As a student walked through the parking lot of St. Aloysius High School late Thursday morning, Chief Administrator of Vicksburg Catholic Schools Jennifer Henry asked him if he had locked his vehicle doors.

Yes, he nodded. Anything valuable left in plain sight? No, he said.

“We’ve written letters to parents and e-mails to students to remind them to keep their doors locked and valuables out of sight,” said Henry, referring to the 10 auto burglaries in the school parking lots this year. 

A more tangible reminder occurred Thursday morning at 10:37, when the rear window of a student’s truck was smashed out and two cell phones were stolen. A juvenile was arrested shortly after while fleeing on foot near Mission 66 and Clay Street, and the phones were recovered. However, most of the break-ins have not resulted in arrests, said Lt. Bobby Stewart.

Of the nine reported burglaries before Thursday, only one February break-in resulted in the arrest of two juveniles.

“This has been a picking ground,” Stewart said of the parking lot near Grove and Hayes streets. “We’ve had some auto burglaries at other schools in the evenings when students are away for sports games and they leave their cars in the lots, but this is the only one we’ve had problems with during the daytime.”

As for the reason why St. Aloysius has been targeted by burglars more than others, Stewart said he did not know. Whatever the reason, the school hired a full-time security guard to patrol the lot on foot during school hours about three weeks ago. The vehicle broken into on Thursday was parked in a row of trucks closest to Grove Street, and the guard said he did not see it occur.

“This was the first we’ve had here since the guard’s been here, and hopefully it’s the last one,” said Henry.

The burglary at St. Al was one of 10 reported in Vicksburg during the past three days, including one this morning.

* A Garmin GPS valued at $200 was reported missing at 5:58 from a 2007 Jeep Rubicon at the Fairfield Inn Hotel, 20 Orme Drive.

On Thursday:

* A .22 caliber revolver valued at $500 was reported missing at 10:40 a.m. from a 2003 GMC pickup in the 1500 block of Washington Street.

* A billfold containing $4 was reported missing at 11:43 a.m. from a 2008 Pontiac G6 in the 200 block of Mattingly Road.

On Wednesday:

* A Pioneer radio/CD player valued at $200 and four 22-inch chrome rims valued at $1,500 were reported missing at 5:30 a.m. from a 2006 Toyota Camry in the 800 block of China Street.

* A black-and-white bag containing a study Bible valued at $65 was reported missing at 6:57 a.m. from a 2003 Dodge Neon in the 2100 block of Washington Street.

* An iPod valued at $239 and a Sony digital camera valued at $100 were reported missing at 12:52 p.m. from a 2008 Ford Taurus at Riverwalk Casino, 1046 Warrenton Road.

* A Sony CD player valued at $230, two remote controls valued at $30 and a child’s bookbag were reported missing at 4:16 p.m. from a 1991 Toyota in the Wal-Mart SuperCenter, 2150 Iowa Blvd.

On Tuesday:

* A JVC CD player with a flat screen valued at $300 and several CDs were reported missing at 11:20 a.m. from a 1994 Nissan Altima in the 900 block of China Street.

* A 2004 Ford Taurus in the 800 block of South Street was reported entered at 6:11 a.m., but no items were reported missing.

* A Motorola cell phone and CDs, no value listed, were reported missing at 8:31 a.m. from a 1994 Buick on Adams Street near China.

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Contact Steve Sanoski at ssanoski@vicksburgpost.com.