Criminals Go Shopping
Student apartments targeted during holiday break
By Ashley Hopkins, staff writer
Posted on November 13, 2006

Many JMU students don’t lock their doors to prevent theft, but would they start locking them if they thought the police could walk in?

This question will soon be answered as the Harrisonburg Police Department and the JMU Department of Public Safety team up to help educate students on ways to protect themselves from theft during the holidays.

“If we find doors unlocked, we can come inside with search warrants and find any incriminating evidence,” special commander for the Harrisoburg Police Department Lt. Kevin Lanoue said, adding that many students are afraid of cops and wouldn’t want them or criminals in their apartment.

While many students feel secure in Harrisonburg, there are people who travel from Roanoke, Waynesboro, Staunton and other surrounding areas to break into apartment complexes while students are away for Thanksgiving and Winter Break, said Lanoue, special operations commander for the Harrisonburg Police Department.

“Students steal from students too,” said Lt. Danny Whetzel, head of investigations for JMU.  “It’s not just outsiders you have to worry about.”

HPD Special Operations Commander Diane Roll said one in five doors will be left unlocked over the break.

“That’s why these folks come here,” Lanoue said. “It’s easy.”

While urging students to lock their doors at all times, police are also taking a more active approach to deterring theft. Undercover police officers will walk through apartment complexes checking for unlocked doors and looking out for suspicious-looking individuals.

Due to education and surveillance efforts such as these, rates of breaking and entering have fallen 93 percent since 1994, Lanoue said. While this is promising, 55 incidents of breaking and entering were reported in 2004, causing police to advise students of efforts they can take to protect themselves from theft.

In addition to locking their doors, students are asked to label the valuable items they bring with them from home. If labeling is not an option, students can make a list of important information about their items, including serial numbers, makes and models.
           
“You mark your stuff, that way if it is stolen and we recover it, you can identify it,” Roll said.

Students can also contact the crime prevention offices of the HDP for a security assessment of their property. In cases such as these, specialists visit an apartment to make sure locks are secure and blinds can’t been seen through. They talk with the resident about their relationships with their neighbors and their living environment in order to access the safety of their housing situation. 

For more information about how to protect your apartment from theft or to safeguard yourself against any future episodes of breaking and entering, contact Roll at 437-2634.

“We’re out to catch bad guys,” Lanoue said.  “We’re looking for your help in that.”