Auburn University's Thanksgiving break takes place Nov. 24-29, leaving apartments, dorms and homes of Auburn students empty. Even if a community is gated or has a camera at the front door, there are other measures needed to ensure a home is fully secure.
Ashley Gann, public information officer for Auburn's Campus Safety and Security department, said many crimes in Auburn are described as crimes of opportunity.
The crimes most commonly seen on Auburn's campus, according to Gann, consist of unlocked bikes or unattended laptops that are stolen. The majority of the crimes are due to someone forgetting something.
A majority of the student body will be traveling during the Thanksgiving and winter breaks, changing the busy atmosphere of the campus. Gann added that the Security Shuttle will not be in service during Thanksgiving break, so students should plan accordingly if they rely on the shuttles for night-time transportation.
"As far as being local, some folks may not decide to travel away for the holidays. If they don't, you're going to notice a lot of lower activity on campus and just in the community in general, but I would just stick to well-lit areas," Gann said. "Stay to places that you're familiar with."
Cars should be kept in well-lit areas with camera surveillance during breaks. If a student's home parking lot is not monitored or lit, and they have an on-campus parking pass, they are welcome to park in their designated on-campus lot during breaks. For bikes, Gann said moving them inside one's home is better than leaving them in a bike rack.
Internally, there are different types of locks one can install for added home security. However, Gann added that some locks could potentially be a fire hazard.
"There are some fire safety rules where you can't have certain types of locks, interior locks, so they just can't get out. If you have an interior lock with a key, it really needs to be a deadbolt with a latch because if there was a fire, you wouldn't want to be searching for your key to then unlock your interior deadbolt, even though you might feel like it's more secure," Gann said.
Checking the thermostat is also important when leaving home for a long time.
"Now that we're going into the cooler months, if you wanted to turn your heater on, but then turn it down to upper 50s, 60s, it's not going to run it so much that it drives up your power bill. It's going to kick it on just enough to circulate the air so when you come back, your stuff doesn't feel like it's musty," Gann said.
With the holiday season in full swing, many students are getting festive with Christmas trees. If students are using a natural tree, it is especially important to prepare the tree when going out of town. If the tree remains lit with the heater on, it could cause a fire.
"Holiday lights are going up, so make sure that you unplug those. Then, if people have put up real Christmas trees, make sure that you've put plenty of water in the bottom of a Christmas tree before you leave, because those can get dried out. If you have your heater on, that's actually one of our biggest causes of fires in the wintertime: tree fires," Gann said.
Mary Hillhouse, senior majoring in public relations, said she makes sure all garbage is taken out before leaving, along with emptying her fridge and pantry of foods that will expire over breaks.
"We make sure to empty the dishwasher, because we did leave something in there one time, and we came back and it smelled bad," Hillhouse said. "We try to throw out as much food as we can, especially freezer stuff. When we come back, we always look and make sure stuff didn't spoil."
For the exterior, Ring doorbells have become increasingly popular safety measures taken by college students. These doorbells have a camera built in so users can look through the app to see who is at their front door without having to physically get up and check. However, these doorbells require an additional plan to check on the camera's history.
Jules Callahan, freshman in the exploratory program, lives on campus and locks her individual room door when she is gone for an extended period. Callahan makes sure to keep her room clean and organized, storing valuables in a designated drawer and taking them home with her during breaks.
When leaving for breaks, Callahan feels confident that her room is secure thanks to the Auburn University staff.
"I'm grateful for campus housing and Auburn because I feel like they are great with safety," Callahan said.
Something helpful when leaving an apartment is to make a checklist of doors needing to be locked, food needing to be thrown away, a reminder to change the thermostat and any other to-dos before heading out for break. Gann added as an additional measure that students can let a trusted Auburn local know they are headed out of town, just so someone else knows of their whereabouts.
"We want to arm students, especially right now, with good information about how to stay safe as they are maybe heading out for holiday break — whether it be Thanksgiving break or later in the year, or even spring break. So I think some of these rules would apply annually," Gann said.
Following these measures before any break can prevent a crime of opportunity. To learn more check out Auburn's Campus Safety and Security website.
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Piper Bosart, senior in journalism, is one of the assistant managing editors for The Auburn Plainsman. She has been with The Plainsman since January, 2022.
