Pilfering on Prospect

The Street is traditionally a venue for strutting the latest styles and snapping photos for facebook.com albums. But, a recent series of thefts in multiple clubs has made some students nervous about stuffing digital cameras and other valuables into the pockets of their pea-coats on Thursday and Saturday nights.

In recent messages sent to the Charter and Terrace club email lists, officers urged their members to watch their belongings. At Charter this past semester, a member's flute, a laptop and Charter t-shirts with members' names on them have gone missing.

Minor thefts of coats, iPods and bikes are campus problems, not only an issue at the Street, Charter president Will Scharf '08 said. "We try to remind our members not to leave things lying around, and when things go missing, we try to find them or find out who's responsible," Scharf added.

One of the theft victims at Charter was Stuart Lange '07, whose laptop was taken from the Charter computer cluster on March 1. The laptop contained all of Lange's thesis work, which is now lost.

Lange reported the incident to Princeton Borough Police, who are responsible for thefts that occur on Prospect Avenue, but said he is not optimistic about the chances of ever finding the culprit. "There are no specific suspects at the moment, and probably will never be," he said in an email.

Lieutenant David Dudeck of the Princeton Borough Police confirmed that Lange's report had been filed and said that there have been no similar cases reported recently.

Patrice Wylly '08, a Cloister Inn member, has lost two Northface jackets during her time at Princeton — one at Cloister as a freshman and one at Cottage Club as a sophomore. Both were never returned, even though her second jacket contained her phone and prox in the pocket.

In the latter case, she noted, the jacket could have been returned if it was mistakenly taken, since her prox identified her as the owner.

"Now I always wear sweatshirts out, but that can get pretty cold," she said.

Cottage president Vince Ley '08 said his club recognizes that theft is an issue that must be addressed. "We certainly work to maintain an environment that makes our members and guests feel safe," he said in an email.

Nevertheless, some students say they are still concerned about losing items during their nights out. "When I go out, I bring as little as possible," Jackie Thomas '09, a member of Tower Club, said. Thomas was another victim of coat theft this year, when her jacket was taken from the coat room of Ivy Club.

Ivy president Alex van Hoek '08 admitted that it can be difficult to keep track of all items that guests bring with them to the club. "We have measures in place to protect our members and guests, and to minimize the risk of theft within the club," he said in an email. "However, our ability to address the problem is limited by the fact that it's sometimes difficult to say whether an item was stolen or simply misplaced, particularly on busy nights."

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Not every club has dealt with belongings vanishing during weekend revelry. Quadrangle Club president Scott Syverson '08 said he has not observed that more items go missing on weekends than during weekdays.

He attributed this to Quad's policy limiting its upstairs floor to members on Thursdays and Saturdays. "[Members] feel as though their things are safe and secure, as the bouncers monitor who goes upstairs," he said.

Though Public Safety is not responsible for handling thefts on the Street, Public Safety Deputy Director for Operations Charles Davall said thefts on campus are not uncommon. The most commonly reported cases, he said, are stolen bikes that have been left unlocked or backpacks that have been dropped or forgotten.

But Davall added that he has not observed a significant upswing in the number of thefts this year. "We haven't seen a marked increase or decrease," he said.

The most recently available numbers, in fact, show a decline in campus thefts in recent years. Overall bike thefts were down last year, from 140 in 2004-05 to 84 in 2005-06. According to the 2006 Campus Security Report, on-campus burglaries were also down. While in 2003 there were 63 reported burglaries, there were only 58 in 2004 and 42 in 2005.

During those same years, there were no reported campus robberies.

Nevertheless, Davall noted that, whether on the Street or on campus, students would be well advised to keep a close eye on their belongings. "Being careless with your items will make you more vulnerable for theft," he said.