By Quinn Craugh
The Daily Cardinal
Madison police released a report Thursday showing an alarming spike in the number of homes being burglarized downtown.
I'm estimating we're seeing about a 30 percent increase in burglary here for August and into September than we have the last couple of years,"" Madison Police Department Lt. Joe Balles said, ""and we really need to get on top of this ASAP.""
According to police statistics, 86 burglaries were reported in the Isthmus area since Aug. 1, and of those, 68 were residential burglaries. The hardest-hit areas were Langdon, with nine burglaries, West Mifflin Street with six burglaries and West Dayton Street, which had five reported burglaries.
Balles said in almost every case, laptops were the main items taken. He also said that while the number is alarming by itself, the way burglars are stealing property may be an even bigger cause for concern.
""If anything is unusual about [the burglaries] ... it's that a majority of these are in the daytime,"" Balles said.
UW-Madison senior Kate Nelson lives in the Dayton Street area and said she and her six roommates were victims of a mid-day robbery on Labor Day.
Nelson said her door was faulty, and that is how the robbers gained entrance to the home. She said the worst part about the whole situation was that two people were home.
Nelson said two laptops, a digital camera and all of the DVD's in the living room were stolen. She said the door has since been fixed, but that she is unhappy with the way police handled the situation.
""The police came and said 'this happens all the time,'"" Nelson said, adding the police told her she was 'SOL' about recovering the stolen items.
""This stuff is getting swept up into a blackhole ... items that are stolen are showing up on the East and West coasts,"" Balles said. 'And what is apparent to me...is there's some type of fencing operation downtown.""
""Quite honestly we're working the homeless population and some of the others that hang out and survive in the State Street area [to get information],"" he said.
And while the police plan to talk to the ""bad guy"" population for information, Ald. Eli Judge, District 8, said only by adding more Neighborhood Watch Programs and ridding distrust of police, can students feel they are not targets.
According to Nelson, she felt somewhat let down by police and agreed with Judge about having mistrust in police. Judge said it most likely stems from students being drunk and afraid to approach police when intoxicated for fear of getting a ticket.
As for increasing the number of Neighborhood Watch Programs, Judge said he is working the Associated Students of Madison about possibly setting up programs in the Mifflin, Basset and State Street areas, as well as over by Camp Randall. He said it would be nice to have six or seven stations set up throughout campus.
Currently, Spring Street has a Neighborhood Watch, as does Langdon Street. However, that is run by the Greek system, not the Associated Students of Madison.
Still, Balles said although it is alarming that most of the burglaries are during the day, it does not hide the fact that in almost every situation houses robbed had open doors or windows.
""In a lot of the reports we get they're after the facts,"" Balles said. ""We have little evidence or leads.
