Welcome back students, faculty, staff and thieves.

As another school year commences, the parking situation on the Sacramento State campus is a trying endeavor.

Most cars squeeze through and finally end up on, or somewhere near campus.

Lonely cars are prime pickings for the in-house thieves. Might as well call them that, since there seems to have been little control of their looting in past years.

For nine years I have watched student after student clean glass out of their cars. Sacramento City Police and University Police seem ineffective in deterring the vandalism.

Cars out there are sitting ducks. Sac State offers thieves hunting grounds with plenty of variety.

The average class is 50 minutes long. When the police are nowhere in sight vandals are left with plenty of time to get away with the crime.

University Police are aware of the problem areas. Those who have been ripped-off before also know where not to park.

There are signs giving clues to the rest of us. Not the typical city “no parking” signs, but glass remnants remaining after a hit.

Welcome to “Glass Alley, CA.” A curb paved with crushed student egos and broken glass. Shimmering, tear-like, blue, green and turquoise fragments that radiate sun into the eyes of the passing onlooker.

Glass Alley, is located on the southeast side of campus on College Town Dr. What seem to be abandoned cars sit in front of the Water Treatment Facility Plant on E..A. Fairbairn , next to State University Drive East.

Even though close to Sac State, it does not fall under the jurisdiction of University Transportation and Parking Services. No parking citations issued here.

Tempting parking for the rushed student. A brisk five-minute walk will get you to class. But it could take an urban pirate even less time to get away with the booty.

When overflow lots are full students gamble with their car’s safety in order to save a buck by not buying the overpriced daily or semester parking permits.

Is it worth it?

This bleak location has a track record of break-in after break-in. Windows smashed. Stereos, backpacks, CDs, books, and livelihoods are easily stolen.

Some basic questions need answers. Who is patrolling Glass Alley and ensuring student safety?

Detective John Hamrick, public affairs officer for campus police stated, that they only respond when they are called or if they notice a crime being committed.

“This is a City Police matter,” Hamrick said.

The City Police were un available for comment.

The University Police’s own web site (www.csus.edu/police/) in the section, Frequently Asked Questions, offers a clue as to who should be responsible for student’s safety: “In general, the primary jurisdiction is one mile from the campus. We often get called by the police and sheriff to assist them on campus-related cases that occur outside the campus.”

Even though adjacent to Sac State and falling within the one-mile radius of their jurisdictional parameters, campus police apparently are not committed to patrolling the area in question.

Two logical points stick out: Glass Alley, is located within a mile radius of the campus and many of the parked cars that are broken into belong to Sac State students.

This area should be a high patrolling priority for the University Police. But as it seems, no one really patrols it. Do the University or City Police care about student safety?

As crooks get bolder, police should take decisive action.

It should not take a life threatening incident to change priorities.

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