Holiday weekend burglary numbers
Mid-Missouri police agencies said they don’t necessarily see a spike in burglaries during the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, but know it’s a good time for thieves to strike.
Capt. Doug Shoemaker with the Jefferson City Police Department said this holiday weekend was relatively calm. According to police dispatch records, JCPD responded to five reports of home burglaries.
He said the crime trends are hard to predict each season.
“It comes and goes. There’s no real rhyme or reason, but during the holiday season when people do travel, people do pay attention.” Capt. Shoemaker said. “Criminals look through areas that they think are going to be easier targets, they’ll take advantage of those things.”
Columbia Police spokeswoman Latisha Stroer said holiday weekend burglary numbers would be released Thursday.
According to the FBI, nearly 400,000 burglaries happen in the U.S. during November and December.
In 2014, Columbia Police responded to 114 burglaries during those months, making up about 15 percent of the total burglaries for the year.
Thousands of University of Missouri students traveled back to their hometowns for the holiday, opening up even more opportunities from thieves.
Major Brian Weimer with the University of Missouri Police Department said they had no reports of burglaries on campus while students were on break from November 20 through November 30.
However, Major Weimer said the department only responds to burglaries at residence halls on campus, which are still closely monitored during the holiday break.
