Campus Computer Theft

There have been several rumors and much speculation about the stolen computer fiasco which happened while most of us were home on winter break. You may be wondering; how exactly did 60 computers, desktops at that, get stolen from a locked computer room in a locked building, without being detected? That seems like a very good question. What makes the situation worse, however, is that 15 computers were found missing from the fourth floor of the Civil Engineering building just a few weeks beforehand, and 29 computers were found wrapped up in Heavilon Hall ready to be taken the night of the theft in Stanley Coulter. 

What stopped the thieves from taking the rest? How did they get in and transport so many computers in such little time? How did they fit all of them in a vehicle? There are so many questions surrounding this incident that are yet to be answered, and it seems that students are taking out their frustrations and uncertainties with the matter on ITaP. 

An editorial written in The Exponent blamed ITaP for the 4-hour delay between the time that the computers were stolen and the time that the police were alerted. They made those four hours sound like a lifetime, but this was fairly quickly considering this occurred in the middle of the night over winter break and there was no one was in the building who could conveniently check on the situation. Most monitoring tools for university computer labs observe what state the computers are in and whether they are turned on or off. As we all know, computers aren’t always the most reliable devices, especially when an entire computer lab is operating from one single router. I’m sure “Oh my gosh, someone stole all of the computers” is not the first thought in your head when you see that the computers are all down at the same time. So come on, people, give ITaP a break!

The same editorial also states that Stanley Coulter was open all break long. This is definitely not the case. At the time of the theft, all of the outside doors of Stanley Coulter were locked, as well as the doors to the computer labs themselves. This means that the thieves entered by force and broke the locks of both exterior and interior doors to complete their task. I can’t say I’m an expert on the criminals’ knowledge, but I feel like these folks knew exactly what they were doing and are pretty dang good at what they do. Besides the fact that they successfully pried open at least three locked doors, they still had the daunting task of packaging and transporting 60 computers from the computer lab to vehicle(s), which would take some serious time under normal circumstances. 

In order for them to partake in such an operation, there had to have been multiple people involved and a large vehicle to be able to hold all of the hijacked desktops. I think it is safe to say that these thieves were professionals. They were unbelievably organized in knowing exactly where to go, how to break in, how to wrap all the computers for transport, and how to get them all out of the building and into a vehicle for departure without being detected. No ordinary person would have the necessary skills for such a smooth and well-planned maneuver. 

Students are also acting as if their tuition is going to be doubled to pay for this expensive robbery. The magic word is ‘insurance’. It is highly unlikely that the university is going to make tens of thousands of students pay directly for the replacement of the stolen computers. Most businesses have insurance to cover their losses when they are robbed, assuming that university employees were at  fault. It is very likely that the university has a similar insurance policy that allows the new computers to be purchased at a lower cost. Students have suggested that Purdue install more security cameras to prevent future problems such as this. While this is a good thought, it will be hard to fit into the tight budget the University is working with right now without raising tuition costs. Even though the criminals have yet to be identified, the university will now be more aware and take more precautions to prevent criminal activity such as this.