Streak of campus thefts probably connected

Students who saw Princeton as a relatively low-crime suburban paradise received a wakeup call this month as the campus was hit with five unsolved burglaries. Four of them were actual crimes, while one was a prank.

At the beginning of the month, two laptops were stolen from an unlocked dorm in Whitman College's North Hall, followed by the theft of three laptops from an unlocked dorm in nearby Lauritzen Hall two days later. In the latter case, the computers were returned, and it was revealed the theft was a prank.

Of the remaining three burglaries, two occurred in Forbes College and involved perpetrators entering dorm rooms by breaking open ground-floor window screens and climbing through the windows. Personal items were taken in both cases.

The fifth burglary happened in Moffett Hall when a perpetrator broke two ground-floor windows, entered a laboratory in the building and stole two computers.

Ironically, the window screens pried open during this month's burglaries were recently installed by Public Safety in an attempt to better safeguard the buildings against theft. But the agency's director, Steven Healy, said he doesn't think the new security devices failed. Instead, he said, "burglars are getting smarter."

"You're not supposed to be able to easily cut through the screen, and that's not how [the burglars] gained entry," Healy said, noting that the entire screens were pried open instead.

Citing Public Safety's ongoing investigations into this month's string of thefts, Healy said he could not give specific information about potential suspects in the cases. But, he said, Public Safety has "reason to believe [the burglaries] may be connected."

Despite the rash of burglaries, Healy said he would not describe the crimes as part of a longterm upswing in campus thefts. "It just so happens we've had a spate of burglaries in a short period of time," he said.

Healy added that he does not think the rate of on-campus burglaries will significantly increase this year relative to past years. In fact, according to the 2007 Annual Security Report, the number of burglaries on campus has been decreasing since 2004.

"There is always going to be some variation from year to year," Healy said.

Though he said he does not "want any students or community members walking around afraid for their safety," Healy advised members of the campus community "to have a heightened sense of security" as a result of the string of thefts. For instance, he said, students should take "sensible precautions" like locking their doors.

James Lanzi, a patrolman for Public Safety, said that students neglect to lock their doors due to "a false sense of security."

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Healy said lack of awareness was likely another factor. "It's normal for kids — for students — to forget to do some of those things," he said. "What we hope to do is to really kind of bring that into the conscious so that people are thinking about the things they need do to keep themselves safe."

Despite the thefts, some students said they are not overly concerned for their safety. When asked if he locked his doors, Mark Spear '08 admitted that he sometimes does not secure his door out of "convenience."

Alan Yang '10 noted that the likelihood of being the victim of a theft may depend on where a student lives.

"If they're on the first floor, they're probably a lot more likely to get robbed anyway," he said. "But ... some people who live on the fourth floor of Forbes, no one other than fourth-floor people or their friends go there usually, so that's probably not as big of a problem."

But Charles Wright '11 said he had little tolerance for those students who fail to take basic safety precautions like locking their dorms and securing valuables.

"I think they are stupid," he said. "They need to ... get on that because it doesn't make any sense to leave your door open to robbery."