By Jon Parton
Since the beginning of the semester, there have been 12 reported thefts. Half of those occurred in the Billington Library. According to Judy Korn, manager, Library Access Services, the issue of theft is on the minds of the Library staff.
“The staff knows about it,” Korn said. “We have signs pasted everywhere, ‘Do not leave your items unattended.’ We have little signs that sometimes we’ll stick in someone’s book if they walk off and we see it.”
Korn said the staff is trained to curb the occurrence of theft by taking actions to prevent it.
“If we see someone that just goes off and leaves their things, we will either try to catch them and say, ‘Don’t do that,’ or what we’ll do is take it and hold it at the desk because students will walk off and 20 minutes later, they’re still not back,” Korn said.
Four thefts occurred at the library in one day back on Sept. 4, a third of all thefts reported for the semester. Korn believes it was more than coincidence.
“So it was either someone who had come planned to do that or just saw the opportunities,” Korn said. “One, I believe, was a young woman who was asleep and she just had her purse on the floor. Somebody ran off for a few minutes and left their backpack and when they came back, it wasn’t there.”
Korn said it is important for students to use common sense when it comes to leaving their belongings out in the open.
“We want people to feel safe in the library, but not that trusting,” Korn said. “You have to be smart.”
According to a crime report compiled by the Campus Police, there were 79 incidents of larceny on campus property in 2011. That number is more than all other incidents of reported crime combined. That number is an increase from 2010 when 55 larceny reports were made to the police.
Despite the recent increase of thefts, Jacob Beck, student, feels safe leaving items unattended. He said that he does it all the time and has yet to have anything stolen.
“I feel most people don’t do it to each other out of fear that they don’t want it done to themselves,” Beck said. “Unless it’s something extremely valuable, like a tablet or something, I’ll leave it out. If it’s keys or something, I’ll just leave it.”
Joey Beeler, student, said he feels the opposite and is reluctant to leave his belongings out of sight.
“If I’m at the library and I need to go to the printer, I’ll leave my stuff there,” Beeler said. “But I won’t if I have to go really far away.”
Korn said that people need to always be cautious when leaving their items behind, even for a second. She said that mid-terms and finals are popular times for thieves due to the increased opportunities for theft.
“I think people feel too safe here to really think that something’s going to happen,” Korn said.
Contact Jon Parton, managing editor, at jparton@jccc.edu.