TENNESSEE COMPUTER THEFT AT UNIVERSITIES Campus thefts increase as high tech gadgets aboundNASHVILLE, Tenn. More high tech equipment is being stolen at college campuses across Tennessee, and campus police have an idea why.

These days, just about every dorm room has hundreds of dollars in computer and high-tech gadgets, such as PDAs and game consoles, just sitting around.

University of Tennessee Police Chief Ed Yovella says it's almost too easy for a thief prowling the halls.

Across Tennessee, thefts from buildings jumped 12-point-five percent in one year, to nearly two-thousand offenses in 2003. Burglary has increased a whopping 33 percent since 2001, from 392 offenses to 520 in 2003.

Those kind of numbers are helping drive an overall 11-point-nine percent increase in campus crime in the state, according to a recent report from the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation.