Locked doors aren’t just to keep people you don’t want in your room out, but to also keep things from being stolen from your room.

I grew up in a neighborhood where a locked door, dead bolt included, was the only thing keeping people out. My neighbors were not the type of people we wanted in our house. After being taught the importance of locking doors, it was a force of habit when I came to college.

I’ve come to realize, when I lived in dorms my freshman, sophomore and part of my junior year, I was fortunate. My three roommates always locked the door when they left the room. However, I’ve noticed this is not the case for some people on campus.

My brother lives in the dorms with a roommate who didn’t grow up in a neighborhood where locking doors was important. This issue has been a struggle between them this year. Because of the fact my brother and I grew up in a bad neighborhood, living in a room with the door unlocked is difficult. Growing up, it was always terrifying to realize our house door had been left unlocked without anyone around. I remember multiple times when this happened; my mom sent my dad in the house and made him check for intruders before we were allowed to walk inside.

According to the University Housing website, all exterior entrances should be locked at all times for security purposes. It’s always tempting to leave a suite door propped open for the breeze, or an exterior door that isn’t working right.

The real dilemma with locked doors comes to room doors. Some people forget, or simply don’t lock their doors. It’s understandable to forget occasionally, but everyone needs to make an effort to make their living situation—be it an apartment, dorm room or house—as safe as possible.

It’s not, however, understandable to refuse to lock the door. While you’re at college, your room is where you keep your things. Locking the room adds protection in a hall situation where anyone can get to your room door. And, it can also help if there is an issue like the aforementioned broken exterior suite door.

Although we would all like to think everyone at N.C . State is honest, in reality, everyone isn’t. Just look at the police blotter published in Technician every day. People are robbed on campus. Laptops are stolen in the library. Bicycles vanish from bike racks.

There’s another aspect of the University everyone should keep in mind. An open campus means anyone can come onto campus. For example, when the Capital Bank on Clark Avenue was robbed last October, the robber ran onto campus.

N.C . State’s campus isn’t a big change from my high school, which had about 13 buildings. This isn’t the case for some people, though. It wasn’t unusual to experience a Code Red drill at my high school to prepare for the possibility of someone dangerous coming onto our campus. Even though they were drills, the reality of the situation was terrifying.

I only mention the fact anyone can come on campus because it means anyone can get into your building. Technically speaking, people aren’t supposed to let others follow them into buildings which require a key to enter. However, we all know this happens frequently. Combine this with the fact anyone can come on campus, and you could be on the receiving end of a potential robbery.

According to the North Carolina State University Annual Security Report from October 2011, all residence hall entrance doors are locked at all times. In 2010, there were 386 instances of larceny reported to Campus Police. In 2009, that number was 379. Even with the exterior doors locked, students should be careful to lock their room doors to prevent further cases of larceny.

Be safe, Wolfpack . Lock your doors to prevent anything bad from happening.