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Interesting Articles
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Campus safety awareness: Theft prevention tips
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Go global
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Locker rentals available in the Commuter Center
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Campus safety
awareness: Theft prevention tips
September is National Campus Safety Awareness Month. The
University of St. Thomas Public Safety Department is sponsoring
information tables, a poster series, other events, and safety tips
and precautions, like those listed below. This week, the focus is on
preventing theft.
Did you know?
The Allstate Insurance Company has come up with a list of the top
five possessions most commonly stolen from college and high-school
students. The list consists of what the company calls “high-dollar,
easy-to-grab items that are hard to recover,” and it represents the
items for which Allstate receives the most claims. The five items
are:
* Band instruments
* Data-processing devices such as laptops and PDAs
* Sports equipment
* MP3 players and accessories
* Digital cameras
Your Residence
Always lock your door when you leave and when you are inside and not
paying attention to your door (sleeping, in the shower, etc). It
only takes eight seconds for a thief to walk in and take valuable
items from your space. Make arrangements with your roommate(s) to
make sure they lock the door, also.
Especially in off-campus housing, be sure to latch windows when you
will be gone or sleeping. Many break-ins are crimes of opportunity
where the victim could have taken precautions that would have
deterred the criminals.
Identity Theft
Identity theft is when a criminal takes personal information about
you and seeks to open financial accounts in your name, and may cause
harm to your credit, savings, or your criminal or driving record.
Identity thieves look through trash, pretend to be financial
institutions online to get your information, and may get information
from a stolen wallet or purse.
There are things you can do to protect yourself. Shred your
financial documents if you don't file them. Guard your Social
Security and account numbers, and keep your passwords secret and
hard to guess. Don't respond to unsolicited e-mails, keep your
anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall software up to date, and only
use your credit card at reputable Web sites.
The law states that you are eligible to receive a free copy of your
credit report each year. Get it, and check that there are no unknown
hits on it. Pay attention to when bills should be arriving, and
question companies about them when they don't arrive on time.
If you believe you have been victimized, place a Fraud Alert with
the three major consumer reporting companies (Equifax
1-800-525-6285, Experian 1-888-397-3742, TransUnion 1-800-680-7289).
Close any financial accounts that have been created by the thieves,
and file a police report so those companies can verify that a crime
was committed.
Bikes
Be sure to properly lock your bike whenever you park it. Use a
sturdy lock, preferably a hardened case U-lock because they are much
more difficult to cut through than chain or cable locks. Lock the
frame to a secure rack, and also lock any wheels or other parts that
come off with quick-release devices. Thieves may take a wheel from
one bike and the frame of another if they are improperly secured,
leaving the owners with only parts of their bikes, but the thief
with a complete bike.
When on campus, only park bikes in designated bike rack areas and
lock them to racks. Unauthorized bike parking may result in
impounding of the bicycle by Public Safety. Since January of 2006,
eight bicycles have been reported stolen from campus property. In
all cases the owner either did not lock the bike or the thief cut
through an insufficient lock.
Public Areas
Don’t walk away from your backpack or laptop computer in a public
area, ever. Even if it looks like no one is around you in the
library, it only takes a few seconds for a thief to grab your stuff
and walk away with it. If you have to get up, take your things with
you or leave them with a trusted friend who won’t leave until you
return.
When using the gym, do not leave your clothes in an unsecured area
(such as the hallway outside the room where you’re working out).
Purchase or rent a lock and locker and use it, or bring your bag
with you into the gym. Never leave valuables behind, even in a
locked locker. |
