Students beware; the geographic and economic qualities of Southern California, combined with its diverse population, make it a target for automobile thieves.

Whether it is stealing a car for a joy ride, automobile parts, or stealing within categories on a list for export to another country, automobile theft happens in California, and it can happen to anyone.

Within driving distance from EC are the port of Los Angeles, the Mexican border and numerous large institutions for auto thieves to assess in their search for cars to steal.

The port of Los Angeles is important because thieves use it to export stolen cars packed in shipping containers to places like the Europe, the Dominican Republic and the Middle East.

According to the Los Angeles Times, approximately 400,000 of the 1.5 million automobiles stolen in the U.S. in 1994 were exported using the nation’s ports or driven to Latin America.

Car thieves view the parking lots of large institutions like EC as auto malls or auto supermarkets to case and steal cars from. A diverse student population translates into a rolling stock that will appeal to a variety of tastes and preferences. Just looking at a large parking lot, the thief will have sports cars, sport utility vehicles, luxury cars, and classic cars to choose from.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau, California’s top ten cars to steal in 2003 were the 1989 Toyota Camry, 1991 Honda Accord, 2000 Honda Civic, 1986 Toyota Pickup, 1987 Nissan Sentra, 1995 Acura Integra, 1987 Toyota Corolla, 1993 Saturn SL, 1990 Chevrolet Full-Size 1500 Pickup, and the 2000 Ford Mustang.

Automobiles least likely to be stolen, according to the Wall Street Journal, are the 2001-2003 Buick LeSabre four-door sedan, the 2001-2003 Buick Park Avenue sedan, the 2001-2003 series Ford Taurus station wagon, and the 2001-2003 Saturn LW midsized station wagon.

When car thieves are searching a parking lot for a car to steal, they look for conspicuous displays or a car loaded with lots of accessories.

Car theft statistics for 2003 were 1.2 million for the United States, 17,355 in Los Angeles (January to July), and 15 for the EC parking lots.

To protect oneself against car theft, the NICB recommends a four-layered approach to which includes parking in lighted areas, installing alarms and locks, using smart keys and kill switches and installing a tracking device so that police can locate it if it is stolen.

Also, write down your license plate and vehicle identification numbers so that in the event that your car is stolen the information can be given to the police in a timely manner so that it can be broadcast to other law enforcement agencies and possibly get the car back.