I live near West Chester. I am confident that the burglaries are just people looking for drugs and/or money and/or stuff to sell to buy drugs. The rapes have mostly been date rapes. Not that this is a good thing, but I don't think we should expect any escalation.
The "spree" that has hit the news is really just a matter of enhanced reporting by the University of off-campus crimes against students. The other thing going on is that the locals have been complaining more and more about bad behavior of students - public urination, noise, parties etc.. I think the University is trying to point out that the students are often victims rather than perpetrators. The rate of crime is about the same as always. If the economy doesn't pick up, there will be more burglaries targeting students.