Outside the core building and tucked to the side, five groundskeeping trucks and one tractor were broken into. They sit silently at the groundskeeping lot, broken glass on the concrete. One of the steering wheels was cut into so the thieves could remove the wheel lock.

The fence has a gaping hole, wide enough for the thieves to drive one pickup truck off the groundskeeping lot. But at the last second, the truck got stuck in the mud as they were attempting to drive uphill and into the road, forcing them to ditch it.

“They tried to steal that truck three times this year, and this truck right here has been stolen three times, and we got it back each time after they’ve had it for more than a month,” said Andre White, the grounds worker for LMC.

Andre discovered the broken-in trucks when he started his early morning shifts at 6 am. The break-in happened after midnight on Halloween, October 31.

The break-ins are frequent, and this time, the primary focus was the vehicles.

“We’ve been having break-ins since I’ve been here in 2008; most recently, we’ve been having break-ins every other week. And that’s what happened. They broke in, cut the fence, and tried to steal our vehicles,” said White.

In the past, they’ve tried to steal various items and equipment.

“(They stole) equipment, gas, and these vehicles — just these vehicles, yes — whatever they can get their hands on, to sell, [they stole] food too,” said White. “We put locks on our own refrigerator to keep, [for] you know, nourishment, it’s hot out here. They cut the locks off the refrigerator and stole things out of the refrigerator the last six break-ins.”

This recent break-in has heavily affected the team, inhibiting their work and lowering their morale.

“We feel very violated. Everything we have has been rooted through. They root through everything. And they will, you know, and it’s not right,” said Glen Briggs, another grounds worker.

“Right now, we’re at a standstill. We’re getting work done by walking around campus and getting our work done. But as far as doing certain garbage work and certain landscaping work, or whatever, that cannot be done today,” said White.

The grounds workers came up with two solutions to fix this problem.

“If they hire another police officer or even bring one during the night graveyard shift, they can bring the custodial graveyard shift back with people at the campus overnight. It would be fewer crimes and fewer break-ins, ” said Steve Valencia, also a grounds worker at LMC.

The second solution is a security system.

“We had this problem before they broke in about 23 times, and we put in an alarm system with Bay Alarm, but someone took that away — saw fit that we didn’t need it. And ever since that’s been gone, this is about their 60th break-in,” said White.

The cameras on the shed’s roof are not active, making it harder to identify the thieves.

“Those are dead. Those are the cameras that were left here when we stopped paying the bill. For whatever reason, the decision was made not to pay that bill. We didn’t need it, I was told,” said White.

White believes that having a security system would be a preventative measure for break-ins.

“Because the alarms used to go off, then scare them away, and then, plus, the police were called, and they have cameras with someone monitoring,” said White.

The cost of repairing the trucks and replacing the stolen items is high.

“Oh, it can go up to 10 grand. It can go up to 20 to 30 grand. They destroyed the billers outside. So anything from anywhere from 10 to $20,000 each time, just depending on what’s stolen,” said Valencia.

Overall, the grounds workers feel angered that nothing has been done to fix things.

“Morale is out the window. We are so, so frustrated, and we were frustrated up to 110 before the last three break-ins. And this is just, this is just ridiculous, that we’re at an institution with high learning, where graduates and all kinds of degrees are here that are leading us, and we can’t figure it out,” said White.

Despite their dampened morale, the workers still have hope for a better future.

“Well, you know us groundskeepers, we’re a pretty tight-knit group, and we try to do a good job,” said Briggs.