STAY OUT YOU FREAKS.

It’s a message etched into the dirt on the back window of Kansas University freshman Alex Hubbard’s Jeep, which was burglarized twice in the last several weeks.

Hubbard is among at least a dozen people who’ve had their vehicles burglarized on campus since Sept. 1. The KU Public Safety Office has observed an increase of vehicle burglaries on campus recently. In comparison, a total of 33 car break-ins were reported of campus in all of 2007.

Vinyl Jeep windows are being sliced open in a handful of the burglaries, which are happening primarily in parking lots around campus residence halls, said KU public safety spokesman Capt. Schuyler Bailey. That’s what happened in the burglary of Hubbard’s Jeep on Monday.

“I was so shocked,” said Hubbard, 18, of Overland Park. “It just is so evil.”

Nothing was stolen this time, but the time before a crook was unable to unzip Hubbard’s window and got off with some of her belongings.

“They took all my (75) CDs and left papers everywhere, and it rained in my car,” Hubbard said. “I had to get a whole new battery, because my door had been open for three days.”

Bailey said some burglaries, which involve various kinds of vehicles, are random acts of destruction, in which a vehicle is broken into and vandalized, but nothing’s stolen. But loose change, compact disc collections, navigation systems and stereos were reported stolen from other vehicles, he said.

And, it’s leaving campus police a bit discouraged. They said in more than half of the burglaries the cars weren’t locked up and the crimes might have been prevented.

“Opportunities present themselves and someone takes advantage,” Bailey said. “If we can lessen the opportunities, take away the opportunities, we lessen our crime stats.”

Police remind students and everyone else on campus to remove or hide valuables in their vehicles, to lock up and to watch out for unusual activity.

“If you see somebody in the parking lot who’s just walking through a parking lot, call the police,” Bailey said. “If it looks out of place, if it looks suspicious, call us.”

Bailey said that’s what led to the arrest of two burglary suspects recently.

“This guy saw : suspicious activity. These guys weren’t really going anywhere; they were just wandering the parking lot,” he said.

When the witness notified police, officers caught the suspects breaking into vehicles and arrested them, Bailey said.

Information from Lawrence Police on Thursday indicated that officers have responded to 41 vehicle break-in calls off campus since Sept. 10.