Holiday thefts possible

Officer recommends making sure to lock everything up

Virginia Gage, a recent graduate of Ole Miss, came home from a party on Halloween to a nightmare.

Between 9:40 p.m. and 12:15 a.m. on Oct. 31, Gage’s home in the neighborhood of Russelin’ Leaves off N. Lamar Boulevard was broken into and almost $3,000 of electronics were stolen.

“I walked into the house and realized someone else had been there,” Gage said. “At first, I froze. Then I ran outside, locked myself in my car and dialed 911. The police were great; they were there in less than 10 minutes.”

The burglars escaped with a liquid crystal flat screen TV that is worth over $1,000 and a Dell Inspiron notebook computer that cost $1,600.

“I think these guys were smart because they took the high priced items that are easy to move,” Gage said. “The TV was only 10 pounds, but they must have panicked because they forgot to disconnect the computer from the printer, and when I went inside my printer was laying drunkenly in the middle of my bedroom floor.”

When the sheriff’s department arrived at her house on Rustling Leaves Road, they told her that break-ins in student neighborhoods were very common, especially close to and during holiday breaks when it is likely most of the neighborhood will be out of town.

Chris Robinson, a lieutenant with the Oxford Police Department, also said that school vacations are when a lot of apartment buildings and student neighborhoods get broken into.

According to Robinson, there are several precautions people can take to protect their homes when they will be out of town. The first is to call the police station and set-up “vacation checks.” This is a service OPD provides to anyone within the city limits who wants the police to continually drive-by and check their house and make sure there is no suspicious activity going on while they are away.

Another tip Robinson gives is to not be a victim of opportunity. During the OPD’s apartment detail, officers walk through apartment complexes and take notes on the security of the units.

“You would be surprised how many people call in to report a burglary, and one of our officers have noted that they didn’t have their windows locked or even closed,” Robinson said. “It is very important to double check that you have locked everything up.”

Other ways to discourage break-ins are to leave outside lights on and ask any neighbors staying in town to keep an eye on your house, Robinson said. People are less likely to break into a house if there is a stronger possibility they will be seen, and there are usually some people in every neighborhood that will be staying in town for the holidays.

Gage has now taken several steps to secure her home against future break-ins. The burglars used a crowbar to pry open the french doors that open onto a porch at the side of the house.

“It is really dark on that side of the house, so I had security lights put on motion detectors in the trees that will shine on the porch,” Gage said. “I also had an iron-security door put up when the french doors were replaced, a lock on my bedroom door and ‘beware of dog’ signs put up.”

In the event that a house does get robbed, Robinson had suggestions on how to protect the owner’s property.

“Write down all the serial numbers on your expensive electronics,” Robinson said. “We recover a lot of property, but if we can’t prove it is yours, there isn’t a lot we can do.”

Robinson also said it was a good idea to take small items of value with you on vacation, such as jewelry and portable electronics.

The OPD will be patrolling the areas that have had high rates of break-in over past holidays in the upcoming breaks.

“One area we will be focusing on is Anderson Road,” Robinson said. “There have been a rash of burglaries along Anderson in the past, and we would like to prevent that this year.”

Other neighborhoods the police department will concentrate on will be Saddle Creek and several other student neighborhoods. Also, any owner who wants his or her house watched for suspicious activity while they are away just has to call the police station to be put on the “vacations check” list, according to Robinson.

OPD’s arrest and recovery of property is above the national average, said Robinson. Though he didn’t know the exact statistics, he said OPD will not be satisfied until the rate is at 100 percent.

Ole Miss is only one of many universities where student neighborhoods are targeted for crime during the holidays. Ohio State University is another such campus. In an effort to prevent burglaries over the holidays, “the Columbus Division of Police, University Police and the Community Crime Patrol are planning a unique joint action to reduce burglaries in the neighborhoods around the Columbus campus during December,” according to an article on http://www.campuspartners.osu.com.

The university offices and neighborhood organizations worked cooperatively with the police in a public awareness campaign to encourage students and other residents to take their own prevention measures against break-ins