Theft
an increasing safety concern on campus
By Austin Harris
Assistant Online Editor
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February 16, 2001
Senior
Shaw Lentz and Brent McConkey are the most recent university students
to learn that the campus is not always a safe haven.
When Lentz and McConkey returned from the men’s basketball game
against North Carolina on Feb. 6, their ThinkPads, CD player and VCR
were missing. A closer inspection revealed that the burglar had entered
the room in Student Apartments through the bathroom window.
Despite efforts by University Police, theft on campus has recently been
occurring with greater frequency than in months past. The victims of
thefts are most often students, followed by the university, then faculty
and staff. University Police Chief Regina Lawson noted that faculty
and staff are more apt to close and lock their doors than students are.
“The door to (a student’s) room should be treated like a door
to a home,” she said. Most thefts on campus can be prevented by
students’ simply locking their doors before leaving.
Burglary is “not a very frequent occurrence” on campus, said
Lawson, and incidents of forced entry are very rare. Lentz’s misfortune,
however, proves that these incidents do occasionally happen.
According
to Lawson, most thefts on campus are “crimes of opportunity,”
occurring when students leave their rooms unlocked or book bags unattended.
“Well over 90 percent of the thefts are preventable incidents,”
Lawson said.
The type of thief involved in a larceny usually depends on the location
of the crime. For example, thefts in the Information Systems and Professional
Schools buildings are likely to be committed by strangers walking onto
campus. However, petty larcenies, which are concentrated around residence
halls, are usually committed by students.
The “Mid-Year Report,” a document recently released by University
Police that includes crimes committed between July and Dec. 2000, confirmed
the high frequency of on-campus theft.
According
to the report, there were 104 known larcenies during this period. Of
these 104 larcenies, 86 were general larcenies (items such as book bags,
credit cards, and wallets), 10 were bike larcenies, five were computer
thefts and three were automobile break-ins resulting in larceny.
An increase
in the number of ThinkPads stolen from residence halls has also troubled
University Police. “We are concerned about the number of laptops
being stolen in the Winston-Salem area,” Lawson said.
Planned thefts of laptop devices are becoming a citywide problem, though
the university has been the focus of these types of larceny because
every student has a laptop. Lawson also noted that the IS department
keeps records of the serial numbers of each ThinkPad, as well as the
serial numbers of the internal components, so if a ThinkPad is ever
recovered it can be traced back to its owner.
Earlier this semester, freshman Mike Blank was leaving his room to go
out for the evening, but left the door unlocked since he had lost his
room key. When he returned to his room for the evening, his ThinkPad
was missing. “At first I thought people were joking around with
me,” Blank said. The computer was never recovered, and Blank called
University Police the next morning to report the theft.
In addition to ThinkPads, smaller items such as portable electronic
devices, wallets, car CD players, and stereos are all thieves’
targets. Lawson labels these types of items as “cumulative items
of high value” because they are all small and portable, yet very
valuable. University Police has noticed a sharp increase in the total
dollar value of items stolen over the past several years.
Automobile break-ins resulting in larceny have also increased recently.
In late January, senior Brittany Neal’s Jeep Wrangler was broken
into. She did not lock the doors to the car because it did not contain
any valuables and it had a soft top, so a persistent thief would be
able to get into the car regardless.
The thief attempted to start the car using a screwdriver or some other
instrument, but instead damaged the ignition, causing $250 in damage.
“I was really lucky that they weren’t successful in stealing
my car because it would have been gone,” Neal said. “We assume
that because we’re within the campus, we’re safe, but I guess
it makes a difference that we’re out next to Polo Road.”
University
Police has also reported recent automobile burglaries in Parking Lot
Z and at the university’s residences on Polo Road and Rosedale
Circle.
The rate of recovery of stolen items depends on the availability of
witnesses and the type of theft. Especially without any witnesses to
the crime, there is a “rather low” recovery rate for minor
thefts, Lawson said. She also noted that “We have had some success
with recovering ThinkPads,” made possible through cooperation with
the Winston-Salem Police Department and the IS department’s tracking
of computer serial numbers.
University Police strongly encourages students to report any thefts.
“The more (crimes) that are reported, the more we can identify
patterns (of theft),” Lawson continued. Students often do not report
petty thefts to police because of embarrassment or negligence.
University
Police has instituted several methods of reporting crimes anonymously.
Students are encouraged to fill out an anonymous silent witness form
on the University Police Web site if they witness a crime.
Campus Crimestoppers also serves as another anonymous reporting mechanism.
Students can call Ext. 4477 at any time to report a crime, and University
Police makes cash rewards available for information leading to an arrest.
University Police also sponsors Operation ID, a program designed to
help prevent theft by engraving personal items with the owner’s
driver’s license number. The engraving serves as a deterrent to
theft and a record for insurance purposes.
It is a free service to students, faculty and staff, and engravers may
be borrowed from police headquarters at any time. Though student use
of the program “has increased” recently, according to Lawson,
still less than 200 people take advantage of Operation ID each year.
