{
  "id": "2024-09-11-penn-college-of-technology-vehicle-theft",
  "slug": "penn-college-of-technology-vehicle-theft-2024-09-11",
  "institution": {
    "name": "Pennsylvania College of Technology",
    "shortName": "Penn College",
    "state": "PA",
    "type": "technical-college",
    "alertSystemName": "Penn College Alert",
    "enrollment": 4500
  },
  "incident": {
    "date": "2024-09-11",
    "type": "motor-vehicle-theft",
    "cleryCategory": "timely-warning",
    "headline": "9:45 P.M. on West Fourth Street: A Vehicle Disappears Near Penn College's Williamsport Campus",
    "summary": "Pennsylvania College of Technology's Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings page [reported a vehicle theft at approximately 9:45 p.m. on September 11, 2024, in the 1000 block of West Fourth Street](https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings), just off the Williamsport campus. The Williamsport Bureau of Police took over the investigation, and the college reminded students to lock vehicle doors and remove keys.",
    "outcome": "The Williamsport Bureau of Police investigated. No arrest or vehicle recovery was reported in available coverage.",
    "casualties": {
      "killed": 0,
      "injured": 0
    },
    "resolution": "under-investigation"
  },
  "alerts": [
    {
      "sequence": 1,
      "type": "initial",
      "timestamp": "2024-09-11T21:45:00-04:00",
      "channel": "email",
      "verbatimText": "Crime Alert: Vehicle Theft. On Wednesday, September 11, 2024 at approximately 9:45 p.m., a vehicle theft was reported in the 1000 block of W. 4th St. The Williamsport Bureau of Police is investigating this incident. Always remember to lock your doors and take keys out of your vehicle.",
      "isVerbatimConfirmed": false,
      "sourceUrl": "https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings",
      "sourceDescription": "Pennsylvania College of Technology Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings archive",
      "annotations": [
        "The closing reminder, 'Always remember to lock your doors and take keys out of your vehicle,' is drawn directly from Penn College's published alert text as indexed in search results",
        "The 1000 block of West Fourth Street sits just off Penn College's Williamsport, Pennsylvania campus, within the mixed campus-and-city geography typical of a technical college without a fully enclosed campus perimeter",
        "This is a paraphrase built from indexed excerpts of Penn College's Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings page; the literal full wording could not be independently confirmed because the source page could not be fully retrieved in this session"
      ],
      "characterCount": 285
    }
  ],
  "context": "[Pennsylvania College of Technology](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_College_of_Technology) is a technical college affiliated with Penn State and based in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, and [publishes Clery Act Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings on a dedicated campus safety page](https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings). On September 11, 2024, the college reported a vehicle theft at approximately 9:45 p.m. in the 1000 block of West Fourth Street, adjacent to the main campus, and turned the investigation over to the Williamsport Bureau of Police, the municipal department with jurisdiction over that stretch of street. The [Clery Act requires institutions to disclose crimes occurring on public property immediately adjacent to campus](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clery_Act), which is why a theft on a city street bordering Penn College still triggered a college-issued alert even though a municipal, not campus, department handled the investigation.",
  "keyFindings": [
    "The theft occurred on a public street adjacent to campus rather than in a college-controlled lot, illustrating how Clery Act geography extends notification obligations beyond property the institution directly owns",
    "Williamsport's municipal police, not Penn College's own campus security, held primary investigative jurisdiction, a common arrangement for technical and community colleges without a fully enclosed campus",
    "The alert's exact timestamp, 9:45 p.m., is unusually precise for a property crime alert in this archive, suggesting the theft was either witnessed or reported very shortly after it occurred",
    "No arrest or recovery was reported, consistent with the generally low resolution rate documented for motor vehicle theft elsewhere in this archive"
  ],
  "sources": [
    {
      "title": "Crime Alerts and Timely Warnings (Pennsylvania College of Technology)",
      "url": "https://www.pct.edu/student-life/campus-safety/crime-alerts-and-timely-warnings",
      "type": "official-archive"
    }
  ],
  "confidence": "medium",
  "tags": [
    "motor-vehicle-theft",
    "technical-college",
    "pennsylvania",
    "williamsport",
    "off-campus",
    "timely-warning",
    "2024"
  ],
  "dateAdded": "2026-07-03",
  "lastUpdated": "2026-07-03",
  "addedBy": "ingestion"
}