Since Sept. 1, 58 reports of theft have been made on the Texas A&M University-Commerce campus, totaling $18, 848 in stolen property.
More recently, computers and electronic components have been the most common items stolen. There have been five reports since Nov. 5.
According to Lt. Jason Bone, crime information officer for the University Police Department (UPD), two of those reports were made by staff members in the James Gee Library. In the first incident, an entire computer was stolen, and in the second, two hard drives taken.
Although it was not reported until the day after by an employee, a computer was also stolen from the Business Administration building on Nov. 5.
On Nov. 6, two sticks of memory were reported stolen in the IT building.
According to an e-mail sent to all faculty, the bulk of these thefts occurred in computer lab environments.
The UPD urges any departments who have computer labs to purchase a cable locking system and recovery software for their computers. They also suggest making sure that labs are monitored at all times.
“UPD has been trying to educate people about theft all semester. Sadly, I don’t think people are listening,” Bone said. “The bulk of these thefts are avoidable. People are recklessly leaving items out and unattended.”
Currently the UPD has a program called Property ID. According to Bone, all anyone has to do is download the form on the UPD Web site, fill it out and bring it into the station on campus.
To get to the UPD Web site, students and faculty can visit the home page of the University and click on the “University Police” link under “Quick Links”.
“We have and engraver for checkout, and we also ask that people record their network machine name and MAC address. Technology services has instructions available to help students find this information,” Bone said.
Once the brochure is turned in, it will be entered into the UPD’s database for quick retrieval.
Anyone who believes they may have helpful information regarding any cases of theft should contact Sgt. Kyle Lowe at kyle_lowe@leo.tamu-commerce.edu or at 903-886-5873.