Library laptop thefts on the rise

Chance: Pay $1,200 to replace your stolen computer.

No, it's not the latest version of Monopoly, but just one attempt by Duke libraries staff to prevent laptop thefts.

Many students' laptops have disappeared from the campus' libraries recently, including Perkins, Bostock and Lilly. Library administrators have tried to increase awareness of thefts, but efforts have not been a good substitute for student responsibility, they said.

Karen Jean Hunt, director of the John Hope Franklin Collection, said she encountered a laptop thief in the library March 17. She said after leaving a meeting, she came upon an older, tall, black male acting suspiciously on the second floor of Perkins Library near the Breedlove Room.

Ultimately, the man left the library and Hunt pursued him, realizing he was carrying a black laptop bag, she said.

She approached the guard near the West Campus bus stop and asked him to call the police. When he began to speak into his radio, the suspect started running toward and then past the Chapel, she said.

By the time three police cars arrived, he was gone. The investigation into the two laptops stolen is still pending, Duke University Police Department officials said.

"We are an easy target [for thefts] because the library is perceived as a safe place where people are here for reasons not like that," said Tom Wall, associate university librarian for public services. "So there's a sense of trust in libraries in general."

"More and more people are coming into the libraries, and more and more people are bringing portable devices. That probably makes [the library] a fertile ground for people who steal," Wall added.

Library administrators said thefts seem to occur periodically by organized individuals.

"I've also gotten the impression that they happen in waves," Wall said. "I think these people might be more organized than we realize, because sometimes it doesn't feel as random as we're led to believe."

Ann Elsner, director of administrative services for Duke University Libraries, said the libraries are doing all they can to prevent thefts short of closing the library to non-Duke users as some private schools do.

"Campus security is providing roving security guards," she said. "If there have been alerts, we will alert the staff to be aware that there's been an increase in thefts. We've added signage. We've put the alert notices [by the entrances]."

Wall added that part of the solution is more "education," teaching students that there are people entering the libraries who will steal their belongings.

Williams said Duke police officers have begun patrolling the libraries in street clothes, but their efforts have gone unrewarded.

"We've done some decoy operations in which we've gone in and run several operations in different libraries in an attempt to put out a decoy computer to get someone to bite," he said. "That hasn't proven very successful."

Some library staff are leaving themed slips like "Chance" cards from Monopoly on unattended laptops that read "Don't take a chance! Never leave your belongings unattended."

Williams discouraged this strategy, however, because it signals to thieves that laptops are unattended and may make thefts even easier. Instead, he recommends students use a computer lock if they plan to leave a laptop unattended in public areas.

"You cannot put convenience ahead of security," he said.