NORTH CAROLINA COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM AGENCYheraldsun.com: Thieves hit training center againThieves hit training center again

By Lovemore Masakadza : The Herald-Sun
lmasakadza@heraldsun.com
Oct 17, 2005 : 11:50 pm ET

DURHAM -- Burglars have hammered a downtown agency whose mission is to train unskilled and low-skilled workers, and officials at The Center for Employment Training blame their landlord for the string of disruptive break-ins.

Tyrone Everett, regional director of the state and federally subsidized nonprofit agency, which operates in more than a dozen states, said the latest break-in at its Golden Belt Complex location in downtown Durham occurred over the weekend. Ten computers and four printers valued at between $10,000 and $15,000 were stolen, he said.

Everett blames the Durham Housing Authority, the center's landlord, for not doing enough to halt the property crimes.

He said there have been four break-ins in the past six weeks. In one, just before Labor Day, the center lost eight computers, a television and VCR, among other items.

Despite requests to have the Housing Authority improve the security of the complex, there have been no results, according to Everett.

Housing Authority Director Deloris Rogers said Monday she had not heard about the problems, but would look into them.

Everett said he had been discussing security concerns with James Anderson, Housing Authority director of asset management. Attempts to reach Anderson on Monday were unsuccessful.

Although there are security cameras in the building, Everett said not all of them are operational. He believes that security breach needs to be corrected by the Housing Authority, and that the cameras should be turned on around the clock.

"They should be quicker to the response to the needs of the tenants," he said.

Instead, Everett said, Anderson told him that the break-ins might be an inside job. Everett is asking for more investigations.

Everett said the Housing Authority told him that the police had pass keys to enter the building. But when Everett arrived at the building Monday, he said, he was surprised to find the alarms still sounding. He said that causes him to wonder if there had been a police response to the weekend burglary.