Larcenies from JQA
Between Friday, May 2 and Saturday, May 3, 2008, the University Police Department received reports of thefts from John Q. Adams Residence Hall. Three rooms on different floors were entered and personal property was stolen from the rooms. Although none of the residents were in their rooms at the time of the thefts, UMPD remains concerned for the safety of our community given the criminal nature of the acts and the unpredictability of offenders engaged in this type of venture.
The stolen property includes items such as laptop computers, IPODS, other electronic equipment, and small valuables. An investigation is underway to identify the offenders. This public safety alert is being issued to assist in preventing similar incidents and to attempt to minimize further loss and the risk of harm to our residents.
The sad fact is that there are thieves among us and we all need to do our part to prevent becoming a victim. Be aware of people on your floor and don’t assume that everyone means well. For instance, if someone enters your room uninvited and then makes an apology as if they mistakenly entered the wrong room or asks if some other person is there, you should consider this to be suspicious behavior and make a mental note of what they look like. Do not attempt to confront any suspicious individuals, but call the police as soon as you feel safe enough to report the suspicious activity. The police will not overreact to your report but will ask some questions and check on the report as quickly and professionally as possible.
Popular targets for thieves on campus and across the nation include computers, laptops, flat-screen monitors, projection systems, and other electronic equipment. Everyone should be reminded to take precautions for securing personal property such as:
• Close and lock doors of unoccupied rooms. If you are out of sight of your room for any time period, you should close and lock your door.
• An accurate and complete inventory of all valuable personal property should be maintained by the owner. Brand name, model numbers or names, serial numbers, and owner applied numbers of all valuable equipment should be recorded and stored in a safe place. Identification and recovery of stolen equipment without this information is very difficult.
• Laptops should be secured with a lockable docking station or security cables. These are available from the University Store or from other local vendors. Portable equipment such as laptop computers should be secured with a locking device in a locked room.
• The physical loss of personal or University owned computing equipment is often overshadowed by the loss of the data residing on it. All irreplaceable data and files should be backed up and copies should be stored in a secure location separate from the computer. All faculty, staff, and students are encouraged to use the OIT UDrive system to store up to 250MB of data in a secure, web-accessible location. For more information about UDrive visit: http://www.oit.umass.edu/udrive/get_started/about.html
If you have knowledge of someone committing thefts on campus, or if you have other concerns about this issue please contact the University of Massachusetts Police at (413) 545-2121 (5-2121 from campus phones), UMPD Detective Unit at (413) 545-0893 or if you would prefer to leave an anonymous tip the number is 577-8477 (7-8477 from campus phones).
PSA 05-08-10348
