After an unknown man walked into two occupied South Halls dorm rooms in July, Penn State University police sent out an alert to all students living on campus, urging them to lock their doors at all times.

Still, some students say they don't find it necessary to always keep their doors locked.

Katie McCormick never thought about locking her door when she lived in Simmons Hall last year.

"I am sure part of it was due to the fact that we were both a little bit lazy," McCormick (junior-human development and family studies) said about herself and her roommate."

"But the other half was that we were in the largest student dorm on campus; the chance of anything happening to our room was very slim. It was a lot easier to be able to just push open the doo," McCormick added.

McCormick said she was never a victim of theft in the dorms, and she never experienced someone walking into her unlocked door.

Tyrone Parham, assistant director for Penn State University police, said a high level of security on campus and in certain people's hometowns give some students have a false sense of security about dorm rooms.

"We have people who leave doors unlocked all day while at class and have their mouth open when they get back and everything is gone," he said.

Simone Tukeva (sophomore-biobehavioral health) said dorm room break-ins are the reason she takes the extra precautions to keep valuables hidden in her room.

"I've heard stories of drunk people trying to walk into a room at night, thinking it was theirs," Tukeva said.

Parham said that students are taught at theft prevention programs to lock all of their doors at night and not to allow any unauthorized people into the building.

He added that prevention programs in the resident halls and other high-risk areas are conducted by university police.

"For the first day of every gym class, we were in the White Building, the IM building and Rec Hall speaking for the first five minutes of every class," Parham said.

He said police taught students how to use a locker, told them not to bring valuables or to leave things unattended and to report suspicious people.

"You can put stickers and signs all around, but no one pays attention until they get things stolen," Parham said.

He added that libraries often get hit with theft so much that officers walk around and leave cards on unattended items letting people know they could have been easily ripped off if the officer had been a thief.

"People leave laptops or textbooks on table for hour, or to go to bathroom and come back and it's gone," Parham said.