Cougar News Staff
With laundry in the dryer and dinner in the oven, a University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill student shuttled between appliances trying to get both jobs done at once.
What she didn't realize was that while she was at the oven someone had stolen her laundry from the machine. Fortunately, she later found her jeans on campus, with the thief inside them.
"She recognized a bleach stain and knew the pants were hers," said Lt. Angela Carmon of the university police. "It's really funny until it happens to you."
In fact, theft is the most common crime on college campuses. Nationwide, 102,081 incidents of campus theft were logged in 1996, according to Security on Campus, a group that encourages students to guard themselves against crime.
"People are too trusting," Carmon said. "We're talking about a crime of opportunity. Don't give people the opportunity to take your things, and they won't - or at least they won't very easily."
Year after year, Carmon said she reviews reports of missing appliances, bicycles, book bags, clothes, jewelry, wallets - you name it, it gets stolen.
"Some people think it can't happen to them," Carmon said, "and they're the ones who have to learn the hard way that it does."
However, there are ways to guard against theft. Among those:
View everyone as a potential suspect. That includes classmates, instructors, roommates and friends. Sometimes, the better a person knows you, the more welcome they feel to take your belongings.
Discuss safety, and the measures you're taking to protect yourself, with those around you. "You don't want to go around insulting people, but at the same time you have to let everyone know you are taking steps to protect your things," said R.V. Stephens, director of campus safety at Prairie View A&M University.
"Sometimes, you can get your message across if you encourage other people to do the things you're doing," he explained.
If you don't need it, don't bring it with you. This applies to on- and off-campus residents. The more things sitting around, whether in a book bag or a dorm room, the more things there are to be stolen.
Put your name or an easily identifiable mark on your valuables. That applies even to favorite clothes and CDs.
"People steal clothes and music all the time," Carmon said. "Write your name in your books. Engrave your stereo, VCR and computer."
Lock your door. "Students say they didn't lock their doors because they had to run out for just a minute," Carmon said. "That's all the time someone needed to take something from them."
Check on your car regularly. "Campus police officers do routine patrols, but they can't see everything," Carmon warned.
"Students have had their cars broken into, but they can't tell us when it might have happened because they haven't checked on their car for at least a month," she said.
Pay attention to what's happening around you. "I see people wandering around, reading newspapers and books all the time," Carmon said. "They don't know what's going on around them, and they're easy targets."
Wire reports contributed
to this story.