Burglary rates sharply increase in Columbia

The area north of Interstate 70 has the largest increase.

By Austin Alonzo
Dec. 2, 2008

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Columbia police are continuing to see higher rates of burglary as the year continues, and they are encouraging citizens to take steps toward crime prevention.

Columbia Police Department statistics show a 53 percent increase in the total number of burglaries through Nov. 20, or 746 burglaries reported, as compared to 487 burglaries during the same time period in 2007.

There also has been an increase in larcenies from vehicles this year.

Meanwhile, violent crime is down almost 40 percent through September compared to last year.

CPD Capt. Brad Nelson credits the increase to the poor economy and the growing size of the city.

"You're going to see more burglaries when the economy turns bad, you just do — the rate goes up when the economy is down," Nelson said. "Columbia is getting bigger, unfortunately you are going to have more crime as the city gets bigger."

CPD Sgt. Lloyd Simmons also indicated that the large student population played a role in the increase.

Students living off campus or close to campus must be particularly careful, Simmons said, as neighborhoods with a high student population are more likely to be targeted by burglars.

"We have a huge amount of students and we tend to get a lot of students that don't lock doors, they don't do a lot of basic crime prevention things, they don't watch out for each other," Simmons said. "When it comes to larceny in vehicles, they leave stuff on the seat. They leave laptops, purses, that kind of thing."

Simmons cited the string of burglaries at The Links apartment complex, where one or two individuals with master keys to the complex managed to burgle at least 11 apartments without being reported.

"You'll see a lot of the apartments will be empty, the lights will be off, there will be mail in the mailbox, newspapers, there will be no signs that anybody is staying there," Simmons said. "For burglars, they've hit the jackpot when they drive into one of these apartment complexes and there is only one or two apartments lit up and there's obviously no one home."

Despite the increase in burglaries, MU students living on campus don't have to worry much about burglary, MU Police Department Capt. Brian Weimer said.

"At this time we don't have anything to indicate a trend on our campus," he said.

CPD increased its patrol of northern neighborhoods that are being targeted by burglars, but said they rely heavily on neighborhood watches and normal citizens to prevent theft.

"We certainly would like to get more people involved in the neighborhood watch," Simmons said. "That's so important, to partner up with your neighbors and keep an eye on each other, because that's what it boils down to, watching each other's back."

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Burglary rates sharply increase in Columbia

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