Break-ins off campus increase over spring break

By Nate Swinton

When senior Lynly Walsh heard footsteps in the living room from the bathroom of her house at midnight the first Saturday night of spring break, she figured it was one of her roommates.

When she heard someone run through her kitchen and slam the side door, she became nervous and scared.

With three of her roommates already gone for spring vacation and another one out at the bars, Walsh was left home alone when a burglar briefly entered her house, located on Locust Street across from Safeway, through their unlocked front door. After a police inspection, nothing was found missing.

"I was freaking out," Walsh said. "I was home all by myself."

Walsh's experience was one of the many break-ins that have occurred in the university neighborhood in the past month. Police estimate that there have been at least nine burglaries in the neighborhood, not counting Walsh's, which they say is a definite increase. Five of them have involved Santa Clara University students.

Sergeant Larry Whitman of the Santa Clara Police Department said he believes a group of five young men are responsible for most of the break-ins in the area. In each of the cases, valuables such as stereos, televisions and video game systems were reported missing.

And in each case the burglars have found it relatively easy to gain access to the house, Whitman said.

"They've all been either through unlocked doors or windows," he said. "Definitely crimes of opportunity � seeing the opening, then going for it."

Because the cases are currently under investigation, Whitman declined to comment further.

With break-ins on the rise, some police have visited off-campus houses without warning and rattled doorknobs and windows to prove to residents how easily a burglar might enter their house.

Not all residents, however, have appreciated this type of warning.

Senior Katy White, who lives in a house on Washington Street, was home with one of her roommates when an officer came by unexpectedly to check their locks around 10 p.m. White said she first thought the officer was a burglar and while she appreciated the safety tips, she didn't enjoy being frightened.

"He was doing it out of concern, but it was uncalled for the way he did it," she said. "He was helpful but he was kind of scary."

Whitman said that good officers show concern for the neighborhoods over which they keep watch.

"Any beat officer that's concerned about his beat wants to make sure the area is protected," he said.

He added that he hadn't heard of any instances of police checking doors and windows without prior notice and said that type of action "seems a little strange."

Whitman said the most important prevention any resident can take to secure their house is to lock all windows and doors.

"If all these [people] had locked their doors and windows, [the break-ins] would not have happened," he said.

Walsh said her housemates and she, who used to always leave their door unlocked, now follow this advice. Walsh also asked her father to install a deadbolt lock on her door and bars on her windows.

"I don't feel safe at all," she said. "At night, [the house] is definitely locked."