“After this happened to me, violated is the perfect word to describe how I felt.” –Amanda Kastner, Sandburg resident

On Oct. 29, a total of three laptops and various other items were stolen from residents of

the Sandburg East Tower.

The burglaries occurred on the 10th, 15th and 17th floors of East Tower. In all cases the doors of the suite and rooms were left unlocked, an open invitation for theft. All three incidents occurred in girls’ suites and happened between 9:45 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Monday.

The total value of the possessions stolen on the 17th floor suite alone amounted to nearly $6,000, including a $400 brand-new flat screen television.

Amanda Kastner, a resident of the suite, came back to her room Monday afternoon to find that she had been stripped of her most valuable and personal belongings.

According to Kastner, she left her room in a hurry Monday morning around 9:30 a.m., as she was already running late to work. She said, “I slammed my door shut and just left it open, because I figured our suite door would be locked anyways.”

When Kastner returned to her room later in the day, she found the door shut, walked in and didn’t immediately notice anything disrupted. But, after reaching in her purse to find her wallet missing, she started tearing apart her room, only to find her iPod, jewelry box, Social Security card, birth certificate and medical cards gone.

Perhaps the best way to summarize how Kastner felt is in her own words.

“After this happened to me, violated is the perfect word to describe how I felt,” Kastner said.

While this is an extremely unfortunate event, there are a few ways to avoid this situation; first and foremost, always lock your room when you are not in it. Even if you are just running downstairs to check your mailbox and you’ll be right back, lock the door.

Second, although it may seem like a big hassle, keep your suite door locked at all times. It’s quite simple, if your suite is locked, the only people who can enter are the residents of that suite.

This will probably require you to talk to your fellow suitemates and make sure that everyone in the suite is on the same page about constantly keeping the door locked.

The residents of the burglarized 17th floor suite are all in agreement now to keep their suite door locked at all hours of the day.

“We tell each other now when we have friends coming over and we always look through our peephole, just to be safe.” Kastner said.

The annual security report of crime statistics on or around campus, released on Oct. 1, 2007 reported that in 2004 there were a total of 12 burglary cases in the residence halls, with that number rising to 14 in 2005, and 19 in 2006.

The number of burglaries on campus continues to be on the rise, as in 2004 there were 27 burglaries. The number rose to 28 in 2005 and then to 37 in 2006.

Hopefully everyone can learn from these unfortunate events to keep those doors locked. As Amanda Kastner has learned, it’s always better to be safe than sorry.

“I live in Milwaukee, so I guess I should learn to be more careful,” Kastner said. “Don’t trust anybody.”

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