Burglars targeted NIU student dwellings during Spring Break, stealing thousands of dollars worth of their belongings.

“Burglaries are very common during the shorter NIU breaks. Some years are worse than others, and this looks like a bad one,” said DeKalb Police Lt. Chuck Kross.

One of the hardest-hit student residences was in the 800 block of Edgebrook Drive. Thieves forcibly entered the apartment sometime between Wednesday and Friday and stole $3,030 in stereo equipment, police said.

Burglars kicked in the doors of four apartments in the same building between Thursday and Friday in the 700 block of Lucinda Avenue, police said.

Landlord Paul Sauser said he did not know what happened, though his offices are in the front of the building.

Kross also said he did not know how many rooms at the Bromley Companys Dormitory, 830 Edgebrook Drive, had been broken into, because all the building’s residents had not returned from vacation. Residents reported burglaries in four locked suites, although there was no sign of forced entry, Kross said.

“We have walking (police) beats into many but not all apartment buildings during break times,” Kross said. Bromley manager Susan Cassens could not be reached for comment.

But student residences were not the only places hit by burglars during the break. Someone crashed a rock through a window at P.J.‘s Red Hots restaurant, 817 W. Lincoln Hwy., some time between Thursday and Friday and stole $247, police said.