Cambridge Police Share Crime Prevention Tips as Students Head Back to School

With the school year back in session, the Cambridge Police Department wants to encourage students and residents to adopt a number of crime prevention tips in order to protect themselves and their property from theft or damage. 

In particular, CPD wants to ensure students and residents are proactive in preventing the following crimes:  

Housebreaks
To avoid being victimized by a housebreak or attempted housebreak, the Cambridge Police encourage residents to take the following precautions to protect themselves and their belongings from theft:

• ALWAYS lock your doors and windows at your home or apartment, particularly your basement door(s) and don’t forget about those that can be accessed by a fire escape.
• Communicate with those that you share your home or apartment with and remind them to lock doors and windows when they leave their residence, even if it is only for a few moments.
• Install guards on windows that prevent them from being raised more than a few inches.
• NEVER prop open a door or let someone in behind you if you live in an apartment building, particularly if you don’t know them.
• Install motion sensor lights around your home and out of reach.
• If you SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING. It is critically important for residents to report any crime or activity that may appear to be suspicious such as an unfamiliar person checking on windows.

Larceny from Persons
People often leave their belongings unattended and realize they have been stolen as they are leaving establishments. To avoid becoming a victim of larceny, the Cambridge Police encourage the following to protect belongings:

• While dining out, do not place your purse or jacket over the back of your chair. Keep your purse on your lap or between your feet with the handle around the leg of your chair or your foot.
• Do not leave a cell phone, tablet or laptop unattended on your table.
• When shopping, do not leave your purse or wallet unattended.
• At work, put your purse or wallet in a drawer. Do not leave it on or under a desk.
• Always keep your purse closed.
• Do not keep your Personal Identification Numbers (PIN) in your purse or wallet.
• Keep a list of all credit and ID cards at home along with the card number and customer service phone number in the event you need to close the account due to theft.

Bicycle Thefts
The Cambridge Police warn students to invest in solid bicycle locks as they return to campus, as bike thefts tend to increase in the city at the beginning of the school year.

• Get a U-lock for your bike. The overwhelming majorities of stolen bikes are locked with a cable or chain, or weren’t locked at all. The least expensive U-lock is better than the best chain.
• A bike being unlocked is a bigger factor in whether it gets stolen than how expensive the bike is.
• Most bikes that are stolen have been left unlocked “just for a minute.”
• Lock the front wheel to the frame, if you can’t lock it to something.
• Don’t use parking meters or sign polls because the bikes can easily be lifted over and taken away in seconds.
• Avoid parking your bike overnight in public if you can avoid it.
• Take a picture of your bike to help identify it if it is stolen. Consider posting that photo on websites such as http://rejjee.com/ to increase your odds of recovering it.
• Write down your bike serial number and etch your driver’s license number 2 places on your bike. Using the driver’s license number will assist police in the recovery of stolen bikes.

Fraud
There are an increasing number of phone and social media scams victimizing people across the country. One such scam targeting college students is “crackin’ cards,” in which scammers are contacting students and stating something along the lines of “let us put money in your account and we’ll give you a cut” or “let me use your bank account to deposit a check and I’ll give you half the money that’s deposited.” How can you protect yourself?

• Don’t share your debit card or PIN information with anyone
• Don’t deposit funds from an unknown source into your account (this scam relies on you depositing a counterfeit check into your bank account).
• If you are approached to relinquish control of your debit account or if you observe suspicious activity/recruiting online, please contact the Cambridge Police at 617-349-3300 or your campus police.

Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

For more tips and information, please visit http://www.cambridgema.gov/cpd/communityresources/CrimePrevention.

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The Cambridge Police Department is committed to the enforcement of laws and preservation of order that protect the rights and property of every person within the City of Cambridge. Our mission is to provide the highest quality of police service and to impact crime, and its associated elements, through the utilization of new and proven crime prevention strategies and problem-solving partnerships with our community.  For more information, follow @CambridgePolice on Twitter, or access the department’s Facebook page at www.facebook.com/CambridgePolice.