Burglars target C.U. students in alarming numbers

BOULDER, Colo. — Boulder Police are sounding the alarm about a rash of burglaries that have hit University Hill in the past few weeks.

Since mid-July, 14 burglaries have occurred in an area bordered by 10th and 12th Streets and Euclid and University Avenues. There were none during the same period last year.

“They’re stealing laptops, iPads, cell phones, cameras, wallets, that kind of thing,” said Kim Kobel, Boulder Police spokesperson. She said residents, many of them students, have literally given burglars an opening.

“People are not locking their doors,” Kobel said. “You need to lock your door if you’re leaving your home, even for a short period of time.” She said it takes very little time for a stranger to grab something from a house.

“It takes 30 seconds to walk into somebody’s house and walk out with a laptop that you see on the dining room table through the patio door,” she said.

Several residents said their friends had valuables stolen recently.

“Two of my friends, really good friends I’m living with next year, were at a concert with e and someone came in their house and just stole their two laptops, didn’t steal anything else,” said Chris Koury.

He said he makes a point of locking his doors when he’s gone. Grace Duboc said she tries to do the same.

“We made an effort to lock the door and lock our gates and we have extra locks, padlocks on our doors just to keep everything safe,” she said.

Story by: Hendrik Sybrandy