Editor's note: The number of break-ins and thefts was reported incorrectly in this story. The correct number is 11 break-ins and thefts over break, not 14. UPD also only reported five burglaries over break, not 11. This number of break-ins is a decrease of two from 2014. The story has been updated.
University police saw no shortage of crime during Winter Break, responding to 11 incidents of break-ins and thefts.
The University Police Department reported five burglaries, a decrease from seven from break 2014 and an increase from zero from break 2013. UPD also reported six thefts during break 2015.
The break-ins reflected in the data only include calls UPD responds to, and does not include burglaries the Muncie Police Department may have responded to. The off-campus break-ins were not all in student houses.
Burglaries and thefts were reported just blocks away from Ball State's campus, with numerous calls from Rex Street, Dick Street, Neely Avenue, Gilbert Street, Carson Street and Talley Avenue. The items stolen ranged from laptops and televisions to jewelry boxes and high-end clothing.
After going home to Chicago for break, senior theater major Dante Payne received a call about suspicious activity at his house on Rex Street.
“I got a call from my friend...that lights were on and the piano was playing when she went by the house to check on our cat,” Payne said. “No one was supposed to be in the house, so she got really freaked out and called the police."
Officers searched the house and didn’t find any suspects, but Payne said he received a call the next morning on Dec. 23 from police notifying him that the house was broken into later in the night.
“It was extremely frustrating," Payne said. "And I live in Chicago, so it felt like there wasn’t a lot I could do."
While Payne said the house looked like it had been ransacked, only a few video games and cigars appeared to be stolen from the home. Laptops, computers and a sound system remained. Police recovered a glove at the scene, but no fingerprint matches were found, Payne said.
“It seems really pointless to come into the house and just take a coupe of things, which is why I’m actually wondering if we’re going to have someone try to break-in,” Payne said.
They locked the doors and windows before the break-in occurred, but now Payne said he and his roommates are taking even more precautions by buying security equipment for the home.
Devan Sadler, a senior history major and Payne's roommate, said the break-in was just "childish."
"Who comes into someone’s house and just breaks windows and steals literally nothing?” he said. “I was 1,000 miles away in Georgia, so for two weeks I had to think about what could have been stolen from the house.”
While some homes were burglarized over the break, others were also vandalized or had attempted break-ins. On the 1000 block of Neely Avenue, one home had its windows broken and a rear metal door was kicked in during what UPD officers believe was an attempted break-in, according to police reports. Another home on Gilbert Street also had broken windows.
In addition to increase in break-ins during the break, UPD officers also made five arrests, one of which was a Ball State student.
Traffic stops also resulted in four arrests over the break, three of which involved operating while intoxicated.
Officers also received calls and responded to two reports of assault on Jan. 1 and Jan. 3.
UPD logs indicate officers received calls for more than 100 incidents and requests to assist MPD over the break.
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