A little opportunity can lead to a lot of stolen property, and Lt. Dave Lehmitz of the Moscow Police Department said large residential campus towns such as Moscow are at particular risk.
Theft is a crime of opportunity and a crime that can often be averted if students take a few precautions, Lehmitz said
“We don’t have robberies on campus,” Lehmitz said. “The difference between a robbery and the difference between a theft is taking something by force or fear. A theft is: I happen to see a backpack sitting on a table, I take it and now I’m walking down the road.”
Opportune moments
Whether it is in campus housing, off-campus apartments or within a fraternity or sorority, the clustered residential campus environment presents numerous opportunities for theft.
“If you take a little bit of time to secure your own property, you aren’t going to be a victim,” Lehmitz said. “Biggest thing is taking care of your own property.”
From his office at the MPD station in the Idaho Commons, Lehmitz said it is all too common to witness a student leave his or her laptop on a table right in front of the window.
“We’ve gone out, grabbed the laptop and left our business card,” Lehmitz said. “They’ll come back and look and … say ‘Did you take my laptop?’ Yeah, you need to not leave your laptop sitting on the table and walk away from it.”
This general carelessness is often found in dorm and on-campus living as well. Campus security officers find unlocked doors and notice valuables out in the open, and leave “Campus Security was Here” cards on the door with the date, time and condition of the residence when found.
General carelessness leads to a majority of bike thefts on campus as well. Bikes — the most commonly stolen item lately — are usually stored outside and grouped in with others, an inconspicuous spot for would-be bike thieves.
When campus security personnel catch an incident on campus, they gather as much information as possible about the suspect or item stolen and relay it to the Moscow police, Penny Martinez of security services said.
“We don’t pursue, but keep eyes on the situation and relay the direction of travel,” she said. “We’re not allowed to pursue, instead we’re there be an asset. We only pursue if it’s a life or limb situation and we feel capable of handling the situation.”
Lehmitz said a majority of bikes stolen are those without locks. Though, some bikes are worth the effort of breaking a lock.
“If you don’t want to lock your bike, we’ve had bikes that were stolen worth $3,000 or $4,000 … you may want to take it and put it in your dorm. If you have a $300 bike, maybe you put a lock on it,” Lehmitz said.
Along the same theme, Lehmitz advises those with cars to keep valuables out of plain sight or take them out of the vehicle.
“If somebody walks by and sees $300 or $400 in books — they look around, bust a window, now they have a couple hundred dollars in books,” he said.
Martinez said it’s difficult for campus security to decipher whether a car theft is happening, but they keep an eye on suspicious activity, such as observing whether an individual has a key for the car.
“We observe behavior. If it seems it’s their car we won’t step in,” she said. “If it looks suspicious we’ll call it in as suspicious activity. People tend not to be very subtle when it’s not their property.”
The number of thefts will likely go up as winter break approaches, and those who choose not to take valuables home put themselves at risk.
“Take your valuables with you,” Lehmitz said. “I’m not saying you have to load up your dorm room, (but) at least make a conscious effort. Make sure your blinds are closed, make sure your window is locked.”
Greek houses are most at risk during the holidays, with valuables almost guaranteed inside any given house. Lehmitz advises those who live in sororities and fraternities to take the same precautions and bring valuables home or at least be discreet about leaving them out.
Campus security patrols the sidewalks and alleys adjacent to Greek houses, doing so with more frequency during spring, summer and winter breaks.
“If we see suspicious activity we’ll usually contact the house residents,” Martinez said.
She recounted one example of suspicious activity from last spring break when one house had a wide open window, with access to the balcony area. She called Lehmitz and the two found the front door of the house wide open, only to find a resident of the house who was the last to leave and didn’t know how to properly lock up.
Rarity of recovery
Most items lifted from their rightful owners aren’t returned, Lehmitz said. Problems identifying items, difficulty tracking unregistered electronics and immediate shipment to other regions make returning stolen property challenging.
“(When an item is stolen) we’ll take the report. We’ll try to get the best description of the property that was taken,” Lehmitz said.
MPD provides campus security with a Clery Act and police report daily, which University Emergency Manager Patrice McDaniel said often contains more recovered lost items than reported thefts.
Without detailed information identifying a stolen item, the police have little chance of determining its rightful owner.
“In order to get your property back you have to be able to identify your property,” Lehmitz said. “Something identifiable that would make it unique from any other bike.”
If it’s a device such as a phone or a laptop and it’s registered with IT then the police can have the item flagged and track its usage on campus. Although, Lehmitz said laptops are rarely recovered.
“Every now and again, not real often,” he said. “(They are) more than likely sold again and go out of the area.”
Cases of organized crime
When an item is taken out of Moscow’s jurisdiction it becomes nearly impossible to recover, which is often the case.
Lehmitz said this practice explains the recent bike theft epidemic.
“I don’t think we have students ripping these bikes. I think we have somebody coming from outside of our area, and taking them out of the area because we’re not finding them,” he said. “So whoever is doing this are coming in, taking a handful of bikes and then they’re leaving the area.”
He said through investigations they have learned the stolen bikes have gone as far as the Tri-Cities in Washington. Bikes would be stolen in bunches, loaded in to trucks and driven out of Moscow.
“Usually when we’re not recovering property or we’re not hearing anything, then usually we’ve got somebody coming from out of area coming in and doing this,” he said.