Criminals had been targeting student houses regularly in the early weeks of term, attracted by the number of valuables inside.
DC Dave Walker, Crime and Disorder Reduction Officer for Sheffield West (which includes Broomhill), said: "There has been a notable drop from the second week of term when there was 18 burglaries that week.
"Last week we were down to eight, so there is a significant drop there. Eight is still eight too many but it is not significant in terms of the number of potential targets.
"It’s a yearly problem. Students become victims of crime predominantly for sneak in type burglaries, which are perpetrated by opportunist thieves."
The police have attempted to counteract rising crime by launching a number of initiatives.
Last week, Police Community Support Officers were stationed in the Union as part of Students’ Union Crime Reduction Week, offering advice and encouraging students to sign up to a free website called Immobilise.
The website helps identify the owner of any stolen property when recovered and also helps the police charge people with burglary or handling stolen goods.
They also run a yearly operation known as Operation Socratic in the first three weeks of term, including Freshers’ Week.
"The operation involves patrols paying particular attention to areas we have identified from previous years as hotspot areas," said DC Walker.
"Officers deviate their shifts so they can work at 4am for example, or longer hours if needs be."
Katherine Polson, a second year Medicine student returned home from a night out with her housemates to find they had been burgled.
"We had all been on a night out at the Uni for my friend’s birthday," said Polson, who lives on Crookesmoor Road.
"Two of my friends got home first and the front door was wide open. They went upstairs and found the rooms had had their doors smashed in.
"Seven out of the 10 rooms in the house had been broken into. It was really awful because the girl whose birthday it was had her birthday money and presents stolen."
The burglars made off with seven laptops, five iPods, four sets of speakers, two digital cameras and £200 in cash.
According to DC Walker, this catalogue of stolen items is illustrative of why criminals target houses occupied by students.
He said: "They are more appealing to criminals than your average family house because of the number of valuables.
"A burglar can expect to get his hands on up to nine laptops, nine iPods, depending on the number of students. This isn’t the case in your average family house."
Chris Warne
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