Updated as of June 15 at 7:00 p.m. to include additional information from incident reports obtained from the town of Elon police.
Nine vehicle break-ins and two stolen vehicles have been reported to the town of Elon police in the last couple of weeks, according to a June 15 email from Jon Dooley, vice president for student life. Many, but not all, of the vehicles belong to Elon University students.
According to the email, the vehicles were most often found unlocked, and the two stolen vehicles were unlocked with keys left inside. These vehicles were then used to commit additional crimes across Alamance County.
“We sincerely request that all students secure your vehicles when not in use and remove keys from the vehicle,” Dooley wrote. “Your commitment to personal safety and security will deter crime along with preventing additional crimes involving friends and neighbors.”
Dooley advised students on campus this summer to contact 911 if a crime in progress is witnessed and report it to the appropriate local police department. He said students should not intervene in the crime, for safety reasons.
This email comes after a June 13 police report detailed a series of five vehicle break-ins reported by four university students and one Graham resident to the Elon police.
Ten days before the June 13 report, an officer was dispatched to Phoenix Arms Apartments at 900 E. Haggard Ave., where a university student reported his vehicle was broken into and money was stolen.
According to the incident report, the officer also reported a second vehicle in the complex parking lot after noticing a number of items in the passenger seat. At the time the report was made, the owner of that vehicle was unknown.
On June 5 and 9, police responded to a total of four more vehicle break-ins across the town of Elon.
The amount in vehicular damages and stolen property for the June incidents total nearly $4,000 thus far, according to police reports.
—
This is a developing story.