In an effort to curb theft as the Christmas holiday approaches, UTM Public Safety has printed fliers that will be placed in campus buildings with anti-theft tips.

As is the annual trend, incidents of theft have been on the increase during the past two weeks. Crime trends rise on campus and nationwide every year as the winter holidays approach. Public Safety reports that there have been 27 total thefts this academic year until November, but three of those thefts have occurred within a week.

Two thefts were reported on campus last Thursday, including a missing purse at an Elam Center office and a book bag taken from a hallway in Gooch Hall. The purse was later found in another room missing $14, but the missing bag has still not been recovered. The value of the bag’s contents was estimated at $222. The third supposed theft occurred Sunday evening at the library, where a student left a book in a cubicle and later returned to find it missing.

Public Safety does not believe these crimes are related.

“Before we get any more crimes, we want to get the word out to students and faculty that they should secure their possessions,” said Rick Hatler, director of Public Safety. “Most of these thefts are crimes of opportunity, meaning people take advantage of unattended items and steal them.”

Hatler said that textbooks are “particularly attractive” to thieves because books can be readily resold for cash.

Public Safety says that thefts can occur in just a few seconds, but there are ways to avoid being a victim. Among theft prevention tips, Public Safety advises students to leave book bags, purses, books, computers and other personal items within their view at all times.

They also suggest staying aware of charges on debit and credit cards, documenting valuables with name, model number and serial number, blocking others’ views of ATM cards when using the ATM, not giving out Social Security numbers and writing students’ names in textbooks to prevent theft.

Although recent theft reports indicate a spike in stolen items, total theft incidents are down year-to-date.

There were 73 total incidents of on-campus theft in 2003, which equated to 4.4 incidents per 1,000 students.