Some students returning from break may have found a nasty surprise: a broken window and missing items.

According to the Bowling Green Police Department, burglaries are more frequent during breaks. Lt. Tony Hetrick said the police attended to several burglary reports over the past few weeks.

“When they come back, we normally have several complaints of apartments that have been kicked in and things stolen. That is probably the number one problem over break,” Hetrick said.

Students should be more cautious, he said.

“We always urge students to take their valuables home with them and make sure their apartments are fully secured,” Hetrick said, “It doesn’t always work out that way, and even those who take precautions are sometimes victimized.”

Hetrick said the police department often increases patrols in the apartment areas to combat the burglaries over break.

“Hopefully we curtailed some of that,” Hetrick said. “[There] a lot of units though, out there, a lot of apartment units, and we can’t be everywhere, so sometimes they are successful.”

One arrest has been made and a warrant is out for another suspect, he said.

Student Discipline Programs said no students had been arrested in connection to burglary.

Detective Sgt. Jason Stanley said a half dozen burglaries were reported.

“Some were forced entry through doors or windows, and a couple were where people had left their apartments unlocked, and they just went through the door and took Xboxes, computers, TVs and other electronic equipment,” Stanley said.

One issue is that because the incidents happen over break, they are sometimes not reported until the first or second week back, he said.

“If it happened the first weekend of break and it’s not discovered until you get back, there is that almost three-week lag between when the event occurred and when it is discovered,” he said. “Which can cause evidence like possibly finger prints or something like that to degrade to the point where you can’t collect them.”

He said he didn’t have any exact statistics, but that items are not recovered as often as he would like.

Part of the problem is from collecting evidence.

“A lot of the time we can’t collect fingerprints, the biggest problem we have is that a lot of college apartments are dusty and you cannot collect fingerprints effectively in dust,” he said.

Another issue is that students do not record important information about the items.

“A lot of times, people don’t have their serial numbers or makes and models of items that they have had stolen,” Stanley said. “Without identifying information like that, if we do find them at a pawnshop or a used game store, we can’t identify them because we don’t have the serial number information from the victim to match up with it.”

Stanley suggested that students record make, model and serial number of anything of importance or value. Photographs wouldn’t hurt either, he said.

“The biggest thing that they need to remember, regardless of whether they take their stuff or not, is that they need to lock all of their doors and windows,” Stanley said.

Assistant Dean of Students Andy Alt created a list of security tips for students going home over break.

“The main thing is to remove the valuables that you have, to an extent possible,” Alt said. “Students need to remember to take those electronic devices, laptops, things that are portable, to take those out of the house when they aren’t going to be there.”

He said another tip is to make the apartment look as if it is currently lived in by using lights on timers. Students should also shut their blinds so people outside will not know if anyone is home or not.

He said that having the post office hold mail is also a good idea.

“One of the other things is to have someone check on their apartment or house while they are gone,” Alt said. “So if you have a friend who lives around, that you trust, have them stop by the house every now and again to make sure things are okay.”

Here are some suggested precautions for off-campus students during breaks:

Take portable valuables with you, hide or cover remaining items.

Take pictures of items and record serial number, make and model.

Close shades or blinds.

Put lights on a timer.

Have a trustworthy friend check on your apartment.

Have post office hold mail.

Remember to lock doors and windows.

Information provided by Assistant Dean of Students Andy Alt and Detective Sgt. Jason Stanley.