Crime down slightly over break

The number of thefts reported to University Police over this year's spring break was down from the previous year, but police records show a slight increase in the numbers of robberies and burglaries. Yet although Director of Police Operations Maureen Rush maintained that the overall crime rate "is slightly down between the two spring break years," University Police did not provide the exact number of last year's crimes with which to compare to this year's 41 reported incidents. University Police figures showed that there were 15 actual or attempted thefts over this year's break, down slightly from the 18 reported last year. But while there was only one reported robbery last year, three actual or attempted robberies were reported over this year's break -- one of which involved a student held up at gunpoint at 40th and Locust streets March 14. And the number of actual or attempted burglaries rose slightly as well, from two last year to five this year. Three of this year's burglaries occurred in University residences, as two students living in King's Court/English House and one living in High Rise East returned from break to find several items missing from their rooms. Actual or attempted auto thefts also rose this year from one to three. Rush added that some students living off campus received additional University Police assistance in preventing burglaries over the break. She explained that 40 residences enrolled in the "residential special check surveillance program" offered by the Division of Public Safety, and police conducted 447 checks of these residences during the break period. "To date we have not received any reports of burglaries in these residences," she said, adding that the program seemed to be successful in deterring crime. Residences that register for the program are routinely checked and surveilled by University police officers over break periods to ward off burglaries.