In March of this year alone, 7 residential burglaries from
the York Neighborhood were called in to the Bellingham Police Department. Eight
more burglaries were reported last December and in 2012, 10 residential
burglaries occurred in January. Two college students residing in York have
spoken out as victims of the burglaries and are weary that the thieves target
student homes on holidays and when the university and community colleges go on break.
The York community is crowded with college homes and the
majority of the neighborhood is residential. The area gives a suburban and
homey vibe, with colorful, old-fashioned houses. Students who find the York
Neighborhood to be a convenient place to reside now have a reason to believe that
they would be targeted for burglaries.
Sara Wilson, a Western Washington University sophomore, says
that she has been robbed on three separate occasions, all during hours when no
one was home. The reoccurring burglars have stolen expensive devices such as
laptops and an XBOX to inexpensive items like makeup and batteries, says
Wilson. The most damaging burglary was during winter break and Wilson has three
other roommates who also had their belongings stolen.
“They smashed and kicked my door in and we have deadbolts on
the other doors, so all of those had been hammered in,” Margaret Adams said, a
roommate of Wilson’s.
Wilson’s car was broken into two months ago and she suspects
that the burglars are not homeless since the radio was stolen and not her
blanket. The license and registration to the car were also taken. Her car is
usually parked on the street in the front of the house and when she drove home
for winter break, the burglars hit her house again.
“I know that they watch our cars because I was here over
break up until a few days before Christmas and then I went home. They broke in
between then and New Years so they must have been staking it out until I left,”
says Wilson, “Both of our neighbor’s cars have been robbed multiple times in
the last few years too.”
The neighbors are long-time residents with families, so for
car robberies the targets are not strictly students.
The landlord of Wilson’s home informed them that the former
residents, also students, were broken into through Wilson’s bedroom window.
Alarms were installed on all the windows but Wilson’s was off on the day they
were robbed. Wilson’s street only has houses down one side, where a concrete
barrier borders the homes on the adjacent side. The area has an enclosed feel,
making the street a prime target.
Wilson remembers earlier this year that a police car stopped
her while she was on a run in her neighborhood and the officer asked if she had
seen a man in a red sweatshirt. Asking what the man was wanted for, the officer
told her that he is suspected of residential burglary.
Another student from the university, Alex Buttler, has also
been a victim of the burglaries in the York Neighborhood. Buttler was home
during the robbery on Halloween night.
“I was in my room with my boyfriend and I had no idea they
were there,” Buttler says, “They must have swept through quickly because my
MacBook in the living room wasn’t taken and a pile of clothes were left on the
kitchen table.”
Buttler soon discovered that her front door was wide open,
her clothes had been rummaged through, and a few of her expensive jackets and
purses had been stolen.
The Bellingham Police were called on all the residential
burglary occasions and both Wilson and Buttler say that the crimes are on file.
The York Neighborhood Association had a meeting about the robberies in March,
says Wilson, and fliers were up during that month advertising the problem of
the burglaries. The authorities are aware of the burglaries in the York area
but no one individual or group has been held accountable.
“The police need to step up,” said Wilson, “They need to
start doing more patrols because this has happened too many times.”
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