CALIFORNIA COMPUTER BURGLARIES PLAGUE AREA SCHOOLS Ventura County Star: Simi Valley: "Computer burglaries plague area schools

By Marisa Navarro, mnavarro@VenturaCountyStar.com
February 24, 2006

Police are searching for the thieves involved in a recent string of 17 burglaries at nine Simi Valley elementary schools.

'This is an unusual amount of burglaries,' said Lowell Schultze, associate superintendent of business services and facilities for the Simi Valley Unified School District. 'I've been working here 16 years, and I've never seen anything like it.' "

In every case, thieves snatched computers and related equipment such as CD-ROMs, even though the district tags its property, Schultze said.

The district and the Simi Valley Police Department declined to assess the value of the stolen equipment.

The first school broken into was Justin Elementary School on Dec. 16. The most recent crimes occurred Wednesday when computers were taken from Abraham Lincoln, White Oak and Knolls elementary schools.

Teachers use computers for various purposes, including helping struggling readers and assisting special education pupils. Arrangements have been made for children to continue learning on computers, Schultze said.

It's not unusual for a Simi Valley school to be burglarized or vandalized, but the frequency of the break-ins concerned school administrators, Schultze said. In one weekend, thieves raided four schools, he said.

Schultze said criminals may be targeting elementary schools because they don't have high fences like the high schools or administrators working later hours as the middle schools do, he said.

Most of the burglarized elementary schools are in residential areas, and the school has asked people living nearby to help monitor activity at the schools.

Several Simi Valley schools have alarms, said Sgt. Stephanie Shannon, spokeswoman for the police department. Shannon, however, would not say if the alarms went off during the break-ins.

District workers are installing security cameras at some schools and Schultze hopes that will help catch the thieves or deter them from committing more crimes, he said. The district has been in the process of installing cameras using money from a $145 million school bond approved by voters. The extra security is not a reaction to the rash of crimes, Schultze said.

Authorities ask that anyone with information contact Shannon of the Simi Valley Police Department at 583-6993.