Before the holidays, Chico State University Police Department and Chico Police Department sent out a message to ensure students protected their valuables due to the increase of crime over break.

According to UPD Detective Bill Kolb, one of the biggest crimes that occurs during winter session is bike theft off campus areas such as apartments and residential homes.

“The most common type of theft that occurs on campus is bike theft, but since many students are on break most bikes are stolen from residential homes,” Kolb said.” One of the main things is when bikes are registered, it allows us to get information and find the bike faster.”

Chico PD Police Record Technician Lupe Villela said many burglaries are reported when students return from the holidays.

“It’s like people know when students go on break because burglary rates go up a lot,” Villela said. “It isn’t until they come back that we start receiving all the phone calls. Since students are back, that’s when they start realizing their things are missing or their car was broken into.”

During this time, UPD patrols campus properties to ensure the safety of students. Kolb suggests to students who see crimes to contact UPD or Chico PD immediately for them to determine the next steps that have to take place.

“The first step that we take is go out to the call site and determine if any action should take place,” Kolb said. “I suggest to secure valuables, leave things out of sight, take things home and keep record of valuables and laptops. I also highly encourage students to buy a U-Lock and keep valuables out of sight, especially inside vehicles.”

According to police reports, several crimes were reported between the dates of Dec. 23 to Jan. 20. In total, there were 263 burglaries and residential crimes that occurred over winter break.

Karen Limones can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.