Property thefts are typically the most common crimes on college campuses, but some students are finding better ways to secure their belongings — anti-theft software.
As of Oct. 26, there have been 274 reports of thefts on campus in 2010, according to Sgt. Blake Tabor, LSU Police Department spokesman. There were only 229 during the same time frame last year.
“Thefts overall are up by 45, and that includes all kinds of theft,” Tabor said.
Tabor said anti-theft software can help facilitate retrieval.
“If students have that kind of software on their computers, it makes our chances of recovering [items] that much greater,” he said.
A student helped LSUPD officers recover his stolen laptop Oct. 11 by activating anti-theft software.
The free software, downloaded from preyproject.com, installs a small agent into a laptop or phone. When the item is stolen, the owner can activate the agent, which sends out the item’s exact Wi-Fi location, according to the website.
The software also lets owners take screen shots, sound an alarm, send the thief a message, activate the webcam, wipe all personal passwords or even lock down the laptop, according to the website.
Det. Kevin Scott, LSUPD spokesman, said officers caught the perpetrator within hours of the laptop being stolen.
“We were able to pinpoint his exact location and recover the laptop within 16 hours,” Scott said.
Tabor said LSUPD has been assisted by similar software in the past. There are different types of anti-theft software, including GadgetTrak and Bak2u for phones and laptops and LoJack for laptops.
Recording serial and model numbers is another way students can keep track of items, Tabor said.
Tabor said the data can be plugged into the National Crime Information Center, a computerized database where stolen items can be tagged and recovered.
“The vast majority doesn’t record that information,” he said. “Without those records, recovery is like a shot in the dark.”
 
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Contact Sarah Eddington at [email protected]