The week of October 26th, there was an occurrence of 4 different burglaries in the Pierce and White dorms, by an unidentified suspect. During these burglaries, 90% of the items stolen were cash, along with one Xbox.

In an interview with Craig Mihaljevich, director of Campus Security, he made sure to state the clarification between a robbery and a burglary.

“Burglary involves the entrance into a structure when an individual is not permitted to be with the intent to commit a crime. Robbery is characterized by the utilization of fear or force in order to take personal property belonging to another. What happened in Pierce and White was a burglary,” stated Mihaljevich.

When asked if the thefts are connected, Mr. Mihaljevich responded with, “They all occurred at a confined time period. They could be related but that would be speculation because the investigation is still ongoing.”

Due to the investigation being ongoing, Mr. Mihaljevich was not able to disclose if there was a suspect. However, he did state that laws have been broken and the suspect will have to deal with consequences from both the Storm Lake police department as well as BVU campus security.

Does Mr. Mihaljevich believe theft is becoming a more frequent occurrence on campus?

“No,” stated Mihaljevich, “I don’t because of the surrounding information. This is a crime of opportunity. Someone is taking advantage of trusting students.”

After the burglaries occurred, campus security sent out an email to update the students and offer some tips to help prevent future thefts from happening. Some of those tips include:

• Secure all personal belongings when leaving your room.
• Make sure to lock your residence hall room door at all times (even if you’re just going to the restroom, shower, or laundry area).
• Do not give your room key to anyone.

In conclusion, here are a couple final tips to keep in mind, from Mr. Mihaljevich himself:

• As a precautionary method for when you are gone or have people in your room, students may want to invest in a $20 lock box from Walmart to put their valuables and documents in and make sure it’s locked.
• Don’t leave personal documents (license, passport) out for people to see.
• Be responsible with your keys at all times.