The University is on track for the lowest number of thefts in four years.
If there are less than 19 thefts on campus between now and December 31, 2009, UT will have the lowest theft rate since 2006, when the police department recorded 486 thefts.
UT Police Department Officer William Pieper said thefts are classified as the taking of property without breaking into a property or using weapons or force. The highest amount of crimes recorded between 2006 and 2009 was in 2008 with 613 crimes.
“If you stole a penny from someone, that’s still a theft,” Pieper said.
Pieper said two of the most common areas for thefts to occur are the Perry-Castañeda Library and Gregory Gym. UT Libraries spokesman Travis Willmann said about 29 thefts occurred in the PCL in October alone.
The police department worked with staff at the PCL to lower the crime rate in the library after a spike earlier in the semester, placing signs and posters around the library that warned students to keep eyes on their belongings at all times.
Willmann said the PCL also used their PA system to alert students to the risk of theft five or six times every day. Additionally, employees leave cards warning of possible thefts on unattended bags and books they find in the library.
Jennifer Speer, associate director for the Division of Recreational Sports, said police officers patrol Gregory Gym and ask students to put their belongings in a locker or safe place if they see them unattended. She also said that the gym recently installed cameras trained on all the lockers in the facility to increase security. But Gregory still has issues with students leaving property unattended.
“[Students] leave their keys and wallets on bleachers while they are playing basketball and don’t think anything will happen to them,” Pieper said.
He said this year has seen an increase in bicycle thefts and thefts in office buildings. Repeated building thefts are often the planned work of one individual or a specific group.
“People [will] go into unattended areas of offices during business hours and steal whatever is in the area,” he said.
Normally, one person is responsible for the vast majority of those because they feel comfortable going to that building, or they see there are a lot of opportunities there.”
Pieper encouraged students to watch their belongings, mark their property and register items such as bicycles through the police department to not only prevent them from being stolen, but also to catch stolen items when thieves try to resell them.
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