Personal Property Theft

It takes three elements for a crime to occur:

• Desire
• Ability
• Opportunity

Theft of property from vehicles and rooms in residence halls is usually a “crime of opportunity.” A crime of opportunity is one in which individuals who normally do not steal commit a theft because they had the “opportunity”  to take the property.

Make it tough for someone to steal property by “hardening the target.” Since you do not have any way to change a person's desire or ability to commit a crime, you need to remove the opportunity to commit the crime. The more you difficult you make it for an individual to steal, the more difficult it is for the crime to be committed.

Harden your target by:

• Securing your valuable property
• Lock your residence and your vehicle when not in them
• Do not give out keys or codes to your residence hall room or your vehicle
• Keep serial numbers or owners' manuals for property to provide to the police in the event you become a victim
• REPORT all thefts and file a police report