CHAPEL HILL -- UNC sophomore Marek Jucovic was in the middle of a chemistry exam Thursday when management at Bolinwood Apartments called his cell phone to say someone had kicked in his door and stolen his 40-inch high-definition television and two video game systems worth more than $3,300.

Police Chief Brian Curran credits the reactivation of a downtown patrol unit for a 43 percent drop in business break-ins over the past two years.

Trouble is, the thieves appear to have moved into Chapel Hill's neighborhoods. Residential break-ins are up more than 50 percent over last year.

"We've got a relatively small number of people doing these," said Curran. "It's just that they do it a lot."

Curran said the break-ins are occurring all over town, but especially in student-rental neighborhoods.

"The thieves know that the students have goodies," said Curran. "They know that every student's got a laptop. Most of them are going to have a game system. Many of them are going to have a plasma TV, and those are the things that they're going for."

Jucovic is hoping the thieves may trip themselves up trying to sell his stuff at a pawn shop.

"My insurance doesn't cover too much of it, so I hope those guys get caught," he said. "It sucks, but, I mean, I'm glad I wasn't in my apartment at the time."

Curran said a very small number of break-ins are burglaries, where the victim is home at the time of the intrusion.

"They're not looking for places where people are home," he said. "That's a relatively small number."


Few suspects arrested

Out of 408 residential break-ins between July and March, police arrested only 29 suspects. Curran said few are arrested because intruders rarely leave much evidence, and the stolen goods have often changed hands multiple times before victims contact police.

Still, Curran said the town is considering training civilian employees such as public works crews and bus drivers to report suspicious people. That would be a way to fight crime with little additional cost.

"Any department will tell you they need more officers," said Curran, who declined to say how many are on patrol at any given time so as not to embolden criminals. "I want people to think there's more than what we've got."

In a budget proposal released last week, Curran requested only 1.5 percent more for personnel in the patrol division and offered to cut his department's overall budget by about half a percent.

"We're submitting our budget given the fiscal realities of the town," said Curran. "We tried to submit as lean a budget as possible. There's a tremendous amount of debt that the town has incurred through capital projects, and that makes for a tough budget year."not looking for places where people are home," he said. "That's a relatively small number."


Lock doors and windows

Curran said residents can protect themselves by locking doors and windows. He also urged residents to call as soon as they see something amiss. He said in burglary cases, students often wake up and scare an intruder away, only to later discover something missing.

Curran said police could do more with an immediate call.

Jucovic, a political science major who has studied sociology, was disappointed with his neighbors' "social loafing": They saw two men loading his stuff into their car but didn't call police until after the two had already fled in a yellow car.

"I'm surprised they didn't call the cops when it happened," he said.

Jucovic, an East Chapel Hill High School alumnus, has lived in Chapel Hill for 10 years. He had already been robbed walking home on Hillsborough Road. He recognizes there is crime in Chapel Hill, but his latest experience left him a little rattled.

"Maybe I should get a gun license or something," he said.