Administrators and staff who work in Northrup Hall say recent computer thefts in the building mirror similar burglaries campus-wide and are calling for increased security to stem what they believe is an "inside job."
Earth and Planetary Sciences Chairman Leslie McFadden said at least four computers have been stolen from offices in Northrup Hall during the past six months and that he had heard of worse thefts in other campus buildings. He said the burglaries, many of which happened on the third floor of the building, were executed without forced entry, which means the offices were locked when the occupants left but were open when they returned to find items missing.
"Obviously someone's figured out a way across campus to get access to buildings or offices," he said.
But, Cmdr. James Daniels, a UNM Police Department spokesman, says the recent thefts don't represent an increase from previous years.
"Over the past year, there have only been two or three burglaries at Northrup," he said. "I wouldn't call that a rash."
McFadden added that many of the computers stored irretrievable data.
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"They play a far more important role than most people can imagine," he said. "They are our calculators, our pencils - we do so much on them on a daily basis that without them it's a huge blow. Particularly if they didn't have the resources to back data up."
Police records since August 2001 show two computer thefts in Northrup. Both were on the third floor.
On Dec. 5 or 6, someone entered Room 316C and removed a Dell CPU - or computer tower - and a compact disc recording unit from the two desks in the office. The items were worth $1,950, according to the report. The two people who work in the office said in the police report that no one besides them was authorized to enter the office, including custodial staff.
And on Feb. 4 or 5, an Apple computer, which was worth $3,057, was removed from the desk of Sarah Lentz, an administrative assistant at the Institute of Meteoritics in Room 313 of Northrup Hall. Police found no signs of forced entry, and the door was found unlocked, according to the police report.
A handful of other police calls were made during that period to report vandalism and burglaries from vending machines and a wooden donation box.
McFadden said he could recall two other computer thefts in which the perpetrators left behind bizarre newspaper clippings about terrorism.
Lentz, who is awaiting replacement of the computer, said she had recently backed up her files, but that the computer thefts have become somewhat of a joke around UNM.
"It's all over campus," she said. "If you could see all the buildings, it's like they have keys - you'd be astounded. Engineering said they've lost $30,000 in computers over the last few months. This comes out of the department's budget."
McFadden said UNM only covers theft losses of more than $10,000 per incident, leaving individual programs to make up for computer losses.
"Virtually all computers fall below that," he said. "But most don't have a line in their budget to restore computers - it would represent a tremendous strain on their resources."
The thefts, he said, may be caused by the buildings being open late - sometimes until 9 p.m. for evening classes - and a general lack of security measures taken to protect the computers. He added that he had just had a thick security cable attached to his computer.
Lentz said she too noticed rising concern for computer security in the wake of the thefts.
"Everyone's tying them down and spray painting 'UNM property' on them," she said. "Because people can just walk in and take whatever they want."
Several department chairpersons have asked the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences to help them address the problem, McFadden said. The dean could not be reached for comment Friday.
"We hope to better understand what the plans are for security to do something about this," McFadden said. "I imagine what ever the solution, it would be an enhanced security arrangement, with cameras installed, etcetera. But a completely fail-proof security policy is impossible and expensive."
