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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