For the purposes of this article, the victim will be referred to as Sarah to protect her identity and privacy.
Burglaries have become increasingly commonplace in Ithaca. It is a crime that not only robs people of their possessions, but also takes away their peace of mind. In an effort to raise awareness about the profound effects of burglary, a victim, Sarah, shares her personal experience.
Sarah, a recently graduated international student from Cornell, returned home to find her apartment burglarized of over $5,000 in electronics.
“I don’t know how they knew I wasn’t at home because I left the lights on and I remember, like, locking all the windows,” Sarah recalled. “It’s like more than the property that I lost. Those are, like, replaceable. Like, I really lost my sense of security.”
“I had locked the windows, so I’m not sure how they got in. I’m assuming these are like, this is an old building, so maybe the lock did not engage properly. I’m assuming it just got disengaged. I remember locking it. So when I came in, like, the side window was left open.”
Sarah works from home. The loss of her work laptop has kept her from performing her job. She was gone overnight when the burglary occurred.
“My workspace was my living room, I used to keep all the blinds open and, you know, let the windows open and let the air in. And I’m just now thinking that I don’t feel comfortable doing that. I’m going to have to keep the blinds closed every day. Somebody has been watching me. Somebody has been tracking my movements,” Sarah said. “It really worries me.”
“I don’t even have my work. I have no laptop. And, like, one of my friends let me borrow his laptop. But I’m not supposed to be doing my work on a personal computer. So I have informed my workplace and they said they will take some information and replace it as soon as possible. But yeah, like, I have no way of working without my work laptop.”
“So I’m just really concerned for my own safety. Like last night, I could not sleep at all. It was the first night after the burglary. Like, I was up from 3 a.m. to like 5 a.m. in the morning, just trying to think, how did it happen? Where did I go wrong? So that has affected me, really. Yeah, that’s like, the worst part of all of this.”
“I really need my lights on. Like, what did they do to check that nobody is in there, just knock? Like, what if I was just fast asleep? So it’s just weird to think that somebody could have been watching me and knew that I wasn’t at home.”
The financial impact of the burglary was significant. “It was easy, $5,000 worth of electronics, and other small things. Probably around $5,500 worth of property they take,” Sarah said. The thieves had stolen electronics, including two laptops, a projector, and $25 in quarters.
“Apart from the electronics and the projector, I noticed that they also took a stack of coins, like the quarters. So they took $25 worth of those. Those are just lying on the table, near the door. And they took that as well. And I noticed, they took one of my shopping bags, the Wegmans shopping bag,” Sarah said. “I’m assuming they put most of the stuff in it and took it out.”
“I’m still so concerned. My friends back at home are like, how are you feeling safe? Like, don’t sleep alone at night. Call some friends over.”
“I keep thinking, replaying how they did it, why they did it. Who’s been watching you?”
“The police just came in and took some details on what got stolen, and then they left. Like, honestly, they didn’t ask much questions. They already seem like, yeah, like, I should not keep any hope.”
“So I feel like as a community as well, I felt the lack of support and I don’t know, I feel like maybe Cornell could do better in improving the safety of streets, you know, install CCTV cameras. So at least to gather evidence, make it easier when such cases happen. I just hope the city is more safer, because it is a college town. It is mostly students.”
“I thought I would feel safer living close to campus. I mean, many people question me. ‘Why are you staying in that downtown?’ Like, I find it very beautiful and I thought, I feel safe here,” Sarah said. “I mean, it’s nice to have, like, people around. I still have students at Cornell, so it’s easier for me to meet up, but I should consider getting a car and moving away.”
Sarah is speaking out in the hopes of helping others. “If it helps anybody, if it gets attention,” Sarah said, “Thanks for, like, for being willing to put my story out there.”