Students have had their textbooks and cell phones stolen with increasingly regularity since late March, said John Twining, chief of security and safety.
An increased number of larcenies is not uncommon during the second half of the semester, he said. Campus Security believes that the thieves are Quinnipiac students.
“The thieves steal textbooks because they either need the books to study for final exams or because they need money,” Twining said via telephone April 23. “In that case, they resell the textbook back to the bookstore.”
In the wake of the thefts, Campus Security has dispatched a team of officers to patrol the Arnold Bernhard Library, which is a location for some of the thefts, Twining said. In the library, officers keep watch for people displaying “suspicious behavior.” Some of the thefts occurred when a student left his or her textbooks unattended in the library for several hours while she or he was in class. One computer has been stolen since the end of March, he said. There have not been any burglaries on campus since the end of March, Twining said. A burglary by definition would involve a thief confronting a person and stealing belongings under the implied threat of using physical force.
“This is a very safe campus,” Twining said. “Students need to be aware of where their belongings are at all times and they need to keep them in their sight at all times.”
He continued: “As always, if a student sees anything that they consider to be out of place, they should report it to security.”
Campus Security’s main phone number is 582-6000. Its office is located on the first floor of Irmagarde Tator Hall. Security workers wear uniforms, which also display their name on their shirts.
On the first Sunday in February, at least four students had their computers, DVDs, a purse, and an iPod stolen from their dorm room while they watched the Super Bowl in another room. Some of the students had unknowingly left a door to their individual suite unlocked. In March, Stratford police arrested a 31-year-old man in connection with those thefts.
