Police worried about January burglary spike

Police are concerned about a recent spike in burglaries, after January saw a complete turnaround of a seven-year low.

Seventeen on-campus burglaries were reported in January, which is the highest amount of burglaries in the month of January since before 1993, according to University Police.

Only 107 burglaries were reported on campus last year, but 27 have already been reported since Jan. 1.

Eleven of these burglaries were in the dorms and eight were reported before school began, according to University Police spokeswoman Maj. Cathy Atwell.

Ten on-campus robberies have been reported so far in February, according to Atwell.

Police sent out a crime alert Tuesday making students aware of the burglaries so the trend doesn't continue, Atwell said.

Atwell said she can't attribute the spike to anything besides "that people are not being careful enough with their property." She said people are not locking their doors and they aren't challenging people that look suspicious in their building.

More than 80 percent of the burglaries in January occurred in places where windows or doors were left open or unlocked, according to University Police.

Most of the time the victim does not even realize he or she has been burglarized until much later, according to police. Though some of the victims said they remember seeing suspicious people walking around dorms claiming to be lost or looking for someone, they didn't realize they'd been robbed until it was too late and the burglar or burglars were long gone.

Atwell said students should be more careful about letting people tailgate into buildings and should challenge people who look out of place.

"At this point in the semester people should know who lives on their floor and who their friends are," Atwell said.

Police have no suspects and there is nothing to believe the burglaries are related, except they usually occur around the same time and in the same relative area, Atwell said. She said most of the burglaries occur in North Campus highrises and happen between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m., during classes.

Atwell said it is possible the burglaries are being carried out by a small group or groups of people who exploit easy ways to get into dorms or academic buildings and continually use the same methods.

Police don't know if the persons responsible for the recent burglaries are students or outsiders to the campus, Atwell said, but arrests made for past strings of burglaries show the perpetrators are not affiliated with the campus.

Police have discussed security measures such as automatic-locking doors for dorm rooms and security cameras, but so far they have ruled those options out because of several disadvantages, Atwell said. Students tend to be accidentally locked out a lot because of the automatic-locking doors, and security cameras are expensive and bring up privacy issues.

Adam Thermos, the founder of Strategic Technology Group, which helps campuses across the country update security systems, said he recommends automatic-locking doors for safety.

"Electronics will take you half way, the other half will be up to students," Thermos said.

An individual automatic-locking system costs between $400 and $600 per door, Thermos said. They are simple to install and to use because doors don't need to be modified, and students carry a swipe key instead of a regular lock key.

Salisbury University began transforming their dorms to automatic-locking systems four years ago, said Dave Gutoskey, the associate director of housing at Salisbury University. All dorms were completely outfitted by two years ago.

Even though there were few burglaries before the automatic-locking system was put in place, Gutoskey said there was a noticeable reduction in crime.

"We went from some theft to none," Gutoskey said. "It is very rare that anything is stolen out of a room here."

The system has also made it easier for students because they don't have to pay for losing a key and having to switch the locks, Gutoskey said. If a student loses their card they simply have to deactivate the card and get a new one at a low cost.

Students rarely get locked out of their rooms, Gutoskey said. The first time a student is locked out there is no penalty, but afterwards there is a $25 fine to let them back in.

"It is a great system," Gutoskey said.

S. Daniel Carter, senior vice president of Security on Campus, an organization that promotes safety at colleges and universities, said cameras and automatic-locking doors can help, but the responsibility for preventing burglaries lies on the student.

"The best way students can prevent their rooms from being burglarized is to lock them," Carter said.

Contact reporter Will Skowronski at swowronskidbk@gmail.com.