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Holiday Break and Campus Security
by Michelle Muscatello

While many people are busy decorating trees and baking cookies, some are doing business-bad business. Break-ins typically increase during the holiday months and the UNC-Chapel Hill campus is no exception.

Imagine returning after Thanksgiving break and finding your room ransacked and burglarized.

Well that's exactly what nearly a dozen UNC-Chapel Hill students found when they came back last week, including Sophomore Brian Milliken.

Milliken said, "The screen was kind of pried up a little bit and all this stuff here was knocked over and like part of our fan case is broken cause I guess they just kicked it over and there was dust all over the place".

Milliken's fourth floor dorm room in Craig Residence Hall had hundreds of dollars worth of items stolen. Part of the mystery is how the burglars got to the fourth floor in the first place. Police still have no suspects.

And as shocking as the campus burglaries are, Public Safety Director Jeff McCracken said break-ins are not uncommon. "People know the schedule students are on. And Criminals are always looking to take advantage of folks and when they know a large number of students will be gone and their residences will be unoccupied for several weeks they try to take advantage of that and occasionally we have break-ins," said McCracken.

But the multiple break-ins over Thanksgiving, five dorm rooms on South Campus, have UNC police stepping up security measures for winter break.

McCracken says they'll have more officers on duty, patrolling campus dorms by car and by foot.

For Brian Milliken, the damage has already been done.

"You feel immediately violated that people have been going through your stuff like your clothes and everything back of your closet and all the stuff. One of my checkbooks was stolen. It's just kind of shocking. You don't feel safe anymore," he said.

Police also suggest students take home valuable items and make sure their windows and doors are locked and their blinds are closed.

Students who can't take home their valuables are encouraged to copy the serial numbers on their appliances and electronics. That way if they are stolen, they will be easier to trace.

 
   

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