The Grinch has come early to Auburn.
The hairy green menace called burglary has become more prevalent in Auburn, and authorities say college students aren't the only victims.
"It's across the board," said Bill James, director of public safety. "We have burglaries in established neighborhoods."
The Auburn Police provide a free security check service to any Auburn resident.
"One of our crime-prevention specialists will come out to a residence and check it to see what security weaknesses the home may have, and then make recommendations to the homeowner," said Capt. Tom Stofer.
There are steps that both students and permanent residents can take while they're away for long periods of time.
"The main thing is making your home look lived in," Stofer said. "Most important is making sure all the doors and windows are locked. Many times it's a crime of opportunity."
Caroline Davidson, junior in public administration, learned about opportunistic thieves last Labor Day.
"I didn't lock the door before I left, and my roommate forgot to check it before she went to sleep," Davidson said. "Somebody came in in the middle of the night, around 2:30, and took my computer. They saw that one of my roommates was still awake and walked right back out the door."
Davidson said although her computer was never recovered, the police were thorough with the process.
"The police officer that night was really helpful," Davidson said. "I was out of town, but he stayed with me on the phone and walked me through the whole process. They followed up twice, actually, and called me two different times to make sure nothing else had happened."
Leigh Ellen Logan, junior in exercise science, was in the house when it was burglarized.
"He opened the door to my room and saw that I was awake," Logan said. "Then he just said, 'Sup,' and walked out. It was dark so I didn't see much. He was a white guy with a baseball cap."
Logan said at first she didn't know if it was a prank by one of their friends, but she walked out of her room and saw the back door open.
"We all went in my room and called a couple of our guy friends over," Logan said. "We looked around and saw Caroline's laptop was missing. That's when I called the police."
Stofer said it's often difficult to recover stolen property, but there is a way to make it much easier.
"Homeowners, students and citizens in general need to make sure that they mark their property as best they can," Stofer said. "Make sure your property is identifiable so that if we do recover it we can return it to its rightful owner. Do things like record serial numbers (and) property descriptions and store those in a safe place."
James and Stofer said stolen property often finds its way into pawn shops.
"We do see that on occasion," Stofer said. "We have a system for routinely checking pawnshops and the property they're taking in."
James said along with police checking pawnshops, the shops themselves are required to submit reports to the authorities of what they take in.
If a resident is burglarized and believes their property is in a pawn shop, they can contact police to recover it.
"They're going to have to have a bill of sale, a receipt or the property has to be marked, something to show it belongs to them," Stofer said.
Stofer said the residents of Auburn are the best tools the police have.
"It's important that citizens be involved, and that they be a nosy neighbor," he said.
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