Senior Sergeant Ben Butterfield, of Dunedin, said nine burglaries had been reported in the past week alone.
Items including speakers, guitars, laptop computers, cameras and food had been taken from flats in Castle St, Dundas St, Leith St, Anzac Ave and Grange St.
There had also been an increase in burglaries in the Kaikorai Valley area, he said.
Items including clothes, a laptop computer, sunglasses and gym bags, had been taken from properties and vehicles in Mount, Font, Kilgour and Beta Sts.
He said a large Maori man was disturbed in the area on February 18, taking clothes from a washing line.
Sergeant Blair Dalton, of Dunedin, praised the recent "good work'' by students in being vigilant in the area, and said police wanted to ''keep the pressure on''.
"We want to keep the pressure on with people who probably look like they should be in a particular area.
"If they stand out, they probably shouldn't be there. We would like to know about that if people look out of place."
He referred to a group of young women living together who chased away an intruder last week after arriving back at their Leith St address early in the morning to find a man snooping around their home.
Some of the flatmates followed him on to the street while phoning police, who eventually found and arrested a man.
- additional reporting Chris Morris
