Isa Cueto noticed a spike in on-campus larcenies.

‘People are always coming by and saying they left stuff, and it’s gone now,’ said Cueto, a junior management major who works at the information desk in the Schine Student Center.

Cueto said many students have approached her for more information at the desk, but she doesn’t think there is an increase in larcenies — just that people are noticing them more, and the Department of Public Safety is emphasizing the crime.

Since Jan. 1, DPS has reported 42 larcenies in the university area, according to DPS crime logs. Thirty of the 42 have occurred in buildings on University Place, Crouse Drive, College Place, University Avenue, Waverly Avenue, Marshall Street, Sims Drive and Stadium Place.

Officers are reminding those in the campus community to watch their belongings, and signs about the larcenies are hung up in public campus areas. A DPS officer visited Cueto’s ethics class this week and spoke to the class about the larcenies.

The number of larcenies is not a serious increase, but it is a spike that can happen from time to time, said Drew Buske, deputy director and deputy chief of DPS.

Officers are working to develop leads and a possible suspect for a number of larcenies that have occurred in academic buildings since the beginning of the spring semester. DPS officers are interviewing victims and working with the Syracuse Police Department to solve the larceny cases.

DPS sent out an e-mail to the student listserv Feb. 10 stating public safety officers have investigated the theft of several larcenies and personal property stolen from academic buildings on campus. In each instance, property went missing after an individual left it unattended, according to the e-mail.

The e-mail reminded students to never leave personal property unattended, even for a moment, and directed students with questions or concerns to contact DPS. Jenn Horvath, public information officer for DPS, said she has not gotten any queries from the campus community about the larcenies. 

DPS does not typically put out notices, such as the one from Feb. 10, to students but decided to notify them this time because of the belief that multiple larcenies may have been committed by the same person, Buske said. He said he was certain the same individual committed a couple of the larcenies.

These larcenies are not different from other rashes of larcenies that have happened in the past, Buske said.

There were 36 larcenies on campus by this time last year, and 26 of them occurred on Main Campus, according to DPS crime logs. There were 29 by this time in 2009, and 25 of them occurred on Main Campus, according to the logs.

Electronics and laptops left in the open have frequently been taken in this year’s incidents. Unattended belongings are ‘very attractive to those who are basically out shopping,’ Buske said.

In a Feb. 4 Eggers Hall larceny, a MacBook valued at $1,400 was stolen after it was left unattended for about 10 minutes in a basement study area for graduate students. In a Feb. 1 larceny in Sims Hall, a wallet was stolen from an unattended purse.

Students, staff and visitors need to remove the opportunity for a larceny to occur and protect their own belongings, Buske said. 

‘It’s all opportunity,’ he said.

dkmcbrid@syr.edu

Published on February 21, 2011 at 12:00 pm

Contact Dara: dkmcbrid@syr.edu | @daramcbride