Local police tend to observe an increase in break-ins when school is out of session, and the recent week-long break has been a reminder of this trend.
‘Historically we’ve had trouble with burglaries on extended breaks,’ said Captain John P. Shea, a detective for the Binghamton Police. ‘They seem to target SUNY homes and at those particular time periods when nobody’s there.’
Shea stated that most, though not all, of the houses that have been broken into in the West side of Binghamton have been student residences.
Michael Klausner, a junior majoring in finance and biology, and Jordan Waldman, a junior majoring in psychology, are a testament to the burglary pattern that has been taking place in Downtown Binghamton. Their house was broken into twice during the summer semester.
‘I moved in over the summer and the first day our lease started I moved everything in from my car, and then I went to my friend’s house. When I came back the TV and the pots and pans were gone,’ Klausner said. ‘I filed a police report against that, but we kind of just forgot about it.’
Klausner said another time he was studying at his house just after his friends had left.
‘I heard a door open and I thought one of them had forgotten something,’ he said. ‘The next thing I knew, there was a drunken old guy standing outside my door on the second floor, so I grabbed a golf club and said ‘get out of my house now.’
The man eventually left the house.
Klausner is unsure of how either of the burglars gained entry into his house.
‘My main concern would be for people’s actual safety and not for their actual belongings,’ Klausner said. ‘Having a TV stolen is not bad compared to being attacked. Safety should be the main concern of everybody. As far as preventing it, have a lock that locks automatically, and keep your windows locked and your shades closed.’
Captain Shea recommends being observant in and around Binghamton and to report suspicious or criminal behavior. He also suggests keeping valuables, such as laptops, away from windows where a burglar could simply cut a screen in order to reach in and take it.
‘We had one recently where a student went outside to have a cigarette and in the short time she did that, they cut her screen and went into her home. Close your windows, make it as difficult for these people as you can,’ Shea said.
As far as preventing valuables from being stolen over breaks, Shea advises packing valuables in order to prevent them from being out in the open when students are not present. Such precautions are especially important when the Binghamton Police Department is so inundated with cases.
Waldman said he thought that in the broader context of crime in Binghamton, petit larceny was less of a priority than other, more serious crimes.
‘We were told that the detectives would take care of everything and we haven’t heard back from them,’ Waldman said.
Binghamton police advise all SUNY students living in Downtown Binghamton to carefully lock up any and all valuables when not present and to inform the police of any individuals exhibiting suspicious behavior nearby.