Burglaries decrease over break

A special residential surveillance program initiated by University Police over winter break has been tentatively called a success, based on early crime statistics. The new program used police officers to check the residences of off-campus students who went home for vacation, and coincides with a significant drop in burglaries from last year's winter break. Last year, rooms in the High Rises, the Quadrangle, and several off-campus apartments were burglarized with signs of forced entry. "Last year and the year before, there was a significant amount of crime," University Police Commissioner John Kuprevich said. "There is no doubt that over [this winter] break, there really were significantly fewer crimes." Despite the vacation check procedure initiated by University Police, however, two Quadrangle rooms and one off-campus apartment were burglarized over winter break, University Police said last night. University Police Sergeant Keith Christian said the first Quad burglary occurred between Dec. 21 and Jan. 9 on the first floor of Chestnut in the lower Quad. While Christian said there was no sign of forced entry, a 19-inch Sony Trinitron television was taken in the burglary. The second burglary occurred on the second floor of Bodine in the Upper Quad, between Dec. 17 and Jan. 9, Christian said. While again there were no signs of forced entry, a Macintosh computer was stolen from the room. The off-campus burglary, Christian said, took place at a home on 41st Street and Baltimore Avenue. A burglar gained entry to the residence through a window, but took only food goods, he added. While Kuprevich declined to speculate on the Quad burglaries, he said the extended vacation makes them difficult to investigate. "We have an open [time] window when anyone could have taken the items from the rooms," he said. "Most police departments wouldn't even touch a case like this." Although it appears that the surveillance initiative has been successful, University Police will not know for certain until Wednesday, when all burglaries from break should be reported, Christian said. Kuprevich said that if the initiative is as successful as the department hopes, he intends to make it normal procedure during breaks. Specifically, the procedure involved mailing notices to all off-campus residents with tips for securing property, Kuprevich said. He added that residents were also asked to register with his department for the check. University Police officers then checked the exteriors of the vacant buildings of those who registered with the police, he added. "The officers paid specific attention to buildings where we knew no one would be coming or going," Kuprevich said. "Once every two days, we physically checked the property." The investigations of the Quad and off-campus burglaries have been handed over to University Police detectives, Kuprevich said.