Criminals at the U might be trying to stay off Santa’s naughty list.
Every year since 2003, reported crime at the U drops from Labor Day to Christmas as reliably as the temperature outside. Beginning at an average of 184 crimes in September, the crime rate drops by about 20 occurrences each month. Crime hits its annual low by December, before steadily climbing again from January to April.
“Someone’s probably less inclined to steal a TV when it’s raining or snowing,” said Capt. Lynn Mitchell of the U Police Department.
Part of the low crime rate in December can be attributed to students leaving the campus en masse for Winter Break. Similar lows appear from May to July, during the U’s Summer Break, when much of the campus is just as vacant.
Once the holiday break is over, despite the freezing January temperatures, crime heats back up again.
An average of 40 thefts are reported to campus police each January, an increase from the average 22 thefts in the previous month. Mitchell said that it’s because every year, students, faculty and staff forget to lock up before they leave for Winter Break. Before they return, thieves often break into buildings to take advantage of these mistakes.
“You have got to remember to lock your door,” Mitchell said. Besides checking that the door is definitely locked, he advises that students take as much of their property home with them as they can. Students should take extra care to take home any technology, because criminals tend to steal items such as laptops, iPods and Palm Pilots, he said.
Ben Holstead, a freshman in computer science who lives on campus, said he isn’t worried about January thefts. Whatever he doesn’t take home to Ohio will be locked inside a safe that he rented from Housing and Residential Education.
Students interested in securing their valuables can rent a safe from HRE for $80, which covers the rest of the academic year. The safes are large enough to store a laptop and three or four other items of similar size.