Take measures to protect belongings

Lock your doors and hide your laptops—break-ins are continuing to sweep through student neighbourhoods, with another incident reported this past weekend.
Nicholas Miles, a second-year economics student, was away from his Western Road townhouse—along with his roommates—for only a few hours this weekend when his home was broken into.
Five laptops and money were stolen from the residence, Miles said, adding the incident occurred during the night.
But Miles’ situation is one of many, according to Dennis Rivest, media relations officer for London Police Services, who explained there have been over 100 break-and-enters into student housing since the summer—a sharp increase from previous years.
“We want to get the message out to students,” Rivest said. “One of the most common things we’re seeing in a lot of these [cases] is that students are leaving their residences unlocked. It’s very, very important that even if you’re home [...] to lock your house, lock your doors, and lock your windows.”
However, such measures still failed to deter thefts from Miles residence, which he noted was secured.
“We’re not sure how the thief got into the house, but it was likely through forcing the lock on our back door,” Miles observed.
Rivest advised going so far as to lock your bedroom door with your valuables inside, and adding a dowel or a brace into the tracks of sliding patio doors and windows, to provide extra security.
Student housing is often a prime target for thieves, with relaxed security and middle to upper-class students living inside, surrounded by their valuable electronics.
“Another thing that a lot of students don’t consider is insurance for their belongings,” Rivest said, adding property insurance could be crucial in the event of a fire or theft.
But Miles felt the main course of prevention in his case could have been awareness.
“The University has the email of every student on campus, surely they could disseminate some information in that manner,” he said. “While students should be doing more to secure their homes, we should not have to go looking for information about thefts in our area.”
University Students’ Council president Andrew Forgione explained he was meeting with Elgin Austen, director of campus police services, and Keith Marnoch, director of media and community relations at Western, today to discuss campus safety.
“I have tweeted whenever I find out about break-ins so that the word does get out, but the USC really wants to begin communicating more effectively to students when thefts and assaults do occur,” he said.
Patrick Searle, vice-president university affairs for the USC, is already working on a phone application to give students a warning when and where things are being stolen.
“I’m working on the more general means to get the word out to students if they don’t have the app,” Forgione said. “I also want to work more with residence managers to see how we can warn students and tell them not leave items unattended.”
And according to Rivest, another key element of precaution is recording serial numbers of electronics.
“We’re fairly successful [at recovering items],” Rivest informed. “Often times when somebody steals a computer or a camera or an iPod, they’re looking to move it fairly quickly. And a lot of times we can track those serial numbers down and find them in the various places they’re sold.”
“It’s not about being fearful, it’s about being secure and safe,” he concluded.