WASHINGTON SEATTLE PACIFIC UNIVERSITY COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM ELECTRONICS OFFICE The Falcon Newspaper - Computers stolen from OMH

Computers stolen from OMHPossible suspect seen on surveillance video but evades Safety and Security officers
By
Tara Meyer , News Writer
Published: 3-1-2006

It takes less than 30 seconds for a thief to enter a target area and steal valuable contents, said Vic Peirsol, associate director of security operations.

That's about the estimated time it took for someone to "enter and grab" two laptops from an electronics office in Otto Miller Hall on Feb. 15, he said.

While one security officer was in Otto Miller Hall responding to the theft, another was circling the building and surrounding areas looking for a suspect who was in possession of two laptops, Peirsol said.

No suspect was apprehended

Sometime before 1 p.m., Brad Gjerding, an SPU computer and engineering analyst, left his office on the second floor of Otto Miller Hall to repair a computer in one of the building's computer labs. When he left, two laptops were on his desk. Both laptops were in for repair because "they were not rebooting properly over night," he said.

Sometime after 1 p.m., adjunct faculty member Don Bowie walked into Gjerding's office and left a note.

"I read the note, sat down and called Don," Gjerding said. Bowie then agreed to come to my office to meet with me, Gjerding said.

"It was after I got off the phone with Don that I noticed the laptops were gone," he said. The power cords for the laptops were not taken, he said.

After Bowie arrived a few minutes later at Gjerding's office, he was asked if he had seen two laptops on the desk when he came by. Bowie did not notice whether the laptops were there, Gjerding said.

Gjerding immediately called Safety and Security and two officers responded.

"After the officers arrived [at Otto Miller Hall] the closed-circuit television system (CCTV) was reviewed," Peirsol said. The CCTV video showed a man in his 30s or 40s entering Otto Miller Hall where the theft occurred.

"He was the only person that didn't have business there," Peirsol said.

Earlier that day, at 12:45 p.m., Safety and Security received a call from a staff member in Demaray Hall that "an individual was seen walking through an office area that was not open to public," Peirsol said.

Security officers were dispatched to Demaray Hall, but the individual was not located.

After the video was reviewed, the Office of Safety and Security began to connect that the person described walking in an off-limits office area in Demaray Hall was probably the same person who was identified on the CCTV from Otto Miller Hall. A picture of the suspect was taken to the staff member who reported the "suspicious person" in Demaray Hall, Peirsol said.

The staff member confirmed that the suspect seen in the video in Otto Miller Hall was the same person seen in Demaray Hall, Peirsol said.

At 2:25 p.m., the Office of Safety and Security sent out a safety alert e-mail to all faculty and staff members. The e-mail further described the suspect as a 6-foot-2-inch black male with short hair. He was wearing glasses, white pants and a dark fleece jacket.

The photo and video of the suspect has been passed on to SPU's Seattle Police Department liaison, Patrol Officer Steve Ives, who will give them to detectives in the Burglary and Theft Division, Peirsol said.

Ives mentioned to Piersol "that they did have someone with the same M.O. [method of operation] as someone who has stolen electronics illegally entering buildings in the Queen Anne neighborhood," Peirsol said.

The computers are estimated to be worth a total of $1,300. There was no sensitive information on the laptops, Gjerding said.

"There will just be two less computers for students to access," he said. "It shouldn't have a significant effect."

Students, faculty and staff at SPU are urged to lock offices and dorm rooms, Peirsol said.

"It's part of the price of living in a metropolitan area," he said.