Twelve reported residential burglaries over Thanksgiving weekend cost Isla Vista residents just over $25,000 in stolen property, according to the Isla Vista Foot Patrol, but residents can sign up to have their house looked after by police over the upcoming winter break.

Among other items, burglars stole laptops, stereo systems, CDs, DVDs, camera equipment, DJ mixing tables and credit cards from locations throughout I.V. In one case, thieves stole several Hostess Ding Dongs, beer and milk from a fridge in a residence on the 6600 block of Picasso, leaving the empty aluminum foil wrappers on the kitchen table as evidence of their mid-burglary snack. Over $3,000 in other items were also stolen from the house.

IVFP Lt. Tom McKinny said more burglaries are committed in I.V. during long student vacation periods like Thanksgiving and winter and spring breaks.

Isla Vistans can fill out a vacation watch form at the foot patrol office on Pardall Road. Officers will keep an eye on registered house s while residents are away.

McKinny said that when officers have time on regular patrol, they will stop by the houses that are on the list and check its doors and windows for signs of forced entry.

The form requires information regarding the dates and times the house will be vacant, emergency resident contact information, if there are any people who have permission to be at the house during the specified time of absence and if any lights have been left on.

For burglaries over Thanksgiving break, officers determined that burglars entered through everything from unlocked doors to pried open windows. In two cases, suspects used bicycles as stepping stools to either climb over tall fences or reach high windows that they then broke through to enter houses. Officers photographed the resulting footprints on bike seats and took fingerprints from other burglaries, then filed the evidence or sent it to the sheriff’s crime lab for analysis.