Crime Alerts

#2005-6

April 13, 2005

Residence Hall Burglaries

From March 23- April 10, 2005, seven burglaries were reported in the Morewood-New House-Mudge community. Two rooms in New House were hit overnight on Mar. 25/26, and one in Morewood E Tower on Apr. 2 nd. Four rooms in Mudge were hit on Apr. 2 nd, 5 th, & 10 th. Students’ property stolen included one Ipod, one Sony Play Station 2, and nine laptops (Sony Vaio, Gateway, Dell Inspiron, Toshiba, Apple, Mac Power Book, Silver Mac Power Book), with a total loss value to the victims of over $17,000. One laptop belonging to the University valued at $2,000 was also stolen, bringing the total estimated loss value in these felonies to over$20,000. That’s $20,000 of property gone, not to mention the invaluable, possibly irreplaceable files, term papers, class projects, etc., that were on those laptops.

It is most concerning – just as it was last month in the 6 burglaries in Resnick-West Wing (see Crime Alert #2005-5) – that in all 7 of these latest burglaries the rooms had been left unlocked by the residents and/or the dead bolt lock had been left open (i.e., in the “thrown” or out position). We each have an obligation as community members to share in the responsibility for our own security and the safety of equipment and property.

If you have any information that will help Univ. Police solve these crimes, please contact Detectives Martin White or Sharon Hutchings immediately on x8-4202 or x8-4185 respectively. “Anonymous” phone or email tips are welcome, and will be pursued. Send anonymous email tips to campuspd@andrew or to Chief Doyle at cwd01@andrew.

Crime Prevention Tips

• Talk to your suite mates, roommates, fellow floor residents, and ask them to practice common sense measures to prevent your and their rooms from being victimized.
• While a residence hall is your "home away from home" and you want to treat it like your house or apartment back home, it's better to treat it - and every room within it - like a hotel/motel. Surely no CMU student staying in a strange city ever leaves his hotel/motel room unlocked when he leaves. KEEP YOUR ROOM DOORS LOCKED AT ALL TIMES!!
• Register your laptops and expensive electronic equipment with University Police, so that if they are stolen, police can return them to you if recovered or an arrest is later made. Go to www.cmu.edu/police/bike.htm and scroll down to “Laptop Registration” for more details.