{ "id": "2024-10-26-harvard-university-adams-house-burglary", "slug": "harvard-university-adams-house-burglary-2024-10-26", "institution": { "name": "Harvard University", "shortName": "Harvard", "state": "MA", "type": "private-r1", "alertSystemName": "MessageMe / Harvard Alert / HUPD Timely Warning", "enrollment": 25000 }, "incident": { "date": "2024-10-26", "type": "burglary", "cleryCategory": "timely-warning", "resolution": "under-investigation", "headline": "Burglary through a propped door at Adams House", "headlinePublic": "Burglary through a propped door at Adams House", "summary": "HUPD [issued a Timely Warning for a burglary at Adams House, Randolph](https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/timely-warning-adams-house-burglary).", "outcome": "HUPD investigating. High-visibility patrols increased. No arrest named on the product." }, "alerts": [ { "sequence": 1, "type": "initial", "channel": "email", "timestamp": "2024-10-27T18:00:00-04:00", "verbatimText": "Last evening (10/26/24) at approximately 11:58 PM, the Harvard University Police Department (HUPD) responded to a report of a burglary at Adams House, Randolph. In this incident residents reported that an unknown individual accessed their room through an unlocked and propped open door stole a laptop, an iPhone, a wallet containing currency, credit cards and identification documents. Later today, another resident reported that their backpack containing their laptop was stolen during the same time frame of last night’s theft.\n\nThe HUPD is actively investigating this burglary and increasing high visibility patrols in and around campus. If anyone has information regarding this incident, please contact the Harvard University Police Department’s Detective Bureau at 617-495-1796.\n\nIf at any time, you observe any type of suspicious activity please notify the Harvard University Police Department immediately at 617-495-1212 (Cambridge Campus) or 617-432-1212 (Longwood Campus.) Students, faculty, staff, and visitors are encouraged to store the HUPD’s urgent number in their phone.\n\nAlthough unlawful entries and forcible burglaries into occupied residences are rare, the HUPD wants to remind our community of precautions you can take to keep yourself and your valuables safe.\n\nResidents should not prop interior or exterior doors at any time, hold an outside door open for strangers, or allow strangers to “piggyback” on their access card.\nResidents should keep their doors locked at all times, even when in the room or when going down the hall for only a few minutes.\nIf at any time, residents observe someone acting in a suspicious manner in a building or attempting to enter residences, please call the Harvard University Police Department at 617-495-1212. Suspicious behavior may include a stranger knocking on your door and asking an out-of-place question, such as “did you lose these keys,” or making an excuse for being found in the room (“I was looking for …”).\nResidents should close their windows when leaving their rooms, even for short periods of time; should not disengage the “ventilation stop” on first-floor windows; and should keep all property away from windows in order to prevent someone from reaching in and removing items.\nIf a resident arrives home and it appears that an unlawful entry occurred, please do not enter. Call the Harvard University Police Department immediately at 617-495-1212 from the safety of a neighbor’s room. At no time should a resident enter the room, touch anything, or confront someone in the room or the building.\n\nFor more detailed information on safety and security, please read the Harvard University Police Department's Annual Security Report which can be found at www.hupd.harvard.edu/annual-security-report.\n\nFor questions about this advisory, please contact the Harvard University Police Department's Public Information Officer, Steven G. Catalano, at 617-495-9225 or by email at steven_catalano@hupd.harvard.edu.\n\nDisseminated at 6:00 PM on 10/27/24.", "isVerbatimConfirmed": true, "confidence": "high", "sourceUrl": "https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/timely-warning-adams-house-burglary", "sourceDescription": "HUPD Timely Warning: Adams House burglary", "annotations": [ "Official HUPD archive. Dual-fetch open_page live + r.jina.ai. sha256 89482a18e526d8f062b822473338344bb65151900585dbf46d3c94b10bae9f49 chars=3012.", "Grammar error propped open door stole preserved. Disseminated 6:00 PM on 10/27/24 covering 10/26/24 11:58 PM.", "SPN not attempted after 500 flap at 08:00Z. Live curl 403 Akamai.", "Product boundary ends at the Disseminated line." ], "characterCount": 3012 } ], "context": "Harvard University Police posts Timely Warnings at [hupd.harvard.edu](https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/timely-warning-adams-house-burglary). Official product: the [Adams House, Randolph burglary notice](https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/timely-warning-adams-house-burglary).", "keyFindings": [ "Unknown person entered Adams House Randolph through an unlocked and propped open door and stole electronics and a wallet; a second laptop theft was reported the next day." ], "sources": [ { "title": "HUPD Timely Warning: Adams House burglary", "url": "https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news/2024/10/timely-warning-adams-house-burglary", "type": "official-archive", "accessDate": "2026-09-21", "archiveUrl": null, "archiveNotes": "SPN not attempted after 500 flap at 08:00Z" }, { "title": "HUPD news listing", "url": "https://www.hupd.harvard.edu/news", "type": "official-archive", "accessDate": "2026-09-21", "archiveUrl": null, "archiveNotes": "SPN not attempted after 500 flap at 08:00Z" } ], "confidence": "high", "tags": [ "private-r1", "massachusetts", "harvard", "burglary", "clery" ], "dateAdded": "2026-09-21", "lastUpdated": "2026-09-21", "addedBy": "ingestion" }