Oakland burglaries peak over winter break

Pitt students aren’t the only ones who eagerly await winter break.

The 17-day holiday… Pitt students aren’t the only ones who eagerly await winter break.

The 17-day holiday recess gave burglars a prime opportunity to snatch jewelry, cash, electronics and other valuable goods from unattended buildings, apartments and homes in Oakland and the greater Pittsburgh area.

Between the Monday and Saturday before Christmas, the city police received reports of 48 burglaries in Pittsburgh. From Dec. 17 through Jan. 2, before many students arrived back on campus, Pitt police received three reports of burglaries. This number does not include theft from cars.

Valerie Milie, a detective for the Pittsburgh Burglary Squad, said that burglary is most prevalent in Oakland during the holiday season out of all the Pittsburgh neighborhoods.

“Pitt students are away for the holidays, and a lot of burglars know that, so they prey on that,” she said. “They’ll knock on the doors and if nobody answers, they’ll kick in the doors. They know these college kids sometimes leave a lot of electronics and things in the house.”

According to Pitt police’s Campus Crime Report, 46 burglaries occurred on campus and in the surrounding Oakland area in 2010 — nearly triple the amount from 2009, when 16 burglaries were reported to the Pitt police and University officials.

In Pittsburgh, which the Economist Intelligence Unit named one of the “most-livable” cities in the U.S., the police received reports of a total of 2,910 burglaries in 2010.

That number is still significantly lower than those of the robberies reported in Honolulu and Washington, D.C., which were ranked as the second and third most-livable cities. In 2010, 5,760 and 4,231 burglaries were reported to authorities in the cities, respectively. But these cities are much larger than Pittsburgh. When the amounts of crime per thousand residents are compared, Pittsburgh has 9 crimes per 1,000 residents, while Honolulu has 6.6, according to the FBI’s uniform crime reports.

Diane Richard, spokeswoman for the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police, said the number of burglaries typically increases during the holiday season for many different reasons.

“One reason is that people are out of work, and this is the type of time of year when they’re trying to make things comparable for their families. And they’re not able to, so they go out and they steal,” Richard said.

Richard also said that burglaries are more prevalent during the holiday season because people unknowingly advertise their new gifts and electronics by leaving empty boxes out in front of their homes.

“People know that you’re buying big-ticketed items. Don’t put boxes out in front of your home, like big television boxes and things like that. You need to cut them up and store them for trash day,” Richard said. “People see those things and they figure, ‘Oh, this is ripe for the picking.’ So different homes are targeted because it’s being advertised.”

Each year the Pittsburgh Bureau of Police revamps their website with safety information for Pittsburgh residents, including tips for safe holiday shopping and gift storage.

“This year, we’ve put up a page on our website called ‘Keep your Junk in the Trunk,’ that teaches people what to be aware of when they’re Christmas shopping, how to walk to their cars with gifts, and how to store boxes after Christmas,” Richard said.

City police patrol the same areas during the holiday season that they normally patrol throughout the year. They also partner with Pitt police to handle and prevent burglaries in the Oakland area, including looking after off-campus houses and apartment buildings.

During winter break, Pitt police still patrol the University and Oakland area 24/7. But Officer Ron Bennett of the Pitt police said that students and residents still have a responsibility as far as preventing burglaries on and off campus.

“Our advice to students is to secure all of their valuables before leaving [for winter break],” Bennett said. “They should make sure all windows and doors are secured not only during the holidays, but at all times.”

Milie said that city police and the Burglary Squad work with pawn shops throughout Pittsburgh to help victims of burglary retrieve stolen valuables.

The pawn shops’ employees keep lists of items and the people who pawn them, and the lists are sent to the Burglary Squad. If the detectives can match the serial numbers of items with the victims’, they can usually track down the burglars.

Milie said that the Burglary Squad can track down many more stolen items if owners write down the serial numbers, makes and models of their valuables.