BRITISH COLUMBIA MAPLE RIDGE SCHOOL HIT BY COMPUTER THIEVES Maple Ridge NewsThe school district is stepping up its security with electronic entry systems, patrols and other measures after recent thefts of school master keys.
Every school in the district has had its locks changed after thieves broke into the district education office on Brown Avenue May 9 and made off with about $80,000 worth of computer equipment plus master keys.
About a month earlier, a copied master key was found broken off in a lock at Garibaldi secondary and there was a rash of unexplained early-morning alarms at several local schools.
Secretary-treasurer Don Woytowich said Thursday local school sites will now all receive distinctive high-security keys that are next to impossible to copy without permission.
"Also, we're trying to really reduce the number of keys that are out there," Woytowich said. "We do know that we have had, I think, a problem with people being too willing to pass keys off in a school, and we think the first incident was just that."
The district will also be moving to electronic card entry systems for all schools. High schools will get the first card systems, which cost about $5,000 each. As the budget permits, they will be phased in a few at a time over the coming years, Woytowich said.
The May 9 break-in took place in the evening, when both a dispatch clerk and custodian were on site.
Woytowich said the dispatch clerk heard some noise but thought it was the custodian. The custodian later stumbled across one of the thieves, who fled the scene.
It's believed more than one person is responsible for the thefts, which included about four servers and four expensive systems for testing networks. The equipment did include software and some district information, but Woytowich doesn't expect any long-term problems.
He also doesn't expect to see the equipment again.
"Normally what happens is this sort of stuff is pawned pretty quickly," he said.
More alarming is the degree of organization required for the job. The thieves knew the alarm would be off because staff were on site, and that the custodian would be working at the opposite side of the building from the computer lab.
"They were too organized for it to be a random break-in," school board chair Cheryl Ashlie said.
Ashlie stopped short of calling it an inside job, but said the thieves' detailed knowledge "does definitely cause us some concern."
Also unknown is whether or not the key theft was pre-planned. Woytowich said master keys are supposed to be kept with the person who signs them out and shouldn't have been on site. No disciplinary action is being planned, he said, but the proper sign-out procedure will be reinforced.
The district has also increased patrols at the district education office and has introduced some new security measures that only a select few will know about.
"I can tell you we have made a number of changes to make sure the same type of incident couldn't happen again," Woytowich said.
Police continue to investigate the thefts. Ashlie said she hopes the criminals are brought to justice - particularly because they were so organized.
"I would like to see this followed through on," Ashlie said. "I'd hate to think we're going to be a target on an ongoing basis."