit and runs cost Suess at total of $5,300 in repairs.

Suess’s advice to others about avoiding hit and runs is, “Park correctly away from campus centers. Park as far away as you can after seeing how people drive [here].”

However, FHDA District Police Chief Ron Levine says “there is no way to fix that problem.” Amongst budget cuts, increasing personnel to patrol the parking lots would be another wasted expense and organizing a surveillance system would also be costly, Levine says. The cameras needed to catch the letters of a hit and run vehicle’s license plate would have to be state of the art resolution. With the amount of parking areas on campus, it would be an expensive addition to position a camera every ten parking spaces in order to survey the entire area. Levine says, the best thing students and faculty can do is to be aware of the situation and report all incidents.

If you witness or are involved in an auto incident on campus, report to the campus police located in the lower level of the Hinson Campus Center at De Anza College, or call (408) 864-5555 to file a report.