NEW JERSEY COMPUTERS STOLEN FROM SCHOOL http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061114/COMMUNITIES/611140336/1203/NEWS01


Tighter security

Meanwhile in Boonton Township this week, school officials are beefing up security in the wake of the recent theft of electronics valued at more than $4,000 from the K-8 Rockaway Valley School.

Superintendent Roseann Humphrey said additional lighting will be added to the grounds and other measures will be taken to ensure additional thefts do not occur.

Four laptop computers and chargers, and a calculator --valued at a total of $4,485 --were discovered missing from a classroom on Nov. 6 when police responded to an alarm at the Valley Road school.

Lt. Dan Worts said the theft is believed to have occurred sometime between Nov. 4 and 6, and police found the window in the classroom partially open with the screen cut.

The Morris County Sheriff's Office assisted township police at the scene, and fingerprints were collected, Worts said. No other classrooms were disturbed, and officials believe the alarm may have scared the perpetrators away.

"It may have been worse had we not had an alarm system,"Humphrey said. "We're taking further steps to be even more secure."

Humphrey said the loss of the computers is an inconvenience, and students will have to share with other classrooms.

"We were very disheartened that someone would break into an elementary school," she said, adding that letters were sent home so parents could discuss the theft with their children.

"There's no rhyme or reason to it. The equipment is all labeled; it's all registered," she said. " I don't know where they think they're going with it."