WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON LAPTOP THEFT ISSUEThe UW Daily OnlineBy Kayla Webley
2004-03-08


In 2003 there were 74 reported burglaries and 812 reported thefts, including 54 motor-vehicle thefts, on the UW campus, according to UW Police Department (UWPD) records.

Thefts are up 25 percent from 647 in 2002, but the number of burglaries fell dramatically, almost half of the 134 in 2002.

According to UWPD Assistant Chief Ray Wittmier, even with these statistics, theft is not a large problem on campus.

"The numbers are not huge," he said. "Out of all the thousands of people that come to campus, and then you figure in major events like football that add to the statistical totals too, around two thefts a day on average really is not a huge number."

According to Wittmier, there is a wide range of reported thefts.

"Thefts can be anywhere from a textbook to even smaller stuff; people can have a roll of stamps stolen," he said. "It is not a jewelry heist or a bank robbery on campus or anything like that."

According to Wittmier, laptop computers are the most common targets of theft.

"Probably our biggest theft, as far as value and a consistent problem, would be laptop computers," he said. "That is something that usually, if taken, is personal property of a student or a staff member. It is a big hit for an individual to lose a laptop computer; it is not some small thing."

One measure some departments have taken to combat theft is security cameras.

"There's not a lot of security cameras on campus," he said. "The number has been slowly growing."

The increase in security cameras may be increasing due to changes in public opinion of the issue.

"Years ago it wasn't really accepted very well as far as having cameras on campus. However, now it seems that people are much more open to having security cameras around, whether it be administration or the people that come here to go to school," Wittmier said.

According to Wittmier, some areas on campus that have implemented cameras are Henderson Hall, the UW Medical Center, and Housing and Food Services stores such as Stevens Pantry, The Back Door and Ian's Domain.

The cameras have proven to be effective in these areas.

"[Cameras] have been very instrumental in cases where somebody has used somebody else's Husky Card to charge up things. We have been able to see who the person was that did it, and we have been able to get the convictions on those," said Wittmier. "Also, one camera at Henderson Hall keys in on the outside area where the bike racks are, and we have had a number of times where we have had video of bike thefts there. We have been able to identify the person responsible, so it was helpful there."

Even with proven effectiveness, there are still several challenges facing the installment of additional security cameras around campus.

"One of the concerns with security -ype cameras, especially since there is talk about having them in garages, is that there is a false sense of security people sometimes get when they see a camera mounted," said Wittmier. "They think that there is always someone monitoring it, and that there probably would not be the staffing to monitor something like that, taking into consideration how many places you would need to put them if you were going to do all the parking lots or something like that."

In addition to establishing false security, according to Wittmier, cameras can also be problematic when it comes to funding and can be an invasion of privacy.

"It's a challenge between the costs of putting them throughout campus, and also there is still some concerns that come up as far as 'Big Brother watching you' type of thing," he said. "Then there is also the ongoing cost of the maintenance on the cameras as well as the monitoring. The University really doesn't want to put something in that isn't going to be monitored in some way; they don't like to do that."