Unattended belongings make easy theft targets

By Matthew Gomez
The Guardsman

At City College unattended valuables like laptops and cameras are a favorite for thieves looking for a quick score.

So  far this semester, 31 of the 59 crimes reported on City College  campuses were thefts, and the majority of those occurred in the Wellness  Center and Rosenberg Library.

“Theft is the number one issue that we deal with,” City College Police Chief Andre Barnes said.

Last  summer City College and the Ingleside police department teamed up to  conduct an investigation into the thefts on campus. The Ocean campus  resides within the Ingleside district, and often Ingleside’s officers  work together with officers from City College (TheGuardsman.com/stings).

Sergeant  Jim Miller, from Ingleside, compared data and statistics that City  College had compiled and used it to determine the best form of theft  prevention.

“We kind of had an idea already of what the problem was,” Miller said.

They  found that the majority of thefts involved unattended items. Their main  plan of action was to spread the message to students that they need to  prevent theft by being more aware of their surroundings.

“Public  safety is a shared responsibility,” Barnes said. “It’s up to students  to be the first protectors of their property and themselves.”

Erik  Krouse, who uses the locker room in the Wellness Center before and  after his P.E. classes, said he keeps his valuables either with him or  in his car. He only keeps clothes in his locker, because he said the  area can get “sketchy.”

There  are only 33 police officers divided between City College’s 11 campuses.  Three to six officers are usually stationed at the Ocean campus, Barnes  said.

At a school with more than 100,000 students, Barnes said it is impossible for the police to monitor every situation.

The  staff and librarians at Rosenberg have tried to take that  responsibility upon themselves. They do patrols throughout the day and  leave tags on unattended items that say “If we were thieves, your things  would be gone.”

Charles  Fracchia, department chair of the library learning resource center,  said the message is still lost on many students, who think leaving items  unattended for a few minutes isn’t an issue.

“They  don’t take it seriously,” Fracchia said. “We have bent over backwards  to try to educate students not to leave their belongings.”

Email:
mgomez@theguardsman.com