While parking permit theft is not a major problem at Iowa State, student drivers should be aware of the threat.

Doug Houghton, program coordinator for the Department of Public Safety, said this is an issue that has been around since students started taking cars to college.

Since July, Houghton said, there have been about 181 lost or stolen parking permits reported, 38 of which belonged to students.

Houghton said the average cost of a student parking permit is $38-$44 and is fairly easy to obtain by filling out a standard form with vehicle and owner information.

If someone is caught with a stolen permit, the person can be charged up to $55, and if the car is impounded or towed, there may be additional charges.

Owners of vehicles with stolen permits could face university conduct charges filed by the Dean of Students Office and criminal theft charges.

While Houghton said that this does not happen often, it has occurred before in the past.

Once a person reports a missing parking permit, he or she has a pretty high chance of getting it back, Houghton said.

“We do a fairly effective job of finding [stolen parking permits]. If that stolen or lost permit is used again, they’re generally pretty easy to locate,” Houghton said.

Permits that hang from the rearview mirror of the car are the most susceptible to theft, whereas the sticker variety are generally harder to remove, Houghton said.

Keeping the car secure is one way to prevent parking permit theft, Houghton said.

“Lock your car with the windows rolled up to help avoid other sorts of theft or damage,” he said.

[Car theft] mainly happens when people don’t lock their doors for quick trips, like when they run into a building to check a grade,” Houghton said.

Alan Egdorf, DPS parking systems officer and graduate student in history, added another point about missing or stolen permits.

“If people lose and then find their permits, it’s important to tell the DPS so that we can take them off of our lists,” he said.