Students who plan to pack up and head out for Turkey Day tomorrow may need to arrange one last thing: locking up their residences.
With thousands of houses and apartments vacant over the holiday weekend, campus neighborhoods become an even larger target for property crime.
Despite precautions students take to secure their residences, local thieves plan ahead for holiday break-ins, police say.
“Our thieves are criminals, but they’re not stupid,” said Eugene police burglary Detective Johann Schneider. “This happens in college towns nationwide. They know during holidays and breaks young adults are leaving.”
During the four-day Thanksgiving break last year, 27 burglaries, 31 thefts and 40 vehicle thefts were reported throughout Eugene, according to Eugene police.
Some University students are already aware they need to lock up.
University junior Mike Perrault said he and his roommates are having a friend stop by the residence, securing window screens, locking up everything and keeping lights on.
“Tweakers know when we’re not going to be there,” said Perrault, who already had two bikes stolen off his porch when his roommates and he were in their West University home.
University senior Fukiko Shibahara, who has never been burglarized or robbed before, said he is locking his campus-area residence and informing his neighbors he will be gone for the holiday weekend because he frequently hears of students victimized by property-crime predators.
Schneider offered several tips for students heading out of town for the holiday:
– Let a trusted neighbor know no one will be home.
– Write down or take digital photographs of all the serial numbers on pricey merchandise, such as laptops, cameras and iPods. Take digital photos and put them on a disc instead of leaving them on the computer, Schneider said.
Thieves will start selling property for drugs, but “a lot of it turns up in resale shops” and serial numbers will be needed to claim the goods, Schneider said.
– Make it look like your house is not vacant by plugging in light timers and radios and having a friend stop by. By playing a radio, it sounds like someone is talking inside the house to outside prowlers. Eugene True Value Hardware manager Terry White agreed, saying light timers are a good idea and that people should use timers that vary each day so it doesn’t look like they are on a programmed schedule.
– Install dead bolt locks on doors. These are especially difficult to break down, Schneider said.
– Put wooden dowels in windows.
– Purchase an audible alarm system if you are willing to spend big money to safeguard your residence.
Any extra security in your home won’t hurt, but truthfully, “nothing is guaranteed” to stop thieves, Schneider said.
“They’re not afraid to make noise,” he said. “If they want to get in, they’re going to get in. There is no honor among thieves. They’re thieves.”
Officers increase diligence during holiday season, Schneider said, by keeping a keen eye for suspicious lurkers in the campus area.
Property crime surges through New Year’s, beginning with Thanksgiving break and continuing more heavily during winter break because the University residence halls are vacant, Schneider said.
“Property theft does go up during holidays and breaks,” he said. “It is something students have to be aware of.”
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