Unhappy Valley
(cont'd) “Call it crime of opportunity,” Stokes said.
He said that the rise in burglaries is also attributed to the number of easy-to-steal items college students typically own – and often leave unguarded. Laptops, iPods, cell phones and digital cameras are small, expensive items that are easy to grab and easy to resell.
Before, Stokes said, items such as stereos, computers, and televisions would be too large to steal, so burglars would go looking for items such as jewelry and other valuables that were often kept locked up. Burglaries required more preparation and planning. Now criminals only have to get in, take a quick look around, and grab whatever they can carry.
Western junior Yuki Nakajima became acquainted with this scenario Dec. 5, when she returned to her 24th Street apartment after class to discover her door unlocked and her electronic valuables gone.
Nakajima figures the burglars came in through a window she forgot to
lock. Although she was just gone for a few hours and was back from class
by 5 p.m., that was the window of time the criminals needed.
“I looked around and realized that my TV and laptop were gone,” Nakajima said. “They also stole my DVDs, CDs, jacket and Playstation 2. I’ve lived there almost a year by myself and this is the first time anything like this has happened.”
But, as she soon learned, this was not the first time the police had heard about something like that. She said she called the police, who asked very specific questions about what was missing and gave her a case number, but did not come to her apartment to investigate.
“If you have a burglary and have a suspect, it’s more likely to lead to an arrest,” Stokes said. “Without a suspect, it becomes a lot harder.”
Thus, the responsibility for preventing crime falls to the neighborhood residents, he said.
“All you can really do is fortify your own house or car,” Stokes said. “If we have a lot of cops patrolling that will deter crime to an extent. But the biggest deterrent is your own actions and taking away the opportunity for crime.” —>
Copyright © 2005 Western Washington University