South Wales Police have warned that more than 50 per cent of recent student burglaries in Cardiff have been at insecure properties.

Local officers are now offering to register student valuables on free online property database www. immobilise .com as part of the on-going Lock It, Hide It, Keep It Campaign.

The registering initiative was launched this month by student liaison officer PC Tim Davies who visited Cardiff University Students Union on Tuesday, March 1 with a crime prevention and information stand.

Pc Davies said:

The latest Home Office figures show that overall burglary in Cardiff is down 3.1 per cent but Roath and Cathays, both densely populated by students in shared properties, tend to have higher rates of burglary than other areas of the city.

Unfortunately student homes provide rich pickings for criminals who know that most students will have valuables such as laptops, games consoles and IPods that can be easily carried and sold on.

Since Christmas there have been 40 burglaries at student properties in Cardiff and 21 have at insecure properties.

This means doors and windows have been left open which is perfect for burglars as they don’t need to smash glass, risk making a noise and being disturbed, and possibly leave their DNA.

The good news is that this is something students can easily address.
Students are urged to register items such as laptops, IPods and bikes on www. immobilise .com as this means the real owners can be contacted if found.

Stolen items are usually sold or passed on in the Cardiff area.

We find hundreds of bikes every year but they have to be auctioned because we never know who they belong to,” said Pc Davies.

If owners had registered them on Immobilise then they could be easily returned.

I will be in the students union on the first Tuesday of every month with my laptop and would encourage all students to call into see me for this free service and extra crime prevention advice.

To read the source article please go to: http://www.south-wales.police.uk/