In the wake of several car thefts reported during Winter Break, the Boston University Police Department is working with university administrators to raise safety awareness on campus to counter burglaries and robberies.

BUPD Sergeant Jack St. Hilaire said the city has seen an increase in armed and unarmed robberies within the past few months, which made BU’s urban location and vacant campus an appealing target during Winter Break.

“The city of Boston, as a response during the fall, has significantly increased their patrols,” he said. “What happened was that it moved it over into our area. It’s what we call a dispersion of crime.”

St. Hilaire said although BUPD Chief Thomas Robbins, Dean of Students Kenneth Elmore and Director of Judicial Affairs Daryl Deluca are working most directly on the safety initiative, a university-wide effort is needed to optimize student safety.

“[BUPD] can’t do it all,” St. Hilaire said. “It’s got to be the university as a whole.

“BU has 40,000 students, staff and faculty in a city of about 750,000,” he continued. “There’s only 51 BU police officers. Our resources allow us to cover only so much area. That’s why we have to work smarter . . . we could saturate the area with police officers, [but] we are still going to have thefts. Why? The number one reason we are still having thefts on campus is because it’s really an education problem.”

St. Hilaire said the department stays in touch with the community through email, website postings, newspaper articles and weekly resident assistant meetings.

Robbins recommended safety tips to guard against theft in a Dec. 5 email to the BU community. He expects to refocus BUPD’s resources and efforts in tackling on-campus safety issues, including robberies, burglaries and alcohol violations, St. Hilaire said.

Along with a new chief, the department will also work with several crime-prevention officers to focus on crime analysis and prevention. The officers analyze crime activity and make proper recommendations on how to increase safety on campus.

St. Hilaire said students are easy targets when they leave their property unattended in crowded places, including the George Sherman Union, libraries and gyms. Some of the older BU buildings, including some dormitories, are also easier for burglars to break into because of old or faulty locks, windows and doors.

“We are going to start an initiative with the police officers where we are going to do a security assessment, examine every piece of property that we own from the Brownstones to the south end to the [College] of Fine Arts . . . we are going to look at everything,” he said, “see how safe the building really is.”

A week after BUPD warned students, staff and faculty of increased crime activity, a BU alumna, who requested anonymity for safety reasons, said her car was broken into and her purse was stolen.

The BU graduate said she parked her car in front of the chemistry department building on Cummington Street on Dec. 11. A thief shattered the passenger-side window of her car and stole her purse containing money, credit cards and her identification.

The graduate said although she called BUPD promptly afterward, she was told to call the Boston Police Department instead.

“[The officer] mentioned that it was better that I call Boston police because the car is parked on the street, and it is not really something that happened inside the BU property,” she said. “They could have taken it, but they just said it would probably be best if I called Boston Police.”

St. Hilaire said he is not familiar with the incident and could not comment as to why the department did not handle the case.

The graduate said she did not receive BUPD’s Dec. 5 email, although she said there was little she could have done to prevent the incident. She said she was surprised the crime happened on campus during the early evening.

“These break-ins to motor vehicles — you would think that they would happen at night,” St. Hilaire said. “They happen at all times of the day. Basically, it’s a crime of opportunity. The person who is breaking into the car will look to see if there is anybody around, and it only takes them not more than a minute to smash into a car and just grab it. Probably just 30 seconds.”

During the 10 days following the incident, there were two other car break-ins inside a two-block radius, according to the BUPD crime log. One car was parked at the 575 Commonwealth Ave. residence hall Dec. 13 and the other 44 Cummington St. on Dec. 21.

St. Hilaire said car burglars commonly look for purses, wallets and Global Positioning Systems. Robbers often seek student targets walking alone, wearing jewelry or carrying iPods and expensive cell phones.

The BU alumna said safety education is important because there is not enough awareness among students, faculty or staff. She suggested students pay attention to emails and announcements from the administration and police regarding health and safety.

“I know a lot of people do ignore them,” she said. “Even when I was an undergrad, I used to often ignore them, but they can be very valuable, just in cases like this.”