Students go serial on theft

In light of recent laptop thefts from the UCF Library, the police department has a message for students: register your property.

"We've got to do something to get these property crimes under control, and we need your help by at least just registering your property," said Sgt. Troy Williamson, the spokesman for the UCF Police Department.

Since the initial arrest of Kevin Carlos Mills, 30, who was charged in connection to at least four of the laptop thefts from the library, Williamson has been roaming the library, informing students about registering their property online with campus police.

"My students come first, and I want to make sure that if they bring their property out here, they protect it," Williamson said. "It's a lot of work that students are putting into these computers."

Senior business management major Brian Powell was in the library on Tuesday when Williamson made a trip there to inform students.

Powell said he had heard about the thefts via the emails that Williamson sends out.

"I appreciate that," Powell told Williamson.

Powell said he hopes to get a new laptop soon, and as soon as he does, he plans on registering it online.

Senior biomedical sciences major Loren Touma said she heard about the thefts on the news.

"I heard about the guy who came on campus and was pawning them, and I was actually pretty upset," Touma said. "You kind of think your stuff is safe, somewhat, on campus."

Frank Allen, the associate director for Administrative Services, said he thinks that part of the issue may be that students have a sense of safety and well-being in the building that leads to letting their guard down a little bit.

"They'll lock up their $200 bike outside, but they won't always safeguard their $700 laptop," Allen said.

When situations like this do occur, Allen said the library has put additional signs out that advise students to watch over their possessions.

"We will have another discussion about temporarily putting some signage up in some different locations," Allen said. "The problem with signage is that it gets stale. It's human nature to tune signage out after you've seen it once or twice."

Junior marketing major Andrew Pina asked junior biology major Ryan Stanfield, who was sitting at the workspace next to him, to watch over his things when he wanted to take a short break from his studies.

"He was there for a little while, so I thought I could trust him," Pina said.

Though Stanfield did watch over Pina's things like he'd asked, Williamson advised against doing this.

"Your shirt doesn't say ‘I'm a UCF student,' so you really don't know who you're sitting next to," Williamson said.

Williamson told Pina about registering his property online, and Pina decided to do so right then.

"I'll forget," Pina said, regarding why he decided to sign up immediately. "And I love my laptop."

Allen and Williamson believe some of the reasons for the thefts can be attributed to an increased use in expensive electronics, especially laptops.

"Part of what's happening is there has been an explosion of usage in laptops, so while the percentage of patrons who are victimized is quite small, it still hurts to hear every time we receive a theft report," Allen said.

Williamson said that criminals will often focus on stealing and pawning popular items.

"The iPad, for example, is a hot item right now, so they may think, ‘Well, iPads, I'll start stealing those. It's a new trend and I can probably get more money for those,'" Williamson said.

Williamson hopes that students will be more mindful of their property, and in an effort to encourage that he hopes to have someone from the police department in the library once a week to register laptops and educate more students.

"It only takes a few minutes to register," Powell said.

"And only a few minutes to steal it," Williamson said.

To register your property with the UCF Police Depart, vist http:// police.ucf.edu.