In the last several weeks, there have been several rounds of laptop thefts in the Boston University community (“Students say laptops taken from houses in Allston,” Nov. 5, p. 1; “South campus apt. robbed of $5,500 of electronics,” Oct. 9, p. 1).

I am continually surprised by the belief among students that as long as an apartment is locked, everything inside is safe. I am far more surprised, however, by the lack of understanding regarding the motivation behind the thefts. “They didn’t take anything else, which was weird,” said a student in one Daily Free Press article. Research demonstrates that there is nothing weird about laptop theft at all. Weighing less than 10 pounds and commanding a sale price of thousands of dollars, laptops are among the easiest items to steal and resell. I cannot imagine why a thief would waste his time taking anything but a laptop, except possibly a bag to carry it in, to avoid suspicion on the way out of the apartment he just robbed.

I have worked for two companies that issued me a company laptop. The official policy at each of these companies is that an employee may leave a laptop in his car only when absolutely necessary. In such a case, one should put both the laptop and the case in a part of the car where they will be out of view and make sure that the car is locked at all times. After a Friday afternoon several years ago when a number of laptops were stolen from the trunks of cars parked outside a pub, many companies amended their policies to require employees to put the laptop in an out-of-view place before arriving at their destinations. A thief had been roaming the parking lot, waiting for someone to get out of his car, move his laptop from the front passenger seat to the trunk and lock the car. As soon as the employee entered a building, the thief broke into the trunk. The employee, thinking he had made his car less of a target by keeping the laptop out of view, had in fact made his car more of a target by moving his laptop into full view of passers-by before leaving the car unattended.

My point is that businesses, keenly aware of the tremendous cost of laptop theft (it can cost a company hundreds of thousands of dollars if confidential customer data or proprietary information is jeopardized), encourage employees to take seemingly excessive measures to protect their laptops from theft. As another student pointed out in Monday’s article, “They knew what they wanted,” so they waited until they knew they could get it, and wasted no time looking at less valuable items.

When businesses learn this the hard way, they amend their policies and notify all employees immediately. When a university learns this the hard way, it takes no action, allowing for an event that should never have happened after the October break-in in South Campus less than one month earlier. The university should have made an effort to notify students of the theft and encourage them, regardless of whether they live on campus, to keep laptops locked at all times when left unattended, even in their own apartments. A thief who enters a dorm to take a laptop and finds it locked to the desk will not waste time looking for other valuables. He will turn around, leave and lock the door behind him to find a more vulnerable victim elsewhere.

Last year, I bought some laptop locks wholesale, intending to sell them to BU students for a small profit. In my efforts to network and get the word out that these locks were for sale, I was shocked that most students, even those living in large dormitory buildings, didn’t consider it a worthwhile investment. So I am still trying to sell the locks a year later. Even when I responded to the question, “How does a lock make it more secure?” by explaining that thieves would rather move on than spend half an hour cutting through a lock, I was still met with opposition. Arguments ranged from, “Nobody steals in Warren” to “I always lock my door” to “Even if he can’t steal my laptop, I have so much else in my room, so there’s nothing I can do to protect myself from theft.” As we’ve seen in the last month, laptop thieves target those who are least suspecting. They will find ways to break in and will take nothing but a laptop.

Instead of teaching simple prevention guidelines, the university wastes its time on a registry program that makes it possible to identify a laptop as stolen. Because most people who buy stolen laptops know they’re buying on the black market, it is unlikely a metal barcode plaque will motivate them to return the computer. The university should put more effort into encouraging students to keep their laptops secure. The best way to do this is to follow the successful model of the business world: Educate students on how laptop thieves think and operate.

Isaac Betesh

ENG ’07