Carelessness likely an invitation to crime, statistics say
Burglary is occurring frequently in Boulder according to crime statistics collected by the Boulder Police Department in the last year.
“I can tell you that we are seeing an increase in property crimes,” said police spokeswoman Sarah Huntley.
Huntley said burglary is up 22 percent in the January to July 2008 period from the same period of 2007. Huntley said in many cases the victim failed to take basic precautions.
“Often (the criminals) walk through an unlocked door,” Huntley said. “It’s a crime of opportunity.”
Huntley added that some crimes occur when “people leave their house just to go next door.”
Huntley also said many of the burglaries have occurred on the Hill.
“We really need the public to help us to help them by taking extra precautions”, Huntley said.
Burglary is defined as theft from an individual’s property when the individual is not present, meaning that there is no confrontation and no chance of injury.
Huntley also said there have been several vehicle break-ins recently. Huntley defined a vehicle break-in as stealing property from a vehicle, not stealing the vehicle itself.
According to data from the Boulder Police Web site, reported burglaries were decreasing for several years before 2008. In 2006, 487 burglaries were reported; in 2007, the latest year for which records are available, 404 burglaries were reported.
CU Police Department spokesman Brad Wiesley said there have been no specific trends in crime at CU.
“There have been no real discernible trends so far this year, things are pretty average as far as reported crime goes,” Wiesley said.
Wiesley added CU has been in session for around 3 weeks and that it was hard to make an accurate analysis in such a short time frame.
The CUPD Web site showed the largest increases in traffic and drug offenses. In 2005, 648 traffic offenses and 74 drug offenses were reported. In 2006, the latest year for which data is available, 982 traffic offenses and 129 drug offenses were reported.
CUPD covers the CU-Boulder campus while the Boulder Police Department covers the city of Boulder off-campus.
Tyler Ehrlich, a 21-year-old senior psychology major, said his friend lost a laptop and other belongings when she did not leave her door locked.
“She just went over to her friend’s for like a half hour maybe,” Ehrlich said.
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Sam Dieter at samuel.dieter@colorado.edu.
