Reaccuring locker thefts
Recently, there has been a rise in locker thefts and students are being urged to be more alert and aware of these thefts so that they can understand how important it is to properly close their lockers.
In the past, students have been dialing in their combinations and neglecting to turn the tumbler because of the mere convenience of not having to redo their combinations when they return to their lockers between classes. However, this negligence has cost several students many valuable personal items.
“Jackets, particularly North Faces, phones and iPods [have been stolen],” head of security Oliver Riggs said.
Several students have fallen victims to this recent rise in locker theft.
“My locker was locked and closed entirely, but someone bent my locker open and stole my DC baseball hat and the person tried to steal my iPod but couldn’t reach it,” senior Edmond Ngati said.
Freshman Jason Boardley also experienced a similar incident; his possessions were stolen as well.
“When I came back to my locker my pants, lanyard and my phone was gone,” freshman Jason Boardley said.
Students who have their possessions stolen are encouraged to report to security, who will try to catch the thieves and return the stolen items to each student. Once security receives a complaint, they use the footage from the surveillance cameras to identify the person involved.
“Through the surveillance of the cameras, we can search the specific area of the locker, the time frame in which the crime took place and we try to identify the person or people involved,” Riggs said.
Security has been very successful in their ability to find and identify the people involved in these locker thefts.
“We have been very successful because the cameras are usually near the locations of the crimes and staff has been able to help by identifying who the kids are,” Riggs said.
They have also been very successful in recovering and returning the stolen items.
“We’ve recovered 95% of the stolen items and/or restitution was made,” security guard Lacretia Latham said.
These incidents have occurred and will continue to occur if students do not take the time to ensure that their lockers are closed and locked.
“These break-ins happen because students are not turning the tumbler after the last digit of their combination, so anyone can just lift the hatch and open the locker,” Riggs said.
However, in an effort to combat this theft, over the past few weeks, security has been walking through the halls and simply turning the tumblers on lockers of students who have, often unintentionally, forgot to turn them.
“Last Thursday, I walked down the halls and opened three lockers in a row, two of which had North Face jackets and yesterday I opened the same locker twice,” Latham said.
Students who are experiencing mechanical difficulties with their lockers are encouraged to see the security staff for possible solutions to the problem, they fix the lock or assign the student a new locker.
Michael Reese
Springbrook’s first graduating class, the class of 64, which I was a member of had no such problems. Gee, I wonder what has changed since then. Where are the values, consideration for other people. What’s happened?
Posted Feb 17, 2010 at 1:24 pm