As midterms draw near and the spring semester winds down, concerns of laptop security and thefts on campus heighten. Although the percentage of this year’s thefts is lower compared with previous years, this year marked the first theft that involved a forced entry.
The forced entry happened on January 22, in Bray Hall. According to Lieutenant Joe Audino from the Department of Public Safety the burglar broke and unsecured a window to a room on the first floor. The burglar then stole a laptop and fled. DPS was not able to determine whether or not more than one person was involved in the theft, but the incident raised concerns about a possible confrontation. “Situations like this will increase the chances for confrontation, which might have serious repercussions” said Audino.
“This is the hot item to steal,” said Sharon Roy, director of Academic Research and Computing. She expects that as the value of the laptops decrease so will the number of thefts. However, she concedes that this won’t be the case in the foreseeable future.
“It will be the traditional time for thefts,” said Audino, describing the March to May period. Statistics from previous years shows that the number of stolen laptops increases drastically during the end of the fall and the spring semesters. Last year 40 cases of stolen laptops were reported from August 2000 to July 2001.There are currently around 5,000 laptops on campus, compared to last year’s 3,000 laptops, excluding laptops that were not purchased through RPI.
This year, there have been 19 cases of stolen laptops, 14 of which have been stolen from residence halls and the rest from academic areas such as labs and offices. One of the thefts in the residence halls resulted in two stolen laptops. An additional case was also reported but the laptop was recovered from the lost-and-found services. “Common among all of these cases is that either the door or the windows were left open,” said Audino. In one of these cases, two laptops were in the room, one without a security cable and the other with a security cable. The unsecured laptop was stolen while the secured one remained.
“It is common sense,” said Roy, who pointed out that using security cables and locking windows and doors will always be the key to preventing thefts.
This relative decrease in the number of thefts may also be attributed to the increase in the insurance deductible that was instituted last year. The majority of stolen laptops last year were leased laptops which raises the question of insurance fraud. “We have no evidence to support this, but it is a possibility,” he said. In response to the high number of thefts last year, the insurance deductible was doubled from $500 to $1,000 for laptops leased or insured through RPI.
Only two laptops have been recovered since last year, and that, according to Audino and Roy, is one number that DPS is hoping to increase. “We are looking at different tracking devices and software,” said Roy. However, most of the technologies available on the market have proved vulnerable to savvy thieves.
The solution, Roy and Audino agree, is for students to be more vigilant and to report any suspicious behavior to DPS. “In the case of break-ins, students should not disturb evidence and call DPS right away,” said Audino.
