UK COMPUTERS STOLEN Tough lesson as school thieves make off with 200 computers - Scotsman.com News:

Friday, 18th September 2009

Tough lesson as school thieves make off with 200 computers

Published Date: 18 September 2009

By GEMMA FRASER

ALMOST 200 computers, a pair of Armani trousers and a total of £3,000 in cash are among the items which have been reported stolen from Lothian schools.

The most popular targets for thieves have been electronic equipment and gadgets, including laptops, MP3 players, digital cameras and mobile phones.

One high school alone has seen £10,000 worth of equipment stolen.

Other thefts include "staff Christmas presents" taken from one city primary and milk stolen from another.

There were 20 bikes taken from sheds at Edinburgh schools and 35 mobile phones stolen, mainly from sports changing rooms at city high schools.

All the items were reported stolen in the last five years, either as a result of break-ins or thefts during the school day.

Police officers have recently been based full-time at six city schools – Portobello, Firrhill, Boroughmuir, Tynecastle, Liberton and Broughton – to help tackle youth crime and bullying.

A spokesman for Edinburgh City Council said: "All incidents of theft are treated extremely seriously and we work closely with the police to prevent such incidents occurring.

"We also regularly remind pupils about keeping their items secure, especially electronics."

Councillor Ricky Henderson, Labour's education spokesman, suggested more needed to be done to improve security at schools.

He said: "There's certainly a case to be made for relevant levels of security in terms of CCTV whenever the premises aren't staffed to prevent this type of thing happening.

"The (education] department should be keeping an eye on this, because experience has shown that , where schools have been left unsecured or buildings have been left empty during holidays, it does attract vandalism andtheft, so the council has the responsibility to ensure premises are secured and monitored.

"Security in schools has been tightened up in terms of people coming in, and that's entirely appropriate, but we need to make sure staff are challenging people coming into schools to ensure they're supposed to be there."

A police spokesman said: "Lothian and Borders Police continues to invest resources in local schools, both in the shape of school link officers who provide a point of contact for both pupils and teachers, and in the shape of crime prevention officers who provide security advice.

"We will continue to work closely with our local authority partners to address any criminal activity taking place on school grounds."