Holiday burglaries in off-campus apartments

Parent Cafe
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<p>I have a niece at the University of Alabama who lives in an off-campus apartment in Tuscaloosa with 2 roommates. Her dad insisted that they install a burglar alarm system in the apartment because he was uneasy with the thought of 3 girls living in what he considered to be a dicey area (although they were surrounded by apartments housing other students). </p>

<p>Last week they were burglarized during Thanksgiving break. The alarm scared away the intruders after they broke through the back door. The landlord replaced the door and reset the alarm, but the back door was unarmed because the sensor had to be reinstalled by the alarm company. Two days later, the apartment was broken into again – through the unprotected back door. They broke the lock on my niece’s bedroom door and ransacked her room, getting away with quite a bit of stuff. The landlord told her that he has two other student-occupied properties that were also burglarized over Thanksgiving break and he knows of 15 others that suffered the same fate. Police suspect that they were the work of the same bunch of thieves, and that they were probably students who knew their victims.</p>

<p>Apparently, the holidays are easy pickings for burglars in college towns who know that the kids will be home for break. My older son went to UF in Gainesville, where the majority of students live in off-campus apartments. I never heard of these holiday break-ins when he was there, but it wouldn’t surprise me to learn that they happen there and in other college towns. I doubt that this kind of crime is limited to Tuscaloosa. </p>

<p>Since Christmas break is on the horizon, it might be a good idea for kids living off campus to bring home any valuables and take extra care in securing their apartment before leaving.</p>

<p>edit: Mods, I meant to put this in the Parents Forum, not the Cafe. Could you please move it?</p>

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<p>Good warning to every kid, whether in an off campus apartment or on campus dorm. My kids’ valuables consisted of laptops, ipods and cameras–which they always brought home for the holidays. </p>

<p>We notice more break-ins around our town during the Christmas season. Even criminals want to provide a nice Christmas for their families. As the weird eye guy in the Harry Potter books would say, “CONSTANT VIGILANCE.”</p>

3

<p>Always a good reminder. Our home was broken into when we were gone for Thanksgiving a few years ago - along with 4 other houses in the neighborhood. We now have an alarm.</p>

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<p>patsmom, they are happening at UF. D’s friend had his laptop stolen out of his apartment when it was broken into this weekend. With two weeks before the end of the term…not a good thing. And the sad thing is that they will get maybe 50-100 for a 1000 computer.</p>

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<p>We live in a college town. In the local paper today there was an article about a series of break-ins/thefts from several student oriented apartment complexes over the Thanksgiving break. I’ve already told my DD that she needs to bring home her personal electronics over winter break. The dorms are pretty secure but better safe than sorry.</p>

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<p>Someone broke into a sorority house on my son’s campus last Thanksgiving. Maybe we should tell our kids to hide their valuables before leaving on breaks. A little effort could save them a lot of grief.</p>

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<p>Also think about getting student renters insurance. We did not have it and my son’s on campus apartment was broken into on a weekend in Oct. He and one other roommate lost their computers.
We now have renters insurance.</p>